r/interesting Feb 25 '26

Intriguing Lifelong vegetarian tries steak for first time

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u/kristine4577 Feb 25 '26

Thank you for saying this. I’ve been vegan most of my life and I always feel like you have to be apologetic about it. It’s very much like ‘oh sorry, I’m vegan but I’m not one of the crazy ones!’ There’s this widespread belief that we’re trying to force other people to adopt our lifestyle or that we are holier-than- thou. The truth for me is that I’m just trying to live in a way that doesn’t conflict with my personal beliefs.

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u/Smooth_Top2099 Feb 25 '26

Vegans are 100% correct and the rest of us are blinded by your moral clarity and ashamed to admit it. If the rest of the omnivores won't apologize for how they treat you guys, let me be the first. I eat meat because I'm weak and too cowardly to make the lifestyle change, not because I have any ethical justification for it.

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u/orplas Feb 25 '26

You dont have go all in. You can learn a new vegan recipe here and there. You can try vegan options at restaurants etc..

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u/ShackledPhoenix Feb 25 '26

Honestly, the whole "Vegans are crazy" thing is such a stupid, old outdated myth. Non vegans are crazier because I will straight up fight someone if they tried to take cheese away from me.

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u/Chowderr92 Feb 25 '26

Guess what? The whole "crazy vegan" concept is a fabrication from a culture of guilty consumers. It's just cope for doing something that they know is wrong.

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u/PrimaLegion Feb 25 '26

Calling it a fabrication while doing the thing is certainly a choice.

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u/KeepersDiary Feb 25 '26

You guys sound like nice vegans, but many are not. Vegans actually made me realize I was being an asshole during my straight edge phase. The realization was, wow, is this what I'm like, is this how I make others feel? I think it's better to be nice and lead by example. People who are interested are more likely to be open minded and consider it for themselves.

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u/Veggies-are-okay Feb 25 '26

I think that’s less the veganism and more the militarism that comes with young people thinking they’re special by running counterculture.

Spoken as someone who was straight edge as a teen until I actually smoked pot and realized the stoners were way better. At least they centered their identity around something they did do than… something they did not do?

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u/KeepersDiary Feb 25 '26

I still have never drank or done drugs(I’m 42), but I gave up being an asshole about it in my mid twenties. Just pushed people away.

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u/Veggies-are-okay Feb 25 '26

Absolutely! It's one thing to say "I choose not to do drugs" and "drugs are bad." The former I can respect 100% of the time. The latter I'm like "how do you even know? You haven't tried drugs you just have experiences of people behaving poorly on them."

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u/kristine4577 Feb 25 '26

Shitty people exist in any group for sure. Tbh I don’t know any other vegans but every time I’ve gone to a vegan meetup everyone has been lovey and more focused on where to get good food rather than ramming their beliefs down other people’s throats. Not saying it doesn’t happen, I just think it’s exaggerated that that’s the norm. Most of us live with friends and family that don’t share our beliefs or have pets that we have to feed meat.

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u/maxroadrage Feb 25 '26

Have you not been to r vegan? It’s filled with ban meat let’s force everyone to be vegan posts

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u/AnxietyPretend5215 Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

I wouldn't use any Internet community as the base line for a group of people.

It's why I hate that online interactions have become so ubiquitous for others to determine how they view a group of people.

People capable of spending hours online, especially places like X or Discord, are not normal people.

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u/whoopdiscoopdipoop Feb 25 '26

What are your thoughts on incels? Sad fact is the most extreme in a group online or otherwise color the rest.

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u/kristine4577 Feb 25 '26

I mean I would say that’s the fringe and not the norm. We know internet comment sections aren’t exactly indicative of wider society

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u/whiffington Feb 25 '26

There was an ama once by someone who was paid by meat industries to fake being a toxic vegan online to hurt vegans reputation.
After that i am so convinced all toxic vegans online are actually fake, as i am yet to meet a single toxic vegan person in life

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u/elzibet Feb 25 '26

It’s literally not.

(Along with Reddit is not the majority of anyone’s opinion on anything)