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I thought the article would be about how the meat industry feels about vegetarians. Instead, it was a general overview of the meat industry, it's declining empl
by osrec 9y ago
I thought the article would be about how the meat industry feels about vegetarians. Instead, it was a general overview of the meat industry, it's declining employment, and a description of of the working environment... I would be interested to know what meat producers really think of non-meat eaters. Do they look down on them? I'm a vegetarian and take an "each to their own" approach to other people's eating habits. Yet, every so often, I'm made to feel a bit awkward at social gatherings when the host has prepared mostly non veg food, or if my friends have picked a mostly non veg restaurant. They take it almost as an insult that I won't eat the food, or sometimes I get the impression they think I'm just trying to be difficult!
- zzalpha 9y agoEh, that's normal human behaviour. I've found that if you're engaging in a behaviour that has a positive value judgement associated with it (dieting or eating healthier, exercise, etc), if people find out and do not share that behaviour, it often puts them on the defensive (they're not doing it, too, therefore they are somehow lacking). This is exacerbated by the fact that a vocal subset of people engaging in those behaviours talk about it in order to either virtue signal or brag to others those who don't. After that it's all about protecting the ego. The vegetarian is seen as an inconvenience. The dieter is teased for not eating desert with everyone else. The people who don't go to the gym start explaining all the reasons why they hate gyms and the people in them. And I'm hardly immune. One of my friends is extremely fit and I caught myself teasing him about it as a consequence of my own envy and insecurities. I hope I've since stopped but it's a pretty basic human behaviour as far as I can tell.