How to be a vegetarian? (And also, why to be one?)

[The Grand Nudger]

If there is one thing I can say after being a vegetarian atheist for 8 years now, it's that the meat eater is almost as offended by the mere existence of vegetarians as the believer is offended by the mere existence of atheists.

When confronted with one, they lose the ability to brain and are reduced to slobbering trolls who need to taunt, tease and straw-man until they feel sufficiently reassured of their lifestyle.

Perhaps this is why meat eaters taunt you, rather than any dietary decision you've made?  

This is just slacktavism to feel good about yourself.

I find your attitude of -- apparently -- dismissing any ecology-inspired changes in personal behavior as "slacktivism", very problematic, even stupid. As if it didn't matter what the 7 billion people on this planet do. Liking a page on a facebook for saving starving children in africa, that's slacktivism. Changing your behaviour to reduce your footprint is not slacktivism, please!  Insinuating that all these people do it for selfish reasons and can therefore be dismissed might just be a bit of a selfish excuse on your side not to change anything about your habits. I'm not saying that it is.

Picking the broccoli over the bacon isn't going to save any trees, but it's easier than actually planting trees, or raising funds and public support for a wildlife refuge, or...well....actually doing -anything- that might achieve what a person set out to do by picking the broccoli.  What counts, ofc, is that it makes the person feel good, that one feels like they can tell others what they should do and criticize them for not buying in. As you did above, and as the OP did with the thread.

Slacktavism.

Now, you can imagine how that might irritate a person who hasn't bought into the marketing, or actually is doing something that will achieve the effect, eh? For example, unless sustainable ag models are supported and promoted there's no difference in picking the brocolli or the bacon. There is currently no known way of growing sustainable commercial vegetables that doesn't involve livestock. You either spread shit over your fields or you spread oil over your fields. If you'd like for us to stop spreading oil over our fields we're going to need -more- livestock production, not less...and it's going to have to be integrated (rather than segregated as it is now). I suppose we could go back to strip mining our fertility.....but.......that was even worse than oil is.