[vintermann]

"This makes it a rejection of a lifestyle and a rebuke to the majority’s values"

That's the core of it, as I see it. No matter how discreet you are about it, when your choices implicitly condemn the majority's values, they won't let it go.

Take it from a teetotaller. Like most kids I didn't drink and avoided drunk people whenever I could. Unlike most kids I kept doing that. Strangely enough, I've never had as many invitations to parties - sincere ones, too - as after my peers found out I thought there was nothing for me in those parties and wouldn't go.

Even though I was easy to ignore, it was apparently preferable to get me there and get some reassurance that I didn't object THAT much to their habits.

I try to keep that it mind and not be that way with vegans. It should take more than the implicit condemnation of non-participation to make us uneasy; if it does, maybe we need to confront some things in ourselves.

[luckylion]

> No matter how discreet you are about it, when your choices implicitly condemn the majority's values, they won't let it go.

Weird. I've lived vegan for more than a decade and I've never had anyone say more than "oh okay" when I tell them in response to something like "you should try the steak, it's really good". Important to say that I didn't care if they ate the steak, I didn't argue with them, tell them what to do or ask for praise of my superior lifestyle.

[vintermann]

Well, are you a vegan for purely health or environmental reasons, or ethical ones?

If you follow a vegan diet/lifestyle but have no problems with anyone else's animal killing, I guess people will catch on and be relieved. But I'm also sure that if you do mind, people will catch on to that too and may give you unpleasantness over it.

[luckylion]

I did it for spiritual/ethical reasons, but I never tried to make anybody else adopt my views. I'm sure I would have had unpleasant exchanges if I did, but it's not like I'd be pleasant to be around in that case, so that wouldn't surprise me.

My point is that I doubt it's about the "I'm vegan" part that people react annoyed to. I'm pretty sure it's the "and you should be too" part that some vegans adopt, and they are the ones that people are annoyed by.