Don't be.

[nurbldoff]

(Note: this "rant" is not about vegetarians.)

As I'm writing this, I've just finished a delicious vegetarian burger from a small place just outside my building. After I ordered it, while waiting for the burger guy to finish it, I overheard a middle aged woman saying something about "vegetarians" to her husband. She was obviously referring to me.

Not that I detected any particular hostility or anything, I just found it interesting. The thing is, I'm definitely not a vegetarian, I just happen to enjoy vegetarian food and this particular place has great veggie-burgers. But from my order, she apparently thought she could deduce that I was a vegetarian, and in her eyes  I was.

What does it mean to "be a vegetarian"? Well, not eating meat is one common definition. Some self-proclaimed "vegatarians" seem to eat fish though. But anyway, it's not hard to produce a reasonable sounding definition. BUT! Say I'm calling myself a vegetarian today, absolutely avoiding meat (and fish), but change my mind tomorrow and start eating meat again? Was I ever a "real" vegetarian? Most vegetarians weren't born vegetarians, at some point the decided to "become" vegetarians. What about them?

In fact, what would I "be" of I claimed to "be" a vegetarian all the time except when I was eating meat?

Okay, that's a weird example, but my point is this: there are lots of categories that SOUND like they mean something, when in reality they don't, partly because humans aren't static systems. They change.

The only "meaningful" definition may actually be: "I'm a vegetarian if I choose to call myself a vegetarian". This is not as meaningles as it sounds, because it would still be pointless to call yourself a vegetarian if it wasn't saying something about your eating habits; language is about communication. But few people seem to realise this, thinking that "vegetarian" is some intrinsic property. Some people even get angry if you claim to be a vegetarian if they know you ate meat yesterday.

Well, I guess this is all pretty obvious to anyone who has read e.g. RAW (I suppose the majority here) or Korzybski. But still, I think more could be done by Discordians to cure this disease. Because it IS a disease; labelling people in this way and believing in the label allows people to treat other people as if they're made of cardboard. Muslim, christian, atheist, scientist, gay, schizophrenic, goth, emo, jock, nerd, politician, worker-class, discordian... putting any of these labels on a person will instantly make you feel some way about them, right? You suddenly feel like you know something important about them, when in reality, you know next to nothing.

What can we do? I don't know, but by not acting according to people's expectations, you can perhaps make them too think twice about making assumptions based on categorisations. Of course, you have to be careful or they'll label you as "weird" and nothing you do will seem inconsistent. Just act normal, but subtly change some of your "opinions" or "tastes" or "beliefs" now and then...

Don't be!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Exactly.  Twisting your likes to the tastes of society around you is the first big step on the road to Pinkness.

If you're a vegetarian, be a vegetarian.  If you're not, don't be.  If you want a veggieburger, have one, and those around you who insist on "judging" you, or pidgeonholing you, can just fuck right off.

Are THEY paying your bills?  Are THEY eating your burger?  No?  Well, to hell with them, then.

TGRR,
Liked that rant.  A LOT.

[Cain]

First off, I can sympathize with that.  I actually like certain veggie burgers, meat free pies etc (usually because they are healthier) and get the occasional odd look, probably because people know I'm not a vegetarian.

As for the labelling thing, that brings back some odd memories from my Knowledge and Reality modules I did a while back, about trait clusters and all sorts of other nonsense I probably would have understood better if I hadn't been tripping, sleeping or somewhere else.  Bundle theory may be of interest to you, which can be found in Hume and, to a degree, Buddhist writings.

[LHX]

if you cant (or wont) join em

beat em


this is exactly the kind of shit that gotta go