Vegetarians get pegged as intolerant jerks all the time -- with their holier-than-thou eating habits and their "I can't eat anything with a face." But look who the real intolerant jerks are. USA Today and Match.com surveyed some single vegetarians to see if they would be willing to date meat eaters. And they asked meat eaters if they would be willing to date vegetarians.
Almost all the vegetarians said they'd be willing to date a meat eater! Only 4 percent said they wouldn't. But carnivores? A whole 30 percent of them said they would reject a vegetarian. Meat eaters, where is the love?!?
Well, well, well. Look who's more open minded: Vegetarians. As someone who likes to poke fun at vegetarians every so often: OUCH. All this time we've been giving veggies crap about being so self-righteous and persnickety. What meat eater hasn't secretly felt judged by vegetarians? We just assume that if a vegetarian makes a choice about her food based on her ethics (or other strong feelings), she's going to disapprove of anyone who makes the opposite choice, right? And that's why meat eaters are so wary of vegetarians: They're afraid of being harshly judged.
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It's a pre-emptive strike. Meat eaters reject vegetarians before vegetarians can reject them.
Well it turns out vegetarians are a bit more flexible than that. They're in the minority, and that tends to make you a little more compassionate towards people who are different from you. They're constantly making accommodations, meeting you at that restaurant that has only one vegetarian dish, making do with just the corn and salad at the barbecue. Sure they complain sometimes -- but you would, too, if you were living in a vegetarian world.
I'm not a vegetarian, but many of my friends are veggies. And they couldn't care less what I eat. Most of them care way more about their relationships with friends and family than how most folks get their protein.
Oh god. I hope vegetarians don't start getting all judgy and self-righteous about being less judgy and self-righteous than carnivores...
Did the survey surprise you? Did you know meat eaters could be more intolerant than vegetarians?
Image via gamene/Flickr
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Comments 47
I am a vegetarian and so are my children and husband. I would have to say that just with past experiences, people who eat meat are very inconsiderate and rude when it comes to people who don't eat animals. They say the dumbest things and ask the stupidest questions. Like it isn't enough to see me standing infront of your face, looking perfectly healthy, and have had two babies, they still say, I am probably not as healthy as them because people NEED to eat meat.. and I think family members may actually be the worse. They think it is some kind of joke to say things like,"you want a hotdog", or "do your kids eat meat"? OR they say, this chicken is soooo yummy, you sure you don't want a bite? NO! I don't want a bite of dead animal, its GROSS!!!
I am a vegan, and I could care less what others put into thier own bodies. That being said I do I prefer that people be a little more open minded and my husband and I find that our friends and some family are more than happy to accommodate our eating habits and most restaurants are happy to make something you can have if they can all you have to do is ask....it's crazy that people get uppity about food...soooo silly LOL
There are weeks that in my house, we have a 100% vegetarian diet. Mostly, when the good meat isn't on sale. I refuse to pay 5$ a pound for anything.
So if I met a veggieman that was right up my alley, I would consider it a cullinary challenge to cook for him every night, without anyone gettng bored with the meals.
The only time it would be a deal breaker for a relationship or friendship, is if a person constantly chastised me/my family for eating meat. I refuse to accept someone, who can't accept a friggin eating habit that's different than yours.
I would agree with this in part - I have been veggie for 20 years, my husband is a meat eater, we are raisng our daughter vegetarian. I live in a large farming and hunting area so if I wasn't tolerant I'd have no friends, my friends and family are awesome (except formy mother) and although they were skeptical about my ability to keep my daughters natural urge to eat meat at bay they are very supportive and bless them tell me things like, well we hope you don't mind we made dd soup because we brought ham sandwiches and we didn't want to give them to her :-)
It's strangers who are rude, I never tell people I'm veggie any more because of the bad attitude include one man at a shared dinner who told me and the whole group that I was already abusing my unborn child and would make a terrible mother and a cousin's oyfriend who spent 3 hours saying I just don't understand how you can't eat bacon?????? Seriously dude, not your problem
I eat meat. I have Vegetarian friends. I don't care who likes what. But I have also have my own opinion that some of the vegetarians that I have met are waaay more judgy than meat eaters. the meat eaters that I know may joke around a bit then they are over it. But the vegetarians try to push their eating habits on us and tell us how absolutely horrid it is that we are eating animals. Not saying that all vegetarians are like that its just some that I have encountered. I definitely don't like anyone telling me its wrong to eat animals. I don't make rude comments about your food choice so don't make rude comments about what I like to eat.
I think there's a good compromise: compassionate meat eating. that's where you only eat animals/animal products that have been humanely raised in proper conditions (sunshine, fresh air, fresh grass, etc.) with that style of eating, it's a nice hybrid - (at least part of) the ethical aspect of vegetarianism, but you don't have to sacrifice eating meat, which can be satisfying/healthy for certain people. i've switched over to buying local, organic, hummanely raised animals and i LOVE the change. yes, it's true the animals still must die in order to supply my meal, but before they do they have healthy happy lives (compared to the horrible feedlots in this country!) which i think should count for something. so i kinda feel in the middle. i respect everyone's choices though. as long as you're not trying to convert me into only veggie lifestyle or tell me it's not worth spending the extra $ on humane meat, i'm happy.
wow Angel Hayes, you just totally proved the article wrong! nice job!