Facebook Vegetarians

People fight for many causes, and people love finding various causes to fight for. Usually the fighting does not include guns or knives, but words; written or typed words. Most of the fighting also happens online, on social network sites such as  Facebook and Twitter. Status updates, images and pages are dedicated to fight for these causes while making many others uncomfortable. Further, the fighting is usually about spreading awareness.

The causes of course vary from cancer or AIDS to endangered species and even ethnic differences. However, of these causes, vegetarianism is considered one of the coolest things you could fight for. You are even cooler if you are a vegan.

I have nothing against depriving oneself of meat. Of course if you want to take a step beyond that and deprive yourself of all dairy products, no harm will be done. It may seem a little extreme, but if your diet is still healthy and you are happy, be a vegan. I don’t know any vegans, but I do know many vegetarians. Some have chosen to give up meat later in their lives. Either they don’t enjoy meat anymore or they have religious reasons. The choice was made for some by their parents. They were brought up as vegetarians and do not wish to explore the alternative.

Then there are the Facebook vegetarians. As with most labels relating to Facebook, they too are incredibly interesting people. Status updates constantly remind us of the poor fish and cows that are being slaughtered at that very moment, just so we could shamelessly enjoy a meal. They share images that are simply gruesome to teach all meat eaters a lesson. They preach about the rights of the animals and how we commit the worst possible crime by eating meat.

Of course their fights are limited to the online world; we don’t see them freeing animals that await death. Most don’t bat an eyelid before they kill the mosquito, which after all was doing the one thing she could to feed herself. However, some do bring their battles to the outside world. Sometimes when you go for a meal with a vegetarian or vegan, you get a frown when you say the chicken dish looks good or when you order a fish bun, even though we all know they do not have any fish in them. When the food arrives, both the waiter and you are frowned at. Another frown comes your way when you bite into your food and so on. Some say they do not want you to eat meat while being so close to them, others tell you they have no issue, and yet their body language would suggest otherwise.

While you can avoid meals with your extremist vegetarian friends, their posts always manage to creep their way into your Facebook home page. You can ‘unfriend’ them, block their posts or hide them, yet, not many want to delete their friends over such an issue. So the only other thing you can do is make them feel uncomfortable too. It is always with joy that I put up posts that are anti-vegetarian. Of course these are not aimed at those who happily live with their choices, but at those who want to convert everyone else.

After all, it’s a cycle. Animal eats plant; man eats animal and so on. There is also a cycle on Facebook; friend makes post, argument follows, people agree to disagree, another post is made and the story continues. This goes on regardless of the number of people you block or delete. There’s always a cause to fight for. People always want to be heroes. Yet, as much as they have a right to post, there should be at least an ounce of consideration involved. No one, not even a saint, would want to open their Facebook on a bright and sunny morning to be greeted by images of slaughtered cows and dead birds.

http://www.nation.lk/edition/lifestyle/item/18264-facebook-vegetarians.html

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