Veganism has had its fair share of struggles of the centuries and there is still progress to make. It is true that veganism growing faster and faster, yet the public still has negative relations with hard-core vegans. Why is it?
Vegans Can Make You Feel Guilty
Some vegans are activists and very vocal about their beliefs - so much so that they can guilt-trip others into following suit. Imagine you are in your local grocery store and you decide it has been a long time since you have had meat and your body really needs it.
So you decide to buy a piece - knowing that you wish you didn’t have the craving, but at least you are doing your best. Then your vegan friend comes into the store. The last thing you want is for this person to make you feel bad for buying meat - it usually comes with a judgemental look or remark.
It is true that without vegan activists, the world would know so little about what is really happening behind those meat-manufacturing doors and it is because of vegan dedication that the movement can withstand the barriers - but some vegans take the wrong approach.
Meat Should Not Be Demonized
Eating meat is very much part of our human culture and has seen us through the hardest of times. It has been such an important source of nutrition and part of our agricultural development that now, unfortunately - we are overconsuming and the world would be a healthier place is we went back a few steps.
But some people will never give up meat. One reason it that they see meat in an entirely different way. They see the tending, killing, and consumption of meat as part of the circle of life. These individuals do not feel bad about killing the animal and a lot of the times, they can kill the animal themselves. For them, meat is a gift.
It is also possible that some people need meat because they do not have access to all the different proteins needed to have a stable diet.
Vegan Hatred Statistics
Matt Ball of One Step for Animals wrote that “vegans are viewed more negatively than atheists, immigrants, homosexuals, and asexuals,” citing a recent study by Cara MacInnis and Gordon Hodson. “The only group viewed more negatively than vegans were drug addicts”. Anthony Bourdain once wrote that “vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit” and called vegans their “Hezbollah-like splinter faction.”
Now, any discussion of veganism online tends to be an absolute minefield. But for all the associated aggro, plant-based eating seems to be on the rise. One 2016 survey found that more than 540,000 people described themselves as vegan -- a nearly fourfold increase in 10 years. More than 2,000 books are available at Waterstones with the word "vegan" in the title, Google searches have multiplied in the space of a few years, and in 2017, Just Eat saw a 987% increase in demand for vegetarian takeaways.