Food magazine editor resigns after joking about "killing vegans, one by one"

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/31/food-magazine-editor-resigns-a.html

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Indeed! That topic would make for a great think piece.

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As a vegan myself, I am not at all offended. And as a vegan, which I am, I can say that vegans (again, I’m a vegan) are constantly faced with hostility from non-vegans (which I am not) all the time. Did I mention that I’m a vegan?

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The hostility is entirely understandable, and fertile soil for satire. But one would think a professional editor could set aside his personal shortcomings to encourage - yknow - journalism about food?

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It’s simple. There is one reason that the concept of veganism needs to be eliminated. It’s the idea that you can create vegan cheese, which is one of the most vile substances on earth.

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Yes, let’s blame all vegans, many of whom don’t eat vegan cheese, for vegan cheese. :eyeroll:

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I think there’s a misconception that vegans have a superiority complex and often brag about being vegan. Like the old joke says, “How do you spot a vegan at a party? Don’t worry, they’ll let you know.” I never experienced any hostility, personally, but maybe it’s because my friends and family are generally kind people.

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I’m curious about one thing, which I ask vegans from time to time when I meet them. In a situation where cannibalism is required for survival, would you as a Vegan, prefer to eat another vegan person, or a non-vegan person?

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This guy is an idiot. You got to do it on one fell swoop, or they will catch on and go underground.

I keed. I keed.

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Oh, I will. :eyeroll backatcha:

And I can tell that you do not protest my assertion that it is super gross.

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All the Vegan Bullying in my office comes from our Vegan Boss, but it is given and received in good heart. Much of their hostility is aimed at other Vegans for clogging up the eating spots and buying up all the newest Vegan treats so they can’t get any. I remember there being many angry words over the scarcity of Vegan Fish Fingers.

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This, and the jokes about vegans telling everybody about being vegan, are only funny if you’ve only met 3 vegan people in your life. To everybody else, they are terribly old and unfunny.

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Nice gotcha. Your needling hostility is the very sort of thing that would serve as a good example in a think piece about the oddly high levels of hostility generated, quite reflexively in most cases, by the mere mention of veganism.

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The hostility to vegans is entirely unmysterious; it’s because people don’t like being told off, particularly when they are in the wrong, and various interests have found it useful to foster a climate where it is considered much worse to criticise another person’s ethical failings than to have the ethical failing itself. (See also: racism)

I don’t see what it has to do with Brexit, though, other than that both are noxious byproducts of Thatcherism.

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This is Nimai Delgado. Vegan. Never had meat in his life. It’s amazing what a clean diet, stunning genetics and years of gym work can do.

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Is it different than Gordan Ramsay yelling and swearing at people over their food?

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This is PC bullcrap. Vegan, you better get tougher because it’s going to get worse.

I’m a vegetarian but I’m not religious about my choice. I don’t push my food choices on anyone. When I’m at a steak house, I have the salad.

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Yeah, the hostility is real. I think some of it is people projecting their guilt. I’m not vegan, but when someone tells me they are, there is usually a practical reason for it, like letting people know their meal options are limited. Other times they’re correctly pointing out how poor the conditions are for animals in farms.

If I feel a surge of hostility towards a vegan, it’s because deep down, I know they’re right.

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Do you crossfit?

Of course you don’t. You’d have said. :grin:

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Oh, oh, let me try!

In the circles I travel, there are people with deadly food allergies, gluten preferences, gluten intolerance, vegetarian, vegan, diabetic, and probably half a dozen other restrictions I can’t think of just now

It’s frustrating. For one thing, it makes sitting down at the dinner table something we can only really do once or twice a year.

While I’ve certainly seen some of these people weild their diet like a weapon, mostly they seem embarrassed to be going against the flow.

(I have decided a cockroach diet is mostly all I can afford to focus on, there’s too goddam much for me to worry about for food to make it to the list)

My frustration with all these specialty diets is similar to my frustration with the pronoun game people seen to be invested in nowadays. All you need to do is insist people stop gendering you, and now suddenly you’re trans!

Just as with veganism, its tempting to lay blame for this frustration at this person’s feet, and grumble that they’re the troublemaker for suggesting any change.

And yet… the food supply really is fucked up beyond recognition. And gender has been used against me like a bludgeon for my entire life.

So while I dont aspire to be vegetarian, I do try to eat less meat than is being pushed at me. And while I dont buy into the politics of those who refuse either male or female gender, I do try to pronounce their name the way they want it pronounced.

Everything is moving too fast anyway. Slowing down is a good idea, no matter how silly the reason might seem in the moment.

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