Just curious.... Why are there hostile meat-eaters?

February 5, 2003

I have 4 working theories on why some meat-eaters act hostily towards

vegetarians, even if they simply mention they don't eat meat.

#1 Guilt theory- The hostile meat-eaters, or carnivorus infestus,

feel an unconscious guilt about their meat-eating. Your vegetarinism

has primed this guilt into their conscious and so they lash out

uncontrollably similar to the narrator at the end of Edgar Allen

Poe's " Tell-tale heart " , ( " it is the beating of the hideous heart!!! " )

#2 Projection theory- The hostile meat-eater feels on some level that

their meat-eating is wrong, and so your vegetarians serve them as a

constant reminder that they are a bad person. To protect their ego,

the meat-eater instead projects their negative feelings (unconsiously

of course) onto you, the vegetarian. This prevents them from

anxiety, as they can now say " I'm not bad, you are " .

#3 Closet-vegetarian theory- This theory is based on recent

psychological evidence that violent homophobes, or " gay-bashers "

often actually have repressed homosexual tendencies themselves. (e.g.

when men scoring high on a homo-phobia quiz were shown gay porn, they

became physiologically aroused). With closet-veggie theory, the

hostile meat-eater has vegetarian tendencies. However, it is too

horrific to admit so they repress the tendencies and attack all

vegetarians to affirm their carnivorousness, lest anyone suspect them

of being a " soy fag " .

#4 Jerk theory- The hostile vegetarians have a personality trait of

jerkiness, whether inherited or learned, which causes them to be,

well, a jerk.

So I hope I have cleared things up for you

, Pat Meadows <pat@m...>

> On Tue, 4 Feb 2003 15:22:44 -0800 (PST), you wrote:

>

> There's an awful lot of hostility to vegetarians floating

> around - and some from people who I'd have thought would

> know better.

>

> Myself, I don't understand it: I don't know why it exists.

>

> Pat

> -- Pat Meado

February 5, 2003

Is this a school project? Here's my take on your four theories:

1. At a subconscious level everybody wants to be healthy, and most know the

typical diets around us are far from that. I suggest that a few who can't

have it for themselves simply don't want anyone else to have it either. So,

it's less about " guilt " and more about not getting your own way...you know,

much like that whole childish thing we grow up with.

2. The insecure among us need enemies to make them feel better about the

demons that live in their own heads. That's what projection is all about.

Make that enemy the subject of all your anxieties, and you'll feel better

for it. When they do this to vegetarians and turn all veggies into drug,

crazed hippies or worse, everything they do is suddenly much better than

that.

3. Society have many forms of guilt to keep us hooked into its " rules, " and

sadly, we all need boundaries within which to validate our behavior as being

normal. Alienation is the single most important issue in today's world that

will make the rise of another Hitler possible. " Hate mongering " and " gay

bashing " are just two techniques that the less scrupulous among will resort

to in order to further just such an agenda.

4. Hostility is a behavorial trait that grows to fit the space that allows

it. I've noticed that when someone stands up to a bully, the hostility

usually ends after one final dust up. When no one has the guts to stand and

speak up, then it continues. I prefer to end those situation rather than

just shout " jerk " from a safe distance.

Just one veggie man's opinion.

DaveO

dave <dave4sale [dave4sale]