The root of the problem

So: National Vegetarian Week came to a close on Sunday and in spite its aim to raise awareness, it seems to have simply prompted the same old prejudices. Although vegetarianism _was_ trending on Twitter on both Monday and Tuesday, it was not with encouragement for the cause, but rather criticism of anyone who chooses vegetarianism as a lifestyle choice or even simply participated in it for one week. Although harmless, it is my opinion that these tweets highlights a real problem: an undercurrent of intolerance within British society which is only growing stronger.

During the first few days of Vegetarian Week Twitter was flooded with tweets like ‘don’t forget to RIP living organisms’, ‘I will from now on be making all cows out of tofu’, ‘everyday millions of plants suffer at the hands of vegetarians’, and so on. While superficially funny, they actually highlight what many minority groups have to handle on a day to day basis. I am not claiming that the life of a vegetarian is impossible, or even difficult as a result of negativity, but it is taxing to have the same argument with any new acquaintance; this being ‘what’s the point of not eating meat?’.

Even though only 3 percent of the population of the UK is fully vegetarian, with 5 percent partially vegetarian, the fact that a decision as important as deciding to not eat meat is either ridiculed or questioned to such a degree is remarkable. Living in the liberal society that we do, it is often assumed that whatever decision we choose to make will be accepted. Yet even when the difficult question of ‘Why are you a vegetarian?’ is answered, a host of others often follow; all with the heavy implication that a wrong decision has been made.

The disregard for the vegetarian is often brushed under the carpet as ‘banter’, and many would state that it is merely fun and should be taken lightly. Yet I would argue that this highlights a greater issue, the narrow mindedness of the British public and general disrespect for minority beliefs and opinions. The emphasis society places on social media, along with websites such as truelad.com all worsen this by ingraining a stereotype of what is to be British. Although we claim to be accepting and liberal, it is undeniable that the British are incredibly judgmental; something any man not following the European Championship this summer will hold testament to.

Yet where does this judgement stem from? Loud and coarse reality television, or perhaps the gossip magazines which scream out criticism for the smallest of mistakes, hold some of the blame. But it can most probably be attributed to the widespread disdain felt towards political correctness and its apparent limitations, which many find oppressive and over the top.

While it is difficult to get the balance right between political correctness and a nanny state, it is also undeniable that things are often taken too far on various forms of social media. Everyone feels as though the purpose of such sites is to provide a platform for endless comment and criticism. While I do not dispute the importance of this, we do need a handbrake in place to stop us going too far, before comment and criticism become synonymous with bullying which in itself prohibits freedom of speech.

As much as the outbursts against Vegetarian Week may appear insignificant, they do highlight the root of the issue. Although thankfully we live in a society which enforces freedom of speech, and thus the right to offend, a balance has to be found to stop the never ending and restrictive cycle of criticism. How we do this, of course, is another matter.