10:44pm October 4, 2014

“The other thing I want to note is that these particular vegan subcultures are rife with bullying and harassment. So when someone begins to question the diet which they’ve come to know as their “vegan diet” – perhaps they’re struggling to eat 3000 calories a day, they’re gaining/ losing scary amounts of weight, they got blood test results which looked grim – these communities are scientifically illiterate and can’t explain why these things are happening because their diet isn’t based on science. I mean, they didn’t start eating a fruit-based diet because they studied biochemistry. So what happens? They victim blame. It wasn’t the diet that didn’t work, it was the person that didn’t work. They cheated, they didn’t eat enough fruit, they have an eating disorder that makes them too afraid of binge eat 43 dates for lunch, they’re secretly scoffing burgers at McDonalds… I’ve seen people who finally get the courage to vocalise their concerns to a public forum just to get torn to shreds. The leaders of these groups themselves will fat shame, victim blame, bully and harass people in order to protect the perfect image of their restrictive diet of choice because they have financial priorities and obviously their own emotional baggage. Diet aside, where is the compassion here? This isn’t a culture of love and compassion. What is veganism without compassion? It’s just a fad diet. Fad diets always end.”

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- Elisa, about the vegan community (x) (via inspiteofv)

Every time I tell vegetarians or vegans that veganism and vegetariansim both made me extremely ill (especially since I really seem to need l-carnitine to function, at least when I’m at my worst, and there are plant-based sources but they’re much harder to get, and that’s not the only thing by far).

What I get told is: "You weren’t doing it right.“

Dismissive.

They don’t even know what I was doing, what supplements I was using.

They don’t know how well I researched it.

They just "know”.

And some of these are people I consider close friends.

Another time one of them got very twitchy when we went out to eat, and it turned out he was afraid I’d make him pay for meat. As if I would ever do that to a vegetarian. And he wouldn’t even tell me until I asked him why he was acting twitchy and sulky every time we suggested food.

I have nothing against vegans and vegetarians. I have a lot – and even when I was vegan/vegetarian had a lot – against evangelical vegans and evangelical vegetarians.

Notes: