Philosophical Vegan Forum

I have noticed a pattern. Basically all meat eaters will ask the question "why?" (you are vegan), and usually you only get 1 shot, a single sentence, to explain things before they start rolling their eyes or changing the subject to something that makes them feel better. So what concise replies can be given? Well, i have tried different answers with varying success

This one seemed to have a good effect:
"Because animals dont have to suffer for me to eat well"

This one sucked:
"Because of animal ethics, the environment and my health"

Something I have in mind, but havent used in practice:
"If you have ever had a pet, try and imagine what you would feel if the meat you are eating right now came from that animal. If you can imagine that, you will know what I feel all the time when I see meat."



your experiences? ^^

Well, here's one idea:

1. Flatter their egos
2. Display open mindedness and suggest you might change
3. Show them Earthlings

Something like:

"Can I show you something? Maybe you will understand this better than I do, and can change my mind."

knot wrote:I have noticed a pattern. Basically all meat eaters will ask the question "why?" (you are vegan), and usually you only get 1 shot, a single sentence, to explain things before they start rolling their eyes or changing the subject to something that makes them feel better. So what concise replies can be given? Well, i have tried different answers with varying success

This one seemed to have a good effect:
"Because animals dont have to suffer for me to eat well."

My typical response is similar, but slightly longer. I wonder if a typical nonvegan has a long enough attention span to listen to two entire sentences rather than one. Anyways it goes something like this:

"The vast majority of animals raised for food these days go through a great deal of suffering during their short lives, which end in disgusting slaughterhouses. Since it's easy to be happy and healthy whithout any animal-derived foods in my diet, I don't believe I can justify participating in any harm towards animals."

Hopefully most nonvegans are willing to listen to these two sentences if I speak them very quickly. This is the best response that I can come up with

brimstone I have had bad luck with showing Earthlings. People just say most of the footage is outdated and that things are much better today..

"The vast majority of animals raised for food these days go through a great deal of suffering during their short lives, which end in disgusting slaughterhouses. Since it's easy to be happy and healthy whithout any animal-derived foods in my diet, I don't believe I can justify participating in any harm towards animals."

Seems effectful, I'll try it^)

knot wrote:brimstone I have had bad luck with showing Earthlings. People just say most of the footage is outdated and that things are much better today..

Yeah, people are idiots. It's worse today, because demand is higher, and it's now illegal to bring a camera into a slaughterhouse, so they can get away with anything.
Maybe you can ask them why these factory farms would lobby the government to make it illegal to bring a camera into a slaughter house if conditions are better? Their only motivation to do that is to hide what they're doing.