https://www.vice.com/amp/en_ca/article/ev8q3e/we-asked-vegans-why-so-many-people-hate-on-vegans
The full article has better context with regards to what people are pissed off about so read it, but I just quoted the different answers for why vegans think they're disliked since that's the important bit.
"I've seen way too many Holocaust and slavery comparisons."
A lot of Toronto vegans are pretty angry at me for a piece I wrote on the controversy over Vegandale—a group of vegan businesses that have cropped up in Parkdale.
I wanted to explore that sentiment in a follow-up story, so I posted in a Facebook group for local vegans, and was almost immediately bashed for my article, and accused of being an anti-vegan sensationalist and a "garbage writer."
...
Luckily, a bunch of people were still down to talk to me. So I asked them why they think vegans get hated on so frequently and whether or not the Vegandale backlash was justified.
Mathusha, 26, Markham
Do you feel people think it's "OK" to hate on vegans publicly?
Veganism already gets a bad rep because of how obnoxious some vegans are and their 'morally superior' attitudes. I've come across a ton of white supremacist-type racists within the vegan space and many who don't really actually extend their veganism to *all* living beings, which includes other humans. So yes, I think some of the *growing* backlash might be due to a 'disdain' for mainstream veganism, but, generally, I feel that the backlash is more largely due to gentrification.
Alec Bosse, 42, Toronto
Is it considered socially acceptable to hate on vegans?
I do see that it is considered at this time socially acceptable to dismiss and make light of the ethical movement that is veganism. I see it happen regularly. It's easy to pass judgment when individuals are looking at veganism as a dietary choice and not recognizing it as a social justice movement. These aren't personal choices when there's a victim. People didn't like it when they were told that women were not treated equal. People didn't like it when there was more awareness around slavery. People didn't like it when there was more awareness around homophobia. If we applied the same logic and excuses that are used against veganism against those movements today think about how out of place it would be.
Darren Chang, 28, Toronto
Is it true that people are hard on vegans?
Darren: Yes, I do feel it's true that people are hard on vegans and that it has been made socially acceptable to hate on vegans. However, I think it's important to not conflate all the "hate" for vegans as the same.
There are many who simply hate vegans when they feel that veganism challenges their worldviews and habits on the basis of ethics and morality, and they try to shutdown veganism out of defensiveness, instead of opening their hearts and minds to the possibility of living compassionately and nonviolently with other animals. Many intersectional vegan ecofeminists have also pointed out that the disdain for veganism's empathy for other animals also has deep roots in misogyny, white supremacy, ableism, etc., because to feel love and care for other animals who are considered less capable and intelligent than humans through living veg lifestyles common in many non-white, non-western cultures, is considered a form of weakness and inferiority.
What's the other kind of "hate"?
I wouldn't consider it to be hate, but rather rightful critique of the mainstream capitalist vegan movement that is dominated by upper middle class, mostly white people, who have shown very little understanding or concern about issues related to food justice, poverty, systemic racism, etc. White veganism has a tendency to erase the existence of many POC vegans, and vegan organizations that are doing good work addressing social justice issues beyond speciesism or the domination of nonhuman animals, connecting animal-related issues to other forms of oppression as well. Food Empowerment Project, a nonprofit vegan food justice advocacy group based in California, is a great example of a POC-led organization doing this kind of work by supporting migrant farm workers and fighting for accessibility to healthy food in dispossessed and impoverished communities.
Paige, 36, Parkdale
Do you feel people think it's OK to hate on vegans publicly?
It's more socially acceptable than it should be, but there are obviously worse things people could be hating on like race, gender, sexual orientation… although the reasoning (or lack of it) behind hating those groups and vegans is similar. It wouldn't surprise me if someone who hates vegans also hates some other minority, people like that aren't reasonable.
The full article has better context with regards to what people are pissed off about so read it, but I just quoted the different answers for why vegans think they're disliked since that's the important bit.
