I have finally deleted all mailing lists, Facebook groups, and Facebook friends or acquaintances involved with vegan activism. I have returned to being a vegan, despite my revulsion at the continued behavior, because it seems a good choice for me.
The following is my opinion, and does not apply to the vegans who try to draw people to this way of living by good example and kindness. For the other ones who try to bludgeon the world into their way, and their way alone, like the craziest evangelists:
"Why," they cry on their posts and messages, "Why do people hate us so? We are loving, compassionate people! Don't you see our pictures of kitties and bunnies? Baby calves and piglets? We are compassionate towards all beings. We THINK, therefore we are vegan."
Horse manure. You, my fanatical friends, are part of the evil of this world, because at heart, your behavior is cruel, misguided, and maladjusted, just like the rest of the fanatics. Yes, I am judgmental about it and don't give a rat's ass anymore.
Why do you send arrows out to everyone who doesn't eat like you do? Why do you call for people who eat meat to be MURDERED? Why do you call them stupid? Why do you swear at, denigrate, make fun of them? The dirtiest language I have ever heard on Facebook is from you all, in public. Why do you lord yourselves over people? You are NOT better than anyone else. You show yourselves to be cruel, thoughtless individuals who routinely call for actual violence against people who don't eat like you do. You speak of killing everyone in the world so as to improve it somehow. Animals would probably tell you that they hate you, if they could speak, for being so cruel to others. Animals really do care about people, in their way. The rest of the world is not consigned to stupidity because they don't eat like you or follow your lifestyle, which includes hostility and contempt for anyone who is marginally different than you. I would never want to be in the same room as you, much less follow your "example" of malignant compassion...and I'm a vegan!
You COULD actually live the changes you want to see in the world, and try to live compassion, even if that compassion is limited to understanding that, in another time and place, or with education or opportunity, some of the people whose actions seem morally wrong, might have chosen a different path, or could choose them, in time You can't change everyone. You can change yourself. You can speak rationally. You can climb down off your mountaintop and understand that you do not have to reveal your insecurities by reminding everyone how great you are because you eat beans and rice, and how brilliant you are for doing this. And why is it so hard for you to refrain for a day or two from posting dozens of pictures of mutilated animals? It's because a) you have worn a groove into your brain and are now addicted to doing it and b) I strongly suspect at least some of you get a thrill off it, unconsciously.
Here is my considered opinion, in a nutshell: you don't kill and eat animals, but you kill people spiritually and emotionally. I would be more impressed if you shut the hell up, got off the Internet for an hour, and went out to work in a soup kitchen once a week, or volunteered to help keep animals in a shelter socialized, or something of real service to the world. By the way, you could also try and look reasonably healthy, too. The "purest" vegan I know looks like he gets dug up out of his grave every morning and put back there again at night..
No, this isn't a compassionate essay. I never say I am compassionate, because it is a journey for me, and one I have to self-check all the time. I am wrong about a lot of things, human, and flawed. I'm not always nice, though I try to be. I may never get to the state of absolute acceptance. I never say that my path is the right one, because I don't jive with fundamentalism.What I do feel I have to do is strive to be the best light in the world, in my power. If I can do that, maybe I can help others.
This is not meant to be an essay on compassion, as I said. It's a rant. I'm probably a bitch for saying it. But it's what I observe, so if you want an answer to your question of "Why do the meanies hate us so?" then you have my opinion here.
No comments:
Post a Comment