This. As a meat-eating EA who personally does think animal suffering is a big deal, I’ve found the attitude from some animal rights EAs to be quite annoying. I personally believe that the diet I eat is A) healthier than if I was vegan and B) allows me to be more focussed and productive than if I was vegan, allowing me to do more good overall. I’m more than happy to debate that with anyone who disagrees (and most EAs who are vegan are civil and respect this view), but I have encountered some EAs who refuse to believe that there’s any possibility of either A) or B) being true, which feels quite dismissive.
Contrast that attitude to what happened recently at a Los Angeles EA meetup where we went for dinner. Before ordering, I asked around if anyone was vegan since if there was anyone who was, I didn’t want to eat meat in front of them and offend them. The person next to me said he was vegan, but that if I wanted meat I should order it since “we’re all adults and we want the community to be as inclusive as it can.” I decided to get a vegan dish anyway, but having him say that made me feel more welcome.
For what it’s worth and as an additional data point, I’m a meat eater and I didn’t feel like this was a big problem at EA Global in 2016. For a gathering in which animal advocacy/veganism is so prevalent, I would have thought it really weird if the conference served meat anyway. The vegetarian food provided was delicious, and the one time I went out to dinner with a group and ordered meat, nobody got up in my face about it.
Yes, that was my general impression of EA global. I feel like most of the people who do get upset about meat eaters in EA are only nominally in EA, and largely interact with the community via Facebook.
This. As a meat-eating EA who personally does think animal suffering is a big deal, I’ve found the attitude from some animal rights EAs to be quite annoying. I personally believe that the diet I eat is A) healthier than if I was vegan and B) allows me to be more focussed and productive than if I was vegan, allowing me to do more good overall. I’m more than happy to debate that with anyone who disagrees (and most EAs who are vegan are civil and respect this view), but I have encountered some EAs who refuse to believe that there’s any possibility of either A) or B) being true, which feels quite dismissive.
Contrast that attitude to what happened recently at a Los Angeles EA meetup where we went for dinner. Before ordering, I asked around if anyone was vegan since if there was anyone who was, I didn’t want to eat meat in front of them and offend them. The person next to me said he was vegan, but that if I wanted meat I should order it since “we’re all adults and we want the community to be as inclusive as it can.” I decided to get a vegan dish anyway, but having him say that made me feel more welcome.
Oh wow, thank you! That’s so awesome of you! I greatly appreciate it!
For what it’s worth and as an additional data point, I’m a meat eater and I didn’t feel like this was a big problem at EA Global in 2016. For a gathering in which animal advocacy/veganism is so prevalent, I would have thought it really weird if the conference served meat anyway. The vegetarian food provided was delicious, and the one time I went out to dinner with a group and ordered meat, nobody got up in my face about it.
Yes, that was my general impression of EA global. I feel like most of the people who do get upset about meat eaters in EA are only nominally in EA, and largely interact with the community via Facebook.