

Hank Rothgerber, a social psychologist at Bellarmine University, Kentucky, thinks it all comes down to answering the question: how do we continue to eat meat? Some psychologists take another view – that far from being driven by factors within our conscious awareness, the widespread resentment we have for vegans is down to deep-seated psychological biases. On forums, vegans face bizarre accusations like “ only psychopaths like vegans enjoy tofu bacon”.īut are these really the reasons that people hate vegans? Not everyone is convinced. Other popular arguments include the perception of vegans as over-smug – as the joke goes, “How do you recognise a vegan at a dinner party? Don’t worry! They’ll tell you!” – and over-zealous a rapper recently cancelled a gig after the singer Morrissey insisted on an all-out meat ban at the venue. In the UK, a campaigner recently caused a stir when he revealed that he won’t use public transport, in case it runs down any unfortunate insects.

First up there’s the hypocrisy argument – the idea that vegans have blood on their hands, too – in the form of plant massacres, the environmental cost of avocadoes, and all the field mice killed while harvesting crops.īut even when vegans are consistent, this also seems to fuel their bad publicity. If you dare to ask, veganophobes have plenty of reasonable (and not-so-reasonable) sounding explanations at the ready.


This, it turns out, is a deceptively tricky question to answer.Īs the popularity of vegan life continues to gather pace, a tide of vitriol has risen. At one point, a passing onlooker asks “Why are you doing this?” In video footage of the bizarre incident, the pro-meat protester can be seen clutching the animal’s limp, furry body – sans head – while a stunned crowd waits for him to be arrested. In July 2019, a bare-chested, pony-tailed man turned up at a vegan market in London, and began snacking on a raw squirrel.
