Letters to the Editor
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Meat eaters will save the WORLD!!! YAY
You think you’re sensitive about meat eaters? No one gets more defensive than a meat eater when he/she is confronted with a vegetarian. They immediately bring out the old stand by ‘carrots have feelings too’ this witty little line just helps to cement their ignorance. They also bring out the arguments about meat’s nutritional value, how men have eaten meat since the world began…, and then they say “I just couldn’t live without the taste” and all this comes out just because I am usually forced to admit that I don’t eat meat. I have never ever told anyone how or what to eat. I simply want to be left to my own decisions. What I’m trying to say is when meat eaters respond so consistently to my admission of being a vegetarian. Think how defensive they must get when a vegan starts preaching to them about slaughter and leather etc. and then avoids their company because of their meat eating. Can any of you defensive meat eaters out there tell me why you feel so threatened by skinny little vegans? They will always be outnumbered and it will never be hard to avoid them while you’re eating your meat and claiming to be helping end child slavery and world hunger… You wonderful righteous people.
Note to all Vegans:
Eating dairy products does not mean you’re depriving little baby cows of their mother’s milk. I used to own a milk cow and as anyone who knows anything about cows knows…most babies just can’t eat enough to keep mom comfortable. So that means someone must milk her to keep her from the pain of swollen bags, she dosn't care what you do with the milk.
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Have your liver enzymes checked first
I don't know how much the LW's vegan diet depends on soy protein. I am assuming that it does quite a bit. If this is wrong then please ignore what follows. If this is right then please pay attention because it could save your life.
I cannot eat soy. I have some genetic thingie that causes an autoimmune reaction in my liver if I consume phytoestrogens.
When I eat soy or flax, the first sign something is wrong is emotional intolerance. I get really intolerant of other people and highly reactive emotionally. I can't communicate and I feel just like the LW complains of feeling.
The LW could be experiencing problems caused by an inflamed liver and/or thyroid. (The two often come together and can both cause depression and anxiety.)
Before considering psychotherapy, the first thing I would recommend for the LW is a complete medical examination, including a check of the LW's liver enzymes and throid function.
Most people can tolerate soy just fine. But some people have a genetic susceptibility for autoimmune hepatitis, and those people need to stay as far away from soy as they can get.
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Hey ungrateful anonymous person
You think you’re sensitive about meat eaters? No one gets more defensive than a meat eater when he/she is confronted with a vegetarian. They immediately bring out the old stand by ‘carrots have feelings too’ this witty little line just helps to cement their ignorance.
I think you're the ignorant one for failing to realize that plant life is even more complex and delicate and sensitive than animal life and needs to be revered just as much.
I'm a gardener and I've learned that plants do sense their environment.
You have a central nervous system and that makes you think you can just murder anything that doesn't have one.
But Nature is far more complicated than you have room to admit in your imagination.
We have to kill to eat. That's just a fact.
You can't gloss over that fact by only killing things that are rooted into the ground and can't run away.
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I agree with not suffering fools gladly.
I agree with not suffering fools gladly.
Alternatively, if I am wrong and the letter is real, I think Cary needs to start giving two pieces of advice more frequently (a) visit a physician to rule out a physical issue and (b) visit a therapist. When any particular issue, fear or phobia begins to interfere wth your daily life, it's time to seek outside help (assuming the writer's inability to continue to go to the grocery store isn't complete hyperbole).
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Coping mechanisms
I apologise in advance, when I read the letter, all sorts of mean nasty jokes and ripostes went through my head. But there would be no point. All it would do is encourage greater extremism, and thats my greatest fear for this person. I know it hurts to see animals suffer every day. You think its bad in America, you should see how they treat animals in the middle east and Asia. The world is awash in suffering for both humans and animals. Don't try to hold it all in your head at once. Don't feel that greater activism and more extreme direct action is the answer. All you can control is the inside of your own house. Out in the world, do what you can, but don't give into the voice shouting "Please STOP!" Because the world won't.
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Being a vegan is great
So is anything you do to make the world a better place, including marching for justice, buying organic, cutting down on driving, tutoring children, investing your money responsibly or just being a kind and caring person.
Your particular way is to be a vegan and that's wonderful.
That may not work for everyone else. Not everyone feels called to do the work you are doing. You obviously don't feel called to do the work that others do. How would you feel if a person very into stopping domestic violence got angry at you for not spending every available minute volunteering at a shelter?
If you want to be happy, rejoice that you have found something that matters deeply to you, put it at the center of your life and rejoice that others are around to attend to the issues that don't interest you.
Live your veganism. Let your joy in it be so infectious and comprehensive that others are drawn to it by your happiness, not driven away by anger or scolding. That's the best way I can think of to effect change.