Veganism: Why food choice can spark rage

Vegans are resisting cultural norms, which people might subliminally consider to be an existential threat. People may see vegetarians and vegans as undermining the current way of life, even if this current way of life exploits animals.

TIM NEWMAN: ‘Currently, vegetarianism and veganism only account for 5% and 3% of the United States population, respectively. However, as the public profiles of these diets increase, negative reactions are becoming more visible. The question we are asking today is, “why should one person’s dietary choice make anyone else angry?” This question is complicated, and because it involves human emotions, the answer is likely to be multifaceted and vary wildly from case to case. On the surface, anti-vegan outbursts are counterintuitive — by deciding to harm as few living creatures as possible, vegans become a focal point of anger… Although the underbelly of vocal vegans certainly plays a part in some people’s negativity toward vegans at large, this is not the whole story…

For better or worse, the media can shape society’s opinions at large. Understanding whether the media is fueling a behavior or whether a behavior is fueling the media is another issue, but knowing how the media responds to vegans is informative. A 2011 study looked at how the print media in the United Kingdom reported on veganism. Of the 397 articles that mentioned veganism, the researchers deemed 20.2% to be neutral and 5.5% to be positive, while they considered the remaining 74.3% to be negative. The negativity in these articles came in a variety of different forms. Most commonly, the stories mocked veganism as being “self-evidently ridiculous” or characterized it as asceticism — a lifestyle practice that involves abstaining from pleasure to pursue spiritual goals…

Part of the issue, some argue, is that non-vegans feel that their identity is under attack. When a vegan mentions their dietary choice, a meat eater might infer, perhaps subliminally, that the vegan must consider them a supporter of animal cruelty. People perceive the act of being a vegan as a moral stance, and often, of course, it is. Vegans and vegetarians are generally against harming animals to provide food. As a meat eater, it is easy to consider that a vegan person — without saying a word — defines you as morally wrong. In short, we are aware that this group of people has chosen to show more care toward animals and that, by extension, we have chosen to continue not caring for animals. Acknowledging this can feel unpleasant…

Some researchers believe that malice toward people who follow a plant-based diet might hinge on “symbolic threats” to the status quo… Proponents of this theory think that meat eaters who respond negatively to vegans believe that a vegan’s dietary choices pose a symbolic threat to their beliefs, attitudes, or morals. Also, vegetarians and vegans are resisting cultural norms, which people might subliminally consider to be an existential threat. People may see vegetarians and vegans as undermining the current way of life, even if this current way of life exploits animals…

Cognitive dissonance describes our ability to hold two conflicting ideas, attitudes, or behaviors in our mind at once. When we encounter information that shines a light on these mismatches, it can cause mental stress and discomfort. In this case, our love of eating meat nestles deep inside our brain right next to our love of animals and a dislike of killing them. Some experts refer to this conflict as the “meat paradox” — people class certain animals as pets, some as wild animals, and others as farmed animals. Our whole society has become trapped in a paradox. On the one hand, we kill billions of animals each year, but, on the other, if someone mistreats a dog, they can face jail time. To rid ourselves of this mental suffering, we use cognitive tricks that help ease the tension. One way to relieve cognitive dissonance is to change our behavior and stop eating meat. If we cannot do that, we must change how we view animals’.  SOURCE…

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