It’s a freaking cult
I’ll start this out with the fact that I do not care what other people eat. Eat all the meat you want.
I was playing with the idea of going full pescatarian since I’m basically that already because I’m not a fan of meats. And I’ve been kicking around the idea of almost going exclusively vegan by cutting out eggs and dairy since I don’t really like eggs and I prefer non dairy alternatives besides cheese which doesn’t love me as much as I love it. I was vegan/vegetarian for three years so this isn’t something I haven’t done before but this is the first time I’ve interacted with other vegans ever.
So I started lurking on r/vegan and r/vegancirclejerk and r/vegancirclejerkchat and boy howdy. I escaped a cult when I was 15 when my mom thankfully died and I wasn’t being forced into it anymore. They act like a cult. The similarities astound me. Not only with how they treat outsiders but how they treat each other. You have to be the exact perfect pure vegan doing xyz perfectly. It’s like when I was in the cult of you had any harmless earthly temptations (teenage mutant ninja turtles, monster energy drink, tofu, soy milk for example) you weren’t a real Christian and you were basically mistreated for it. If you weren’t doing everything exclusively for the glory of god and to convert people (playing a basketball game perfectly and carrying the team to show how wonderful god is to convert people as example) you weren’t a real Christian.
If you didn’t proselytize or circle the conversation into Jesus or god every time you interacted with someone you weren’t a real Christian.
And the persecution complex where other people existing peacefully was a personal attack on you and your god and your faith.
In the cult everyone was unaware of how they were behaving was pushing everyone away. I went to school with Bible verses written in sharpie all over my hands and arms. Everyone was proud of me but all it did was alienate me from everyone which goes into the isolation and us vs them feedback loop.
I’ve seen it several times already where you’re only a real vegan if you only do it exclusively because you feel bad about the animals. Every other reason is not good enough and you aren’t a real vegan if that’s why or part of why you’re vegan.
If you aren’t doing the kind of an activism that harms the movement you’re not a real vegan. If you don’t harass everyone into being vegan you aren’t a real vegan.
I was reading one where this woman couldn’t understand why her boyfriend was getting frustrated with her because she “never tries to convert him” she “only brings up veganism every time he eats” and tries to force him to watch vegan documentaries. Other times people talk about how they’re alienating everyone they know or meet and they’re completely unaware that the way they’re going about it is the problem.
They talk about this persecution I’ve never witnessed and everyone knew I was vegan and I have successfully got people to cut meat out of several meals without proselytizing or patting myself on the back (that wasn’t my goal I was just showing off my meal because I think I’m a badass cook and like sharing). My dad loved the veggie burgers and would eat those if I made them over the burgers he cooked. People love my vegetarian/vegan meals I cook and ask me to make them. I genuinely think it’s them being aggressive about their veganism. I’ve never been harassed like they talk about and I’m starting to think the “harassment” they talk about is people being reactive to the holier than thou attitude and self congratulating they do every time they open their mouths. They do that a lot in the posts/comments and even describe how they’re interacted with people and yeah that’s why people don’t like you, bestie. Thats why no one is receptive of veganism.
I think they are the way they are to reinforce the feedback loop of proselytizing, being rejected, us vs them, frustration, isolation, and proselytizing again. It’s very cult coded. I also think the Pure Vegan (tm) vs the Fake Vegan is also part of that feedback loop like how it was in the cult with the True Christians vs the Fake Christians.
I don’t know it’s just my observation.