I'm a
half-assed vegetarian, but I don't claim to be a
vegetarian. I'm sometimes mistaken for one; I eat
fake hamburgers,
fake chicken,
veggie subs, even
fake corndogs. But I also eat meat. I just tend not to. Even try not to.
Just like the feminist cause has suffered from
feminazis*, vegetarianism suffers from
militant vegan fuckers(
veganazis?). It doesn't suffer from people being
vegans, just from the pushy, confrontational, guilt-inducing jerks. Education is good, insulting people isn't. It would be better for the entire world to drop to one or two meat-meals a week than to have one one-thousandth of the world become strict vegans. At the very least it's far easier, and more practical.
Because it's gradual. Suggest vegetarians meals. Show your friends that there's good food without meat. Educate them about the health benefits for themselves, the health benefits for the animals, the cost benefit, whatever. Demand for vegetarian-friendly products will increase. Eating less meat gets easier. Being strictly
vegetarian gets easier, maybe even
accidental. Companies go out of their way to develop new meatless products. Maybe even eventually, after a century or two, the
human population becomes virtually
herbivorous.
Right now there's just a straight split. You're either
vegan, or you're nothing. If you eat meat once vegetarians insult and accuse you of not living up to their perfect standards. Yeah, way to alienate an
ally. That's the way to accomplish your animal-friendly agenda.
There is no word for people who "try" to not eat meat. No word for "rarely eats meat".
I got here almost accidentally. I like animals, I don't like meat. At some point I realized I hadn't eaten meat for several weeks, and thought I'd become a vegetarian. But there are
meals I like more than I like being part of the
Sacred Order of Vegetarians. I'm a half-assed vegatarian. There's nothing wrong with that. And I'm still on their side, even if I'm not a "real" vegetarian.