At Mercy For Animals, we’re very thankful for all the engagement we get from followers on our social media. And our followers are an eclectic bunch: vegans, omnivores, and everyone in between.





While positive feedback and conversation on social media is essential to raising awareness and bringing about change, there’s a trend we’d like to address that we feel is very unfortunate: vegans being rude or downright mean to vegetarians.





First of all, really? I mean, really? We don’t condone being nasty to anyone, but why on earth would you lash out at people who are taking meaningful steps to drastically reduce their support of factory farms?





Currently 97 percent of Americans still eat meat. Yeah, you read that right. That means that vegans and vegetarians are a very small (but thankfully steadily growing) segment of the population. Instead of alienating one another we should be supportive, kind, and helpful.





Yes, of course animal abuse at the hands of the egg and dairy industries is sickening. Yes, of course we should raise awareness about it for people who may not know. But attacking those who are most likely already open to that information is just not a good strategy. Instead of telling people they’re horrible for not being vegan yet, how about giving them the benefit of the doubt?





And one more thing: We should always remember who we were before we went vegan. Most of us grew up eating meat. For a majority of us, going vegan was a gradual process. Today’s Meatless Monday enthusiast could very well be tomorrow’s vegan activist. Give people time to make the transition and figure it out for themselves.





OK, we’ve said our piece. :)





Whether you’re a meat reducer, vegetarian, or vegan, keep it up. Remember each of us can take a stand for animals every time we sit down to eat.



