ok vegans....

[erika]

By way of comparison, it would be pretty rude to ask a person in a wheelchair questions about their mobility unless you knew them pretty well, or to ask a gay person questions about their sex life, unless it was in some sort of fairly intimate or therapeutic context.

I should hedge my questions about someone's dietary habits they way I would treat a question about a disability (wheelchair) or their sex life, which is something uniquely personal? It's that sort of delicate topic?? You nice guys need to toughen up a bit.

[Sploops]

Anyone see Nightline the other night?  It was about this guy called 'Fergus the Forager' AKA 'the Roadkill Chef' http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2985074&page=1 

I consider myself a pretty hardcore vegan but I like what that guy's all about.  heres his website - http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/index.html

For me the choice to become a vegan was for ethical reason and everything this dude does seems to be under that same credo but he takes it to the extreme!

[TVD]

Anyone see Nightline the other night?  It was about this guy called 'Fergus the Forager' AKA 'the Roadkill Chef' http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=2985074&page=1 

I consider myself a pretty hardcore vegan but I like what that guy's all about.  heres his website - http://www.wildmanwildfood.co.uk/index.html

For me the choice to become a vegan was for ethical reason and everything this dude does seems to be under that same credo but he takes it to the extreme!

who0aaaaaa, i'd be just like that guy if i didn't hate being outside so goddamn much.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

By way of comparison, it would be pretty rude to ask a person in a wheelchair questions about their mobility unless you knew them pretty well, or to ask a gay person questions about their sex life, unless it was in some sort of fairly intimate or therapeutic context.

I should hedge my questions about someone's dietary habits they way I would treat a question about a disability (wheelchair) or their sex life, which is something uniquely personal? It's that sort of delicate topic?? You nice guys need to toughen up a bit.

OK, then how about asking someone about keeping Kosher, or Halal?  Wouldn't you handle that with a modicum of respect for the dignity of the person you're asking?  The fact is, overreaction or no (and I thought it was - I was actually defending you) nobody likes to be treated like a curiosity.  Let's take something completely neutral, like reading comic books - I would find it annoying if one person after another kept asking questions that made the normal set of assumptions about comic fans, like "when did you learn to read real books?" or "aren't you worried about getting laid?"  In fact, I do find that annoying, but I spend so many of my waking hours in the company of other nerds that it rarely comes up.

[erika]

I DIDN'T TREAT HIM LIKE A CURIOSITY!

I asked two very legit questions. Not about his [personal] reasons for being a vegan. But I wanted to get a general feel for whether or not some vegans still enjoy the TASTE of meat (aka eating soy fake meat products vs beans and grains) because I know that when I go for vegetarian food, I *don't* go for those foods. I tend to eat the veggie burgers that don't taste like meat, because I'm looking for something different.

I was curious. If I kept kosher and people were curious about it, I would tell them and I wouldn't make them feel like a monster for asking about it. When I was the only jew of all my college friends, some of whom were religious christians, and they asked me questions, I answered them with respect. I didn't tell them to fuck off. And I was, most certainly, a curiosity to them.

I appreciate you defending me, Jason, but even comparing me asking a question like "Hey my buddy always used to crave meat -- do you have the same problem?" to asking someone about a disability, their sexuality or something rude like that still makes me feel like a dick. And I don't think I deserved that.

[Tim K in DC]

I eat meat and fish, but I respect vegetarians and vegans and understand their dietary choices enough not to (backhandedly or otherwise) ridicule them for it (unless I have unwittingly done so, which might just be part of the issue here).

Seriously, though, can we add this one to the "can we stop.." file? Because the one thing I am taken aback about from this whole thread is the level of real anger flying back and forth. This is one of the only online forums I keep coming back to because of the respect people show each other here. This isn't the Noiseboard or Lemmingtrail, this is the FOT. Animosity is (or at least was) never an issue, and it fucking shouldn't be. We all should strive to keep it that way, regardless of what we choose or choose not to eat.

[KickTheBobo]

[Tim K in DC]

That's one way to stop it.

[Sploops]

Fellow FOTs, please stop fighting.  You're tearing me apart!  It is kind of a pain to have to answer questions about my lifestyle as a vegan but it doesn't offend me that someone is curious.  If I don't feel like answering I don't.  That's why I've stayed away from this thread. Asking a vegan or fruitarian or whatever about their lifestyle is not analogous to asking a homosexual or handicapped person personal pointed possibly painful questions.  That's silly. 

To answer the question about craving meat - I do not crave meat but I do get a mighty hankerin' for cheese and I haven't found a satisfying vegan alternative yet.   Sometimes I'll dream that I have eaten meat and I get angry/disapointed with myself but then I wake up and am relieved it was all just a dream.


P.S.  If you like/are interested in that Forager guy, you might be interested in freeganism.  It sounds cool but I am too germaphobic to go rooting around in the garbage for my dinner.

[Andy]

I respected vegans for their choice before this thread, now I hate them.  All of them.

[erika]

To answer the question about craving meat - I do not crave meat but I do get a mighty hankerin' for cheese and I haven't found a satisfying vegan alternative yet.   Sometimes I'll dream that I have eaten meat and I get angry/disapointed with myself but then I wake up and am relieved it was all just a dream.

Thank you Sploops. 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I third or fourth the general affection for the boards and the congenial atmosphere here, and I don't want to beat the topic into the ground.  I actually don't even care that much.  But, just for the sake of my own credibility, I do want to be clear that I wasn't accusing Erika of treating Colin or TL or any other vegan as curiosities.  Nor did I mean to draw any kind of equivalence between veganism and disability, sexuality, or comic book fandom.  I was just trying to explain why I thought Colin got so pissed off and assumed (possibly incorrectly) that I could do some sort of neutral peacemaker thing.  I honestly don't think anyone's being a dick here, really.

Ugh.  This is turning into one of those solipsistic threads about the thread itself.  Fucking kill me now.  Anyway, I'm out, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Though another thing I like about this board is that we're all pretty good at forgiving each other for being dicks once in a while, which I think is actually a much healthier attitude than some kind of oppressive niceness.  So there's that.

[Stan]

 Shut up Lamont, you big dummy.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Shut up Lamont, you big dummy.

Do not...  take bait...  Ng...

Aw, fuck, I posted.  Thanks a lot, Lamont.

[Stan]

Shut up Lamont, you big dummy.

 Clearly I didn't mean anything by that, I was just padding out to this, my three hundredth post.

 Thank you all for coming and good night.