The insecurity train of thought is spot on, and honestly the reason I have zero sympathy towards it.Â
“Well, why *do* I eat meat? Not really for health reasons, if I’m honest with myself, I guess it’s just because I’ve always done it and I like the taste of meat. Hmm. Well, I guess that makes me feel kind of bad about myself. I’m going to project this feeling of insecurity onto this vegetarian fellow in the form of a "joke,” and surely I will be the first person to do so. Insecurity resolved!“
If this is *not* your train of thought, then I guess you’re secure enough in your life choices to leave me alone in mine. Of course there’s always the less confrontational sister to this, the “why are you a vegetarian?” which also tends to carry microaggressive undertones in the assumption that one need a reason why in order to stray from this inevitable omnivorous default (the answer is, as I mentioned, none of your goddamn business.)
Thing is, why the hell should I bear the brunt of other people’s insecurity when it does have a negative effect on me? It pisses me off.
This idea that vegetarians all proselytize (and please, spare me your anecdotes about this one teenager you met this one time who called you a terrible person for eating a chicken leg) is largely not the case, yet we have to bear the brunt of other people’s insecurity all the goddamn time, fighting against this largely unfounded stereotype of the crunchy vegetarian bogeyman, and we must take it graciously or it’s another case of crazy vegetarian.Â
At this point in my life, I’m sick of being cool about it. I don’t yell get angry, because often people who make shitty jokes are my friends, but I will call them out on it, and usually they stop. They don’t realize they’re projecting their insecurity, they don’t realize (or care) that they’re the nine millionth person to make that joke, they don’t consider that they are being patronizing, because, after all, it’s just “a joke.”
It also ties in to toxic masculinity. We’ve tossed Meat (capital M) into the same box with sports, physical strength, disrespect for women, guns, and big cars.
Vegetables in general, and vegetarianism in particular, ends up in the other box. The one with “CONTEMPT” neatly stenciled on the side.
I always kind of weenie out of pointing that out, but yes. This is absolutely, absolutely worth noting.
I started eating pescetarian almost a year ago, and I started calling these people “Meatsplainers.”