Naive or evil?

I did expect this. Once again, an acquaintance trotted out the 'But Hitler was a vegetarian' argument. The idea behind this statement is to discredit the somewhat fatuous notion presented by some veg*ns that a plant based diet leads to a more peaceful and gentle nature, and that the world will never be at peace while people continue to eat meat. I personally don't give this much credence as it is patently unsupported by an kind of study, and (to my mind) is seriously disrespectful to both parties. It's precisely this kind of blanket statement that makes veg*ns seem like left-wing emotional fanatics. Speaking anecdotally, I haven't experienced any great differences in my levels of 'peace' since eschewing meat. When people piss me off, I get angry. Having a carrot doesn't help.

Anyway, here's some fun 'facts' (all from dodgy web-sites) about the evils of being a veg*n.

In Nazi Germany, practices such as vivisection were characterized as Jewish (by relating them to the ritual of kosher slaughter) and thereby vilified. Subsequently, reverence for the "rights" of animals was used to justify the oppression of Jewish people.

Vegans and vegetarians are now in a panic to produce articles denying that Hitler was ever a vegetarian, simply because they don't want him to be one. All of the people saying he was not a vegetarian are vegetarians and none of them are historians. None of them actually know for sure, but they feel that if they shout it loudly enough, people will have to believe them. Vegans are always an angry lot and are accustomed to having people back down from arguments with them.

Pol Pot and Charles Manson were also vegetarians. Pol Pot, a VEGAN.

From my (limited) research, Adolf's vegetarianism is a hotly debated topic amongst historians. Some insist he was, some say he ate ham, liver dumplings, caviar and pheasant on a regular basis. Goebbels speech is often used to 'prove' Hitler's vegetarianism, but frankly, he doesn't strike me as the most trustworthy of sources....

I don't give a damn if he was or wasn't. He also had a nose,-does that mean we should all chop our noses off to avoid comparisons? Bobby Fisher (the international Chess champ) was a raving anti-semite but this doesn't seem to stop people playing chess.

Equally annoying are the types that trot out Leonardo Da Vinci, Bernard Shaw etc as proof that veg*ism leads to a superior mind.

This may be a shock but there have been many many nasty veg*ns and meat-eaters around over the years. Less veges, but only (I posit) because there are substantially less of them in our populations (about 3-5%).

I am not more/less brilliant because I don't eat meat. I am not more/less peaceful because I don't eat meat. I have substantially reduced my ecological footprint though, and appeased my own (personal) feelings of guilt. That's enough for me. Oh, and I'm marrying a Jew.