(no subject)

[serene]

My response to a rant on one of my vegan lists, where the guy goes off on people who start a cookie recipe with a cup of vegan margarine and condemns people who eat fatty foods:

Here's my rant in response, worth what you paid for it. Note on tone: I'm not angry or saying that you shouldn't post what you want. You have your hot buttons and I have mine. That said:

I believe in joy. I believe in letting people find their joy where they find it. I think if people find joy in buttery cookies, they should be allowed to have buttery cookies without me looking over their shoulders and condemning them. I believe that the stress of facing the Diet Police every time you want to eat a fat gram is bad for your health, so I'm not doing anyone any favors when I scrutinize what they eat.

Treats are called that for a reason -- they're not usually things people eat every day, all the time, and not just because they're "bad for you", but because most people don't *want* to eat cookies all the time. If you went on an all-buttery-cookies-all-the-time diet, and you were not allowed anything else, I guarantee you those cookies would get old fast.

You know how we sometimes have posts here where some new vegan is saying "People keep telling me I need meat to get my protein!" and we tell them to just keep eating what they know is right for them, and never mind what other people think? Well, hey, I don't want to be that diet cop in the other direction. Other adults don't need me shaming them into eating what I think is good for them. They're not stupid, and being treated like they are is, I believe, counterproductive.

People who turn themselves into the dietary conscience of other people annoy the living shit out of me. I have been vegetarian for a total of more than half my life, and I've never seen the point in advocating compassion and health, then turning around and beating people about the head and shoulders with shame and condescension.

There. I feel better now.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I love you, you know.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yep, I know. I got it good.

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

Amen!

But now? I really want some buttery cookies :D

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm, buttery cookies!

How you feeling? I've been all wrapped up in Kidlet Patrol and forgetting to check on my poor sick friends!

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

I am so sick... and due to a screw up at the pharmacy I can't eveb start ny meds. :( ugh!

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

OH, no!! Can you change pharmacies or anything? Is it an antibiotic? If this happened to me, I would call my doctor (or whoever's on call) and explain it to them. Too bad it's after business hours. :-(

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

Well the screw up is that Ron didn't realize I had 3 prescriptions to pick up, and neither did the pharmacist. So, the pharmacy gave Ron one, he brought that one home... the rest are sitting at Walgreens. If I wasn't dizzy, I could go get them... and if Ron wasn't at work, he could get them...

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

:-( I don't often wish I had a car, but right now I do. :-(

[cerulean-me.livejournal.com]

Awww! Thanks :) I have a car! That doesn't actually help much *giggle*

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, but it's not where I am. :-)

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking that this is the second time today that someone has mentioned or posted something that made me really want snickerdoodles.

If it happens again between now and bedtime in an hour or so, then bedtime be damned. I'm making buttery cookies.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Well, far be it from me to discourage you from making snickerdoodles, even though I hate them. :-)

[j00j.livejournal.com]

...because vegan margarine is truly a horrible toxic substance...? Yeesh. Hmmm, cookies...

[ptor.livejournal.com]

Our vegan butter is called "Earth Balance", so we know it is goodness in a little tub.

And we're not ever giving up our olive oil either!

Nobody guilts us out of our yummy fats! :)

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

You are good people.

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

(standing ovation)

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

*curtsey* Thank you, ma'am.

[haleth.livejournal.com]

*love*

[mollyf.livejournal.com]

Although I appreciate what you say, you know you're going to get that on a group called "fatfree_vegan" occasionally.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yep, and after years on that list, they know I'm gonna challenge it.

It's not an actual requirement that people eating fatfree vegan diets become fascistic about what other people eat.

diet police

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

excellent post.

i wish people would keep their fucking advice for those times when somebody actually *gasp* ASKS for it, or writes in a way that makes it very clear that they're missing some salient information.

Re: diet police

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Right. If people had no idea that a cup of butter might be non-optimal as the centerpiece of a meal, or something, I could see it. If, as happens a lot on that particular list, someone says, "I ate this great healthy thing, and here are the ingredients" and it's clear that the thing has lots of fat, I think it's perfectly appropriate to point out that the food doesn't qualify as low-fat.

Re: diet police

[ailbhe]

I really, really want to lay the table this evening with a cup of butter in the middle, on a little saucer, with a sprig of something in the centre of it. On a doily.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

amen!

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. I'm sick of people treating me as if I were a stupid child just because I'm fat.

*many many hugs*

[firecat]

I believe that the stress of facing the Diet Police every time you want to eat a fat gram is bad for your health, so I'm not doing anyone any favors when I scrutinize what they eat.

Yeah, that.

[willendorf5761.livejournal.com]

Oh, good for you. On a vegan board I used to frequent, there was one guy who was the (self-appointed) Fat-Free, Whole Foods Enforcement Officer. There was a lot of discussion about animal rights on this board, and once the topic was whether it was ever OK to use prescription drugs that are tested on animals (the consensus was yes, if you really needed the drugs, because you can't help the animals if you're dead). I commented that if not for the prescription drugs I take, I would probably be dead by now. This guy responded that if I never, ever ate anything but whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables, with no added fats, I wouldn't need any medication, and that therefore every time I ate a (vegan) cookie I was complicit in the torture of animals.

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. that was a perfectly useless thing for him to say.