One would think going vegan or vegetarian – the now “lukewarm”, despised category – was a personal choice and nothing more. By now, it’s clear that it has turned into no less than a religion.

Harassment of non-vegans is very common (there are even videos of some taking fish others had caught and throwing it back in the water, which is theft).

When someone goes vegan and announces it (which most people do, or it gets out through their changed habits), they should be aware they are entering a network of social pressure and peer policing, especially on the internet. It’s not something they can take up and give up without facing an absolute shit storm (manure storm, more like it).

No reason is good enough for quitting, apparently. Feeling unwell, being told by a doctor to reintroduce animal products – even starting to develop disordered eating, which is something to really be avoided.

“You’re making excuses to continue being selfish! I feel sorry for the poor animals and the planet!”

They are somehow under the impression that them not eating meat will, in real time, save animals, as if their boycott affected the industry as a whole, in any way. Their refusal to buy the products does not mean animals will not be farmed as usual. Their choice impacts them and their health, as well as ego, for better or worse; nothing more.

The only way veganism would have an impact would involve “converting” the majority in each country, to the degree that demand would diminish and the entire industry based on animal products would be reformed or voted out of existence. That is not likely to happen, not in their lifetimes and certainly not tomorrow. Their goal is, basically, to convert the planet, akin to Scientology.

What is more, they are putting the burden of reforming the world on the shoulders of every ex-vegan, as if something terrible would happen when a single person started consuming these products again – which are readily available and consumed by the majority of the population daily. Again, Scientology.

Some go as far as forbidding the consumption of honey, as it’s exploitation of free labour. Bee Movie was just a comedy, FFS.

“You were never a real vegan!”

It appears that following the vegan lifestyle is not enough – one must take it on for the right reasons (to save animals and the planet). Going vegan to lose weight or for presumed health benefits doesn’t count – it’s still selfish. That’s what fundamentalists claim when someone quits a religion – you were never a true believer.

“You just weren’t doing it properly!”

If someone’s health deteriorates to the point of scaring them or making their lives difficult, encouraging them to continue is dangerous, especially after a doctor has already recommended they quit. After all, who knows which vegan fad is safer than the next one? I’m sorry but not everyone is willing to play Russian Roulette with their health, to appease the crowd.

“I hope you change your mind and become vegan again!”

It’s comparable to I hope you come back to Christ. If the person has already said it’s not for them, whose business is it to push them or try to guilt them into it?

Doctors beware – some vegans are outraged by you trying to help them

Last year, a young woman posted a video describing her doctor’s “condescending” attempt to get her to reintroduce milk into her diet and take capsule supplements “which we all know contain animal products”. Never mind that she had deficiencies and the doctor was trying to help. The responses were even worse.

“Name and shame lol 😎. These people are dangerous.”

“your doctor is trying to compromise your health imo.”

“This doctor’s medical license should be revoked. End of.”

Some examples of real comments on a video titled “Why I’m no longer vegan” (all such videos are swarmed):

“So instead of going back to eating animals, why not find a form of eating and living as a vegan which is sustainable and healthy for you and which makes you happy ??? Like you mentioned at7:50 , you fell into a trap that you created yourself. So all I’m hearing here are not really reasons for being vegan, just excuses, like:

– you feeling that you have to eat a certain way as a vegan and feeling unhappy when you do (which you could just change by eating vegan the way you feel comfortable and happy with)

– convenience

– taste”

“This! If she agreed with the ethics, she would not go back to eating animals. Ultimately, she cares more about her tastebuds and convenience than the lives of other beings :/”

“It seems like most people who stop being vegan or plant based never really cared about the animals at all. Once you make the connection it’s so easy to be vegan and thrive. no dieting, just eating real food 💛”

“gotta love all the people high-fiving her for being selfish.”

“be more specific. You tried not exploiting animals, but not abusing animals didn’t work for you.”
“So it sounds like you followed a plant based diet, you weren’t vegan. Veganism is a philosophy of trying to do the least amount of harm to all sentient beings.”
Actually, that’s called Jainism and it is a religion 🙂 . Except it’s a peaceful one.
“If you aren’t vegan you aren’t doing the world or animals any favor both on the micro and macro scales. We are rapidly approaching a ruined world (2050, i wonder if we can reach it safely) not being vegan when the world is at a peril is incredibly selfish.”
“All i hear is “me me me me”…our generation is so ego-centric. Do something for others! Not for yourself!”
You know, like encouraging a fellow human to continue on the path to an eating disorder, in order to stick to your ideology. That’s quite noble.
“I just…. wish you didn’t post this. Idk, I think you underestimate the influence you have on your community. I think it’s totally fine to live your live as you choose (although I would hope it would be as a vegan, that’s not something I have any say in), I guess I just wish you didn’t make this video and share it with an audience of people who really LISTEN to what your saying. Although you give reasons for why you can be vegan, the underlying message is that you have to be “strong” and “determined” to be vegan. Or that it’s “hard”. It’s not hard. And you could have just persuaded hundreds of people from not even trying or quitting before they’ve given it a chance. Just….next time, think about what you’re spreading.”
In other words, don’t you dare talk about a personal experience, for fear of sharing the negative sides of this proselytising movement.
Yeah… Sorry but you weren’t vegan. You were plant based for personal aesthetic reasons. By stopping being plant based you are just contributing greatly to the destruction of the planet, to the oppression of other sentient animals and actually to a worse personal health. It’s just a bad decision. Rethink it and roll it back please. We forgive you for temporary bad reasoning provided you go back and do a better research (emphasis added).”
Who’s “we”…? Repent and we’ll forgive you? Jesus Christ; what are these people like.
Other comments are worse – “fatty”, “low IQ” etc. There you have it. Someone says they can’t stick to veganism 100% of the time and they descend like vultures, in the hundreds.
Toxic, controlling groups never describe themselves as such. But as the saying goes – if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck and has got webbed feet…
I’m attaching an older post on the same subject.
Vegan Bullying Intoxication

January 7, 2016

In recent years, there has been an explosion of aggressive vegan propaganda, particularly on YouTube, where self-proclaimed diet gurus or we-can-save-the-planet types raise veganism to the level of a new religion. Some are so militant you might want to show kindness to the next Jehovah’s Witness knocking on your door, by comparison. Even while alluding you might go to hell, at least they don’t plan on putting a gun to your head, like this lovely woman here.

A strange phenomenon of our time, it seems the general understanding of hate speech is only designed to protect minorities. When the majority is targeted (meat eaters or omnivores in this case), even advocating mass murder is permitted. Though in some countries such innovators might be placed on anti-psychotics.

Besides straightforward preaching, what a lot of them do is upload purposely misleading videos with anti-vegan titles, to draw the attention of those who disagree with them. If you type search terms such as ”vegans are crazy”, ”vegans are annoying”, ”I’m sick of vegans”, ”anti-veganism”, ”I hate vegans” etc., the top results, if not the entire first page, will be more of their crap disguised as critique. As soon as you click on a video they will mock that opening statement (the title) and move on to praising their lifestyle choice. You will most likely find the word ”vegan” in the name of the channel, which is revealing enough to avoid clicking on it.

Either that or it will be intended satire all the way through (only intended as it is humourless) , sounding very much like this. Once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.

Therefore, if your search terms are positive or neutral, you get pages upon pages of their propaganda. If you type in negative terms, more of the same. It’s like they’re trying to push genuine critique so far down the list of results one  will give up trying to find it after clicking on 50 variations of the one mentioned above.

Also, it seems that when they congregate they manifest the same toxicity towards each other as a number of other SJW-type groups do. This blog, written by someone who has chosen to replace the ”vegan” label with ”herbivore” in order to break  all association with said community, details the demanding and judgemental attitude of self-righteous snobs putting down those among them they deemed ”not vegan enough”.

When one starts reading about today’s most popular movements, especially among young people, matters always seem to lead to cult-like dynamics hidden behind well-marketed fanaticism, where reasonable people are cast out as not worthy.