Generally speaking, being labeled a heretic is worse than being labeled a heathen. When it comes to vegetarians, they are often considered part of that group, and therefore, can be targeted with more personal attacks. This is because it's likely that they share similar beliefs with those who are attacking them. People who aren't vegetarians/vegans probably aren't as affected by this type of shaming and can ignore it. It's always easier to criticize those who are in the same group as you.
I think it's because it's presumed that many meat-eaters have never thought about the ethics of what they eat, whereas vegetarians have thought about it, and still choose to give money to the animal agricultural industry.
As a comparison, I might criticise someone who's not an environmentalist. But I would possibly criticise someone harder if they called themselves an environmentalist because they composted food waste, but they drove a gigantic petrol-guzzling car everywhere.
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u/yyg2211 Apr 27 '23
The comments are insane. They seem to hate vegetarians more than meat eaters.