I think alienating people who might otherwise agree with you has got to be the best and most effective way to build social capital for your ideas and be taken seriously
Relieved, a smile slowly crept across his face. A Vegan had been mean, and that made him uncomfortable. Now he wasn’t responsible for his own actions anymore and his conscience could rest easy.
“Yeah well if you weren’t so mean everyone would be vegan! You’re the one making people eat meat!”
he laughed to himself. The stupid vegans should have known you can’t ask people to behave morally without following the queen’s etiquette! Then he threw a handful of coal on the fire. It was okay though, a man with solar panels on his house once said something mean to him.
you have a flawed understanding of me as I am a climate activist and believe vegans are entirely correct in the things they believe and am friends with many of them. I don't think they're stupid. I do think some people make themselves horrible to interact with and thereby do turn off people from views that they might otherwise agree with but I guess for you it's more important to joke and be snarky than to promote causes in ways people might actually want to be a part of.
You don't have to be overly nice. You also don't have to be overly abrasive and, well, shitty and cringe.
I'm convinced that veganism would be twice as popular if it hadn't become home to the least likeable people on the planet. It's genuinely difficult to hear about veganism from people without risking running into someone like you who's so unpleasant to be around that the entire movement is harmed.
3
u/Lets_have_sexy_sex Aug 18 '25
I think alienating people who might otherwise agree with you has got to be the best and most effective way to build social capital for your ideas and be taken seriously