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Reposting my thoughts from Reddit: As a vegan I'm sad on two fronts. a) That some vegans see the need to attack someone in this way. I know some vegans consi
by sh1mmer 16y ago
Reposting my thoughts from Reddit:
As a vegan I'm sad on two fronts.
a) That some vegans see the need to attack someone in this way.
I know some vegans consider (including myself) see it as a deeply moral issue. However, I'd rather be like Ghandi than a fundamentalist. First and foremost, we can't help how we are made. I can't understand how it is immoral to care for oneself first. That said I personally haven't suffered adverse health (quite the reverse).
b) The fact that my choice for me causes some people to want to knock me down.
Time and time again, I find my veganism attacked by people who aren't vegan. Whether they make a joke of waving their meat meals in my face, or attack my moral/ethical/dietary stance. It seems like a lot of people who are omnivorous either feel guilty about it or simply don't like the idea that I have chosen a moral stance stricter than their own. I find it disappointing, both in the title and the comments of this thread that people seem to want to take me down a peg for my beliefs.
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoWell, if you rationalize your beliefs, and folks poke holes in those rationalizations, then it isn't wanting "to take me down a peg for my beliefs", its debate. And when you are wrong in debate, its not quite fair to wrap yourself in religion and claim foul.
- DanielStraight 16y agoMaybe people just don't like being told that their moral stance is less strict than yours when they don't feel they're doing anything wrong. Your post is almost literally asking, "Why are people upset when I have a holier-than-thou attitude?" What is really the difference between, "I have chosen a stricter moral stance," and holier-than-thou?
- sh1mmer 16y agoStricter implies that I am applying more conditions to myself, 'holier-than-thou' implies that I'm somehow applying them to you too. I've chosen my morality for me, I'll happily advocate it if you are interested. However, my act of choice in no way threatens your own act of choice. What I find frustrating is that because I've made a choice for me people choose to assume I'm judging them.
- DanielStraight 16y agoThis makes your point... I just find it incredibly odd. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're saying that when you say "stricter moral stance," you mean "more rules." That is not how I would interpret "stricter moral stance." I suppose I'm also thrown off by the concept of "my morality." If morality is entirely personal, the whole concept of stricter or looser moral stances seems nonsensical. If it's entirely personal, then isn't everyone, by definition, strictly adhering to their own morality?
- sh1mmer 16y agoSome definitions of the word strict from the Random House Dictionary that might explain my position: 3. closely or rigorously enforced or maintained: strict silence. 5. extremely defined or conservative; narrowly or carefully limited: a strict construction of the Constitution. 8. stern; severe; austere: strict parents. You could also think of strict as the root of "restrictive". I have a moral code which allows me to do less than you, it restricts my actions. However it doesn't follow that my morality inherently requires me to expect it of others. That's a very western belief.