by phaedral » Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:42 pm
[quote="SandGroper"]G'day all. I hope this isn't too extreme, but I often say "I was tripping on acid in the Indian Himalaya when this multi coloured cow approached me and gave me a full lecture on the evils of eating meat." Then I change the subject with "How about that traffic, eh?"
Erske's "Because it's cool" is probably the single best answer, for my money, straight away short circuiting the negative presuppositions and pejorative connotations behind most of the questions. It _is_ cool. But when I went through my brief pot-head stage being vegan was a necessity. I just couldn't fathom any other way to eat. My body was lighter and happier and cleaner, inside and out, when I forsook land animals and squeezin's.
I also like Erske's response because it's the polar opposite of the nearest and dearest veggie/vegan in my life, my little sister. I once saw her kick a dude in the shins with her steel toed boots for daring to eat a turkey sandwich in front of her. That attitude may not be as prevalent other places, but it always seemed to me too many vegans here in Southern California were humorless, stuck up, holier than thou sh*ts.
The very first time I went veggie (not vegan) I had sushi relapse dreams. Twice. Today I still allow honey and the occasional bit of fish and I haven't even thought about giving up my Birkenstocks. But I've been thrilled at the general attitude of folks here, which seems to be "let's encourage the good behavior instead of sh*ttng all over people for what we disagree with." So I get to hang out with cool folks who are ahead of me on the curve and learn from them. Pretty cool indeed.
Peace.