Why I am not a vegan

[Monica]

Monica.. you asked me to read the early threads (again) I have begun doing that and as I've said - the first thing I read (of note) is:

["When I first became a vegetarian, I was awful! Very self-righteous! I made it into a religion and tried to cram it down people's throats. I felt justified because, not only was I trying to help them, but I was trying to speak up on behalf of the animals, who could not speak for themselves.

Alas, my approach did not work, and I only succeeded in alienating people. Finally, a friend spoke up to me, and made me realize how obnoxious I had become." ]




I think it could be very useful for you to re-visit this past understanding.

I was referring to live, in person, going up to people eating dead animals and telling them about diet. I haven't done that in over 30 years.

This is a discussion forum. No one is being forced to participate in any discussions they don't want to.

No, I'm not going to change my views, just because people want me to. I'm not going to pretend I think eating animals is ok, when it's not.

This is a discussion forum, not a restaurant. We're not at a social gathering, having dinner. We're discussing. In discussions, people have opinions. Mine happens to be an unpopular opinion.

2. Using the description "syrupy-sweet" shows much about your attitude, your anger...

WTF? I was syrupy sweet because that is my normal nature. If you are insinuating that I was pretending to be sweet, to hide anger, you are wrong.

The point was that it didn't matter how sweet I was...because I really was verrrrry nice in those early days. And guess what? They STILL got angry at me, no matter what I said or how I said it...NOT because I was rude or judgmental because I wasn't...They got angry and offended, to the point of calling me and the other vegetarians nasty names, simply because we had the audacity to stand firm on our convictions in a public internet discussion.

If anything, I am more direct about this topic now, because I am no longer willing to tolerate abuse from meat-eaters who lash out at vegetarians. They did a LOT of lashing out at us! But maybe you haven't read that far yet...?

3. I don't believe that you don't feel hate... perhaps not towards people here.. but surely towards the cruelty?
The anger/hate of the cruelty is what has driven your energy on this topic for years...

No, you are wrong again. I have said numerous times what drives me, and I will say it again:

I HEAR THE CALLS OF THE BILLIONS OF SENTIENT BEINGS WHO ARE BEING TORTURED ON A DAILY BASIS, BECAUSE PEOPLE WON'T QUIT SUPPORTING THIS BARBARIC, CRUEL, EVIL MEAT INDUSTRY.

THAT is what drives me.

Anger? No. Frustration? Yes.

I feel you haven't allowed almost anything I've said into your heart, nor will you with this

You have read only a tiny fraction of what I've written, and you dare to judge me? Since when did you decide that it's ok to analyze me?

In 5 years, I have NEVER EVER analyzed ANYONE personally on this forum.

I do NOT give you permission to do it to me!

If you have feedback for me, you may do so in private. Don't expect me to listen to your public psycho-analyzing...especially when you haven't even bothered to read it all before deciding that you know my inner motivations and feelings. (And even if you had, you still wouldn't.)

We can't solve negativity with negativity... IT DOESN'T WORK!

That's just BS. My sig is 'negative'?? Yet changing it to Eating tomatoes is STS isn't negative?

Ever wonder WHY? Isn't calling tomato-eaters STS negative/judging? Yet no one minds that.

I stand firm on my convictions about the BILLIONS of sentient beings being TORTURED as being STS. Apparently most people here think that me stating that is somehow worse than what THEY are doing, which is supporting the torture!!!

That's f***** up.

So if you'd rather analyze ME, instead of helping with the PROBLEM, well, that's your choice.

Oh yes, and by the way, NOW I'm angry.

I wasn't before.

I've read MORE than enough. Your latest tomato STS sarcastic post is proof positive you're obsessed with 'winning' this argument.

Oh good grief. Couldn't you tell that I was trying to make a POINT?

Guess what: Someone actually GOT IT! (Or did you not read that far?)

You're setting the cause way - WAY back

That's hilarious. Did you expect the world to go vegetarian just because of a handful of vegetarians on an internet forum?

Actually, the meat threads have consistently gotten the most hits out of nearly all the threads on the forum. So clearly a lot of people are reading them. Maybe just for the entertainment, who knows? But I have gotten a number of private messages from people thanking me for speaking up, because they didn't have the courage to. I did back then, and I got several more just in the last few days, since I came back. A number of people have also pm'ed me over the past few years, telling me that my words had had an impact on their choices, and they thanked me.

So no, I don't accept your analysis, of me or my impact on the 'cause.'