Gentlemen of Right Angle – a request.
Try not to alienate all vegetarians, okay guys. Vegetarians like me do it for health reasons not because we are arrogant leftist snobs. I belong to a group that has been studied extensively. We are lacto-ovo vegetarians and vegans by and large and eat a lot of meat alternatives which makes vegetarianism tolerable. These were derived from Chinese meat substitutes like seitan and various soy alternatives by a missionary doctor. We do eat gluten and a lot of it since it’s a primary ingredient in most meat alternatives, so we don’t even go there for the most part, unless we have a bonafide disease.
A famous longitudinal study a couple of decades ago studied Seventh day Adventists who are largely vegetarians. They found we live about 9 years longer on average than the general public AND retain function longer. A lot of us are also conservatives and all of us are fundamental Christians. A lot of us are also your subscribers. Be gentle with the vegetarian smack downs please. Not everyone who is careful of what we eat are whiny leftist scolds. Militant vegans piss me off too, so I understand your frustration with vegan arrogance. But you’ll find most Adventists don’t harangue people about their diet. I will admit some of us do get the whole Sister-Bertha-Better-Than-You thing going, but I find they are mostly Democrats and I think that’s where that comes from.
Meanwhile a whole bunch of us are climate change skeptics, politically serious conservatives, anti-globalism and we tend to be outdoorsy conservationists, not environmentalists (there’s a huge difference). And while some of the newer vegeburger brands may not be any better for you, we’ve got the stuff down to a science. When I was a kid growing up in an Adventist town, I spent 20% of my paper route money every week to buy one of Mrs. George’s vegeburgers at Blair’s Stores. What she did with vegeburger, sage and onions was amazing.
So please go after militant vegans all you want. My sympathies are with you there, but just know that it’s okay to be a vegetarian. It doesn’t make you an arrogant twit. We eat. We don’t preach. And FYI, I have a whole blog on what SDAs bring to potluck lunches after church. You’d be surprised how good Adventist cooks are. I grew up on vegetarian food. My grandmother and wife are geniuses with plant-based dishes. Some of their stuff, you’d never know was meatless.
Anyway, it would help if you treated us like a lot of us are conservatives because a whole lot of us are. And we do understand why vegans are so frustrating and we sympathize. But that’s them, not us…….
Tom King
4 replies on “Vegetarians Can Be Conservatives Too”
Just made the mistake of looking at your blog. My diet is doomed! lol. Nice.
There is a good chance that there’s no meat in Big Bennies. That’s a food in the Star citizen game. It is possible to get cattle to Mars but its hard and first generation Mars colonists will probably be vegan with very good heme based meat substitutes. This is why NASA & the ESA financially supports many of there meat substitute projects around the world.
I think the issue is stigma and stereotypes.
Just as with all things they are generalisms not 100% reality. All Dalmatians are dogs, but not all dogs are Dalmatians sorta thing.
Veganism is very associated with SJW or “woke” culture. But it’s a stigma or stereotype.
I love both stereotypical humor and generalism humor for a few different reasons. It’s easy to see who is forcing themselves to be offended and those who have a sense of humor even if they fall into the category. Of course in this particular sense that isn’t the case. But it’s important to remember that generally, when people speak, they are not blanketing everyone.
The thing to always remember is to focus on somebody for their values and respect towards others. Just cause you’re afraid to eat honey doesn’t mean I should dislike you or call you a liberal swine. But it does open a good opportunity for some fun jokes you should be able to laugh along with.
I was vegetarian for two decades, most of that time as a conservative.