Consider the lobster

Innuendo Studios has a series of six videos called “Why Are You So Angry?”  The whole series is fascinating, but much of it is focused on GamerGate, a maddeningly complex and confusing skirmish in the culture wars, especially for people (like me) who are completely outside the gaming cultures.

The second video in the series is more broadly focused.  It addresses why people get angry at (for example) vegetarians when such people reveal in a social setting where meat is being consumed that they are in fact vegetarians.  Why is this, to coin a phrase, triggering on some level?

It just so happened that I had already been thinking about my reaction to a couple of vegetarian work friends when I encountered Why Are You So Angry? Now I wouldn’t say I was actually angry at my tofu-munching colleagues — I was just conscious of being ineffably and ever so mildly annoyed when I was reminded of their dietary restrictions, when we shared a meal or the like.

Now why was that? They certainly never proselytized for an asparagus-dominated lifestyle, or lectured about the evils of meat-eating.

But here’s the thing: Those evils are real.  If I were a better person, I too would be a vegetarian. And it’s extremely annoying to be reminded of that, no matter how unintentionally or inadvertently.

But at least I’m aware of the actual source of my annoyance.  Otherwise I’d probably be a Republican, rather than a guilty devotee of the deliciously seasoned flesh of various sentient creatures with who we share this rapidly warming planet.

Angry Jack: