The other day I was acosted by a pack of vegans whilst I was in town doing a bit of shopping. After popping into the local sandwich shop to pick up a delicious bacon and turkey sub, I was verbally confronted by a group of teenagers who immediately started commenting on the fact that I was enjoying a bulging sandwich packed with meat.

“Meat is murder” came the vociferous outburst from the smaller of the teens. Being in a good mood as a result of the lovely weather, I felt compelled to reply, as such a puerile outburst can only be dignified with ambivalent silence. “I’m assuming you’re vegetarians” was my reply. “No”, I was abruply corrected, “we’re vegans, and how many animals died making that sandwich”. Considering that while at times I do have a voracious appetite I swiftly calculated that less than one whole entire animal would constitute the genesis of my lunch. Instead of actually answer the maths conundrum placed in front of me, I decided to ask them something relative innocent. “So you don’t eat any kind of meat whatsoever, including dairy products?” I asked, to which I was responded to by a mutual nodding of heads. “So no protein whatsoever?”, to which the nodding continued.

“So you’re technically a self harmer”, to which the nodding stopped. Bemused looks then creeped across their respective countenances. “No we’re not goths” was the reply. I then proceeded to explain that outright denying yourself the necessary amino acids found in protein is vital to a balanced diet. Denying oneself one of the core building blocks of nutrition is the same as causing yourself to lose animo acids like when you purposely cause yourself to bleed. The flabberghasted looks continued and merrily went on my way, eating my sub.

The reason I tell this story is because I am quite frankly fed up of being judged because my life decision is different from someone else’s. Does that make me a better person? Healthier certainly. But it does make you think, people who self harm are pitied and are crying for help most of the time. Whether it’s depression or angst, you would never advise someone to start cutting themselves. For a start it’s a prime way to get tetanus! But in its purest form, i.e. denying yourself or taking away proteins, like blood, then surely veganism is like self harming in a way? I like animals too, but there is a food chain as a result of evolution, and the human race would not have survived the evolutionary chain with the absence of meat.

So why do Vegans have to slap you round the face with their veganness? (if that is indeed a word). Why do they feel the need to convey the fact that they only eat plants? I don’t go running about to random people in the street proclaiming how much I like Steak. In fact, I don’t think anyone runs amok in a shopping district advertising their infatuation with animo acids.

But even a similar vein, do you see people who are lactose intolerant slapping yoghurts out of people’s hands? Granted that’s not their choice, that’s a dietry requirement, but 99% of Vegans will not have a medical aversion to eating animals, it’s purely morals. But as an average person, I am tolerant of people being different, until they make it an issue, until they make it personal, like it’s their religion, and all of us infidels must suffer. To be honest, all people with that behaviour are only deserving of contempt.

I understand people are all different, that’s what makes this world work, but intolerance for others breeds hate, and criticising someone for eating a sandwich is nothing short of infantile. If you are vegetarian/vegan that is your choice, I am not, and that is my choice. Making me out to be some kind of scroat because I live a different way from them just makes you look like a c*nt, hence these militant vegetarians who seem to fabricate this ridiculous moral high ground instead of accepting people being different is as bad as being verbally rascist or homophobic. If everyone who isn’t a vegetarian consumed a lion’s share of meat and/or working an abbatoir, then perhaps I would have some more empathy.

But while those vegans may have got my back up slightly by interrupting my day when they’re not sitting on park benches listening to Paramore, it made me contemplate how veganism is contradictory to natural selection. Lets look at a distribution of omnivores (as humans are omnivores) such as Pandas and Badgers. At one end of this distribution are the badgers which choose to not eat meat/protein/worms. Do the ones which choose to eat no meat, thus less food die out? Most probably. Yet due to modern science and careful selection of food like pulses for example, vegetarians can actually have balanced diets. But to say you eat no protein whatsoever, you’re just inviting yourself into a fragile immune system through your own choice.

But here’s my final point. As a normal diet person we have to be tolerant of vegetarian’s dietry needs, for example if you are hosting a vegetarian guest, you will go out and buy meat substitute like Quorn yeah? But if you go to stay with a vegetarian do they buy you some steak? No. So why is it that us non-vegetarians are forced to understand, regardless if we agree or not, yet it’s perfectly alright for them to envelop themselves with this righteous moral high ground. It’s inconsistent and I’m not having any of it. Lots of vegetarians preach equality yet strive for supremacy, and I for one will not tolerate anyone forcing their views on me, especially malnourished teenagers who look like the failed auditionees for Skins.

If that’s your life choice fine. I chose my own path. If mine differs from yours fine. If you find a problem with that, then you can get signal.