Philosophical Vegan Forum

I notice myself being regularly in environments of people that are discussing their liking of a particular kind of dead animal. I am sitting around these people and would normally participate in the conversations. But when this is the topic they are talking about, I have trouble finding a good way of dealing with it. What I can do—as I most of the time do now—is just ignoring it and staying out of it as much as possible, waiting for it to be over. Another approach would be to explain them my position (which they in most cases already know), which I consider as not very productive (don't want to be a preacher). You could also talk about your liking of this products when you still ate it, but this is a repulsive thing to do and feels like supporting them into continuing—or even promoting—to eat it. How do you respond in such situations?

I deal with this alllll the time. I am a super passive person unless cruelty or racism etc... is expressed in front of me. It's strange how often the simple "no I am vegan" leads to "oh I once had this lamb shank that was so good" It's incredibly difficult to find the balance between culturally accepted and preachy A**hole. I usually ride it out but it's a bit of a regret for me.

You could try asking them to reflect on what they're saying. Say you're not trying to preach, but just ask them to try to put themselves in your shoes, and consider if this is the kind of thing they'd really want to talk about.

Or just say straight out "let's change the subject". They should get the message, and it's not preachy.

You can also do a humorous non-segue.

"Speaking of that, did you see the recent Spiderman movie?"

If they ask "what does that have to do with X?"
You say "It doesn't, I was stealthily changing the subject."

Again, they should get the message without having to ask why.
If somebody does ask why, somebody else will probably answer him/her. If not, then ask the person to reflect.

If they're all too stupid to figure it out, then you might have to do some reflection of your own on as to why you're talking with these people.

brimstoneSalad wrote:You could try asking them to reflect on what they're saying. Say you're not trying to preach, but just ask them to try to put themselves in your shoes, and consider if this is the kind of thing they'd really want to talk about.

Or just say straight out "let's change the subject". They should get the message, and it's not preachy.

You can also do a humorous non-segue.

"Speaking of that, did you see the recent Spiderman movie?"

If they ask "what does that have to do with X?"
You say "It doesn't, I was stealthily changing the subject."

Again, they should get the message without having to ask why.
If somebody does ask why, somebody else will probably answer him/her. If not, then ask the person to reflect.

If they're all too stupid to figure it out, then you might have to do some reflection of your own on as to why you're talking with these people.

Great tips as always brimstone, I'll defintely put these to use.

there are two main ways to deal with this situation change the subject as brim pointed out, or confront it head on. what I do is point out the fact that what foods you like are for the most part a learnt behavior. even if you think that vegan food is shit your tastes will adapt in favor of it with time. If you take this route than they will use the argument from convenience in order to dismiss morality.

I've been dealing with this recently I find myself saying "Is that so.".