Hm, okay ... so the issue, korrelan, is that you think I'm asking for *special* treatment? That wasn't my intention. I'm asking not to be casually mocked. I'm asking people not to insult me by implying that I only follow my lifestyle because I'm too clumsy to have other options. And I'm asking people not to treat things that cause me (and Ivan, it seems) pain as laughing matters. Those are graces that I want to extend to anyone else here, and I *thought* those were graces that were part of normal polite human interaction. We all make mistakes with humor sometimes -- it's a tricky thing -- but if you learn that a joke was hurtful, if you learn that you were laughing *at* rather than laughing *with* someone, I thought that saying "sorry" and choosing not to make such a joke again was generally the right thing to do. As far as I can tell, I'm not requesting anything beyond common courtesy. My particular reasons for finding this particular joke off-putting are somewhat rare, but I don't see how that's relevant.
Apparently "educate" is a condescending word, and I regret using it ... I was, again, just signaling that I was upset, and explaining the potential negative ramifications of a joke like this, IN MY OPINION, which I have the right to express. I know that Art made the joke in ignorance, not realizing I would be upset ... so I told him. Perhaps, now that he knows, he won't repeat the joke. Again, I think it would be common courtesy if he chose not to repeat it.
I don't believe I ever claimed that meat-eaters were disgusting, or anything of the kind -- and see, I *don't* go around teasing them by saying that they're all just bad gardeners. I said it was callous to treat animal death and some people's averse responses thereto as fodder for jokes, but that's as far as I went. And I did dare to claim that a plant-based diet is altruistic/beneficial, but arguing *for* something is not the same thing as smearing anyone who doesn't follow it. If you take it as disrespect when someone praises or defends a lifestyle that you currently don't practice, you're more sensitive than I am.
Your idea of "equal treatment" seems to be, "Art and I get to mock you, but you don't get to tell us that you feel mocked, or otherwise stand up for yourself." And apparently my impressions of what is disrespectful are "opinion," but your impressions are "the obvious" and "what everyone else already understands." Are some people more equal than others here?
So you will no longer make jokes that imply vegetarians are incompetent, then?
Yes I will, if the occasion arises…
But there it is ... I'm having doubts that you are actually interested in mutual respect. All is well as long as 'you' get what 'you' want, and what you want is to make jokes, regardless of whether they can come across as rude or demeaning. If you really do think that it's okay to insult vegetarians, then I don't think I have anything more to say to you.
