paulberserker, you’re my new favorite Doper, I love you! You’ve just beaten out Berkut for the single greatest comment I have ever read at the SDMB! 
What concerns me is the ‘no leather boots and belts’ demand. Face it, these are people breaking up bleachers and yanking lights around and what have you. You need good foot protection in that kind of job. And most toolbelts have significant quantities of leather in them.
It’d cost god knows what to buy an equivalent pair of non-leather boots, and I honestly don’t know where you’d find a vegan-approved toolbelt. So Mr. McCartney is interfering with their ability to do their job, costing them money, and creating workplace hazards.
Course, it’s his call to do so, but it’s not just the food that’s the issue here.
In the workplace, absolutely, because the employer has a right to limit what is permitted to be in the workplace. In the last four or five places where I worked, various food items were prohibited, from peanuts/peanut butter (allergies) to fish to popcorn in the microwave (because of the odor). If you wanted to eat the prohibited items, you went home or out or to your car during the lunch hour.
One of my prior workplaces, where the majority of employees were not American, had such a wide range of food issues (kosher, halal, ethical and religious vegetarian, heavily fragrant and spiced non-American dishes, etc.) and concerns about cross-contamination and cooking odors and whatnot that they eliminated the kitchens and instead beefed up the electrical so that employees could have their own refrigerators, coffee makers and microwaves in their cubicles. The only thing the company provided was potable, cooled water.
The fact that there are millions of people who don’t just survive but thrive on a vegetarian diet, including lifestyles which involve strenuous activity (my husband, for instance, is a triathlete) says that there is no physical requirement for meat to be a part of the diet of even a laborer. It is a choice. If these guys feel that they must have meat in their lunches for the few days of their employment by Sir Paul, then they can go outside (it is summer, after all, even in Norway) and eat their meat, then come back in and work. It’s not that great a hardship that they need to be whining or that Paul needs to be excoriated.
And frankly, the laborers would probably do themselves a service by not being so stuck in their ways that they won’t try the vegetarian fare provided by the caterers. It’s undoubtedly better for them than whatever slabs of dead flesh they’d be consuming otherwise, and probably tastes better too.
And that’s your opinion on whether vegetarian option tastes better, not a statement of fact. I never said being veggie was wrong, and was unaware that some workplaces enforced restrictions on food. I agree with prventing cross contamination etc, but thats not the point here. Who’s to say whether the roadies/lighting tecs/stadium employees wopuldn’t enjoy the veggie fare on offer? they probably would, but again, not the point. it’s the principle of the thing.
“You come to my stadium, in my country, and tell me what to eat and wear and use? Fuck you. You don’t want any leather worn while I do my job? you go out and buy me a veggie approved safety harness/ belt/boots then, you fucking get back tosser.”
My company’s primarily Jewish. I am not. Bring in a rule that says one fridge for kosher, one for normal food? fine. Bring in a rule that says no food but Kosher, i’m taking you to tribunal.
Shitty concerts by has been ‘My Brave Face’ militant veggie scouse cunts are not dictatorships, and nor are they entertaining if you know anything about music. Or meat eating.
I don’t understand why vegetarians seem to believe it’s some kind of morally better lifestyle to underatke over meat eaters. Guess what? Human beings are Omnivores!
Now i’m off to go gets me a bacon sandwich.
I can’t open the linked article. Could someone coopy and paste a couple of small relevant portions?
Specifically, DID he ban people brinigng lunch boxes? The articles I googled all had quotes like “He banned meat. We were only served salad and vege stuff” but to be frank quotes aren’t perfect and that could just be someone not speaking clearly.
At the risk of being an annoying git, cite? Catered veggie food has been some of the most astoundingly shitty I have ever come across, and I know whereof I speak, having spent a year trying to get our institutional canteen to make it even slightly edible. I’ve seen canteens serve chicken in a tomato and pepper sauce as the meat dish, and serve the sauce as the veggie option. There is no discernable correlation between veggieness and quality, nor for that matter between veggieness and healthiness, unless the gelatinous goo that filled our canteen spring rolls turns out to be some sort of super-protein. Lest you think I’m being unfair, similar complaints could be levied at the meat options (for example, chicken “cooked” solely by the warming lamps). I’m just saying that there’s no reason to suspect veggie food might be any better or worse than regular food. If the caterers are good, both will be good, if not, neither will.
Look, the OP was way off-base slamming all vegetarians because of McCartney’s actions, but your post really does typify a “we-know-better” kind of attitude. What happened to personal choice? Why does power have to be exercised? And incidentally, we seem to have gotten stuck on this red herring about it being only temporary labourers who are affected. This is not the case. Tours go on for a long time, y’know.
Honestly, why the fuck do people get so worked up about this issue? I understand where the PETA types are coming from - I think they’re being idiotic and extremely rude for the most part, but at least I see where there motivation is coming from.
Meat eaters though? Best I can come up with is “Oh no! There’s no meat! I’m going to starve to death because of the Eeeeeville vegetables ::cries::”
Yeah, sure. Paul McCartney is being an ass. It’s his right to do it - he can ban what he likes from the workplace (although I agree with E-Sabbath’s point about toolbelts, etc). He sure as hell is entitled not to cater for meat eaters - when I throw a party I sure as hell don’t cook meat for people. If they want meat they can eat elsewhere. If you want to call me bigoted for that, you can kindly go fuck yourself.
I’ll second the nomination for OP as stupidest post of the week. “You veggies, who are of course part of the monolithic Vegetarian Conspiracy of Doom, claim [thing that vegetarians don’t claim]. Here’s an example of one specific vegetarian who does [not thing that I’m accusing vegetarians of]. You’re all wrong! Ha! What’re you going to do about it now!?”
I eat Cannibals. In a double negative way, does that make me vegetarian?
I just want to clarify this, as I realised I stated it rather badly.
I’m not saying people should have to eat vegetarian food if they don’t want to. I’m saying that I can’t think of a good reason for the sheer level of hostility vegetarian food gets from a lot of meat eaters. (The level of hostility militant vegetarians who are trying to convert the world to their view get is another matter entirely, and I completely understand that).
I like most vegetarian food. I had a vegetarian breakfast yesterday, as the girl who cooked it is veggie. It’s the imposing of the all meat is bad type shite that’s in question here. I respect all peoples views on this within reason, but no-one is ever, ever going to convince me that:
a) Tofu is tasty food
2) McCartney should be allowed to keep on making music, or for that matter, breathing.
Only 2 more to go for that reunion all you Beatles mooks are so anxious to see!
Well, this is the thing, see; I don’t mind veggie food at all, some of it’s lovely. I cook about as many veggie dishes well as I do meat ones. And yet McCartney’s actions would really piss me off if I were working for him. People get worked up over this because not because of anything to do with vegetarianism itself, but because it’s someone trying to control other people. That always gets up people’s noses, no matter what the context.
Of course, once people get annoyed, you start to get anti-veggie diatribes, and those are just as dumb. But when you get right down to it, Paul McCartney is being a dickhead, and his crew members have a right to complain. That’s all they’ve done, after all; not tried to sue him or anything stupid like that.
Speaking as a vegetarian and a human being, I agree with you on every single point of this post. Tofu can be adequate food, but usually by disguising the fact that there’s tofu in it.
Dead Badger: The thing is, it really isn’t just hostility towards people trying to convert others. There’s a lot of hostility to the idea of being vegetarian at all. A lot of meat eaters (by no means all) get very confrontational when you mention you’re vegetarian, and many object to the very idea of eating a vegetarian meal. I guess it’s partially guilt by associatiation - there are all these militant vegetarians out there trying to convert people, so the rest of us get caught in the cross fire.
For the record, I also would be irritated were I working for McCartney, although I’d probably be glad that there was at least the chance of decent veggie food. Doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s within his rights to do this - unfortunately there is no law forbidding someone from being an ass.
This is true, but there should be a law forbidding McCartney from being alive and/or touring. Or speaking. And definitely displaying his ‘paintings’.
Veggie nut roast for a Sunday Dinner kicks arse. But the fact that I have a ‘For every animal you don’t eat, i’m going to eat three’ Maddox t-shirt must tell you something. Choose your own diet by all means, but keep that defenceless animal slaughter bollocks out of my face. Whether or not I eat it, them there cows/pigs/toucans is still going to be turned into tasty cuts o meat.
Well, I really don’t care how he feels about meat. If I worked for him, I’d be brown bagging whatever I wanted to eat. The food that he provides can be vegan for all I care, he’s paying for it so he can buy what he wants. Just because I’m working for him does not give him the right to tell me what I can and cannot eat… provided what I’m eating is legal.
I was under the impression that these weren’t his employees…they were working for the venue. If that’s the case, he’s wrong. I like Ol’ Paul immensely, but that’s just fucked up.
Of course, I think vegetarianism is fucked up, too…generally speaking.
The lousy sobs hate the human race as a whole because they treat animals with same respect and look down on the vast majority who do not as barbaric. Then the lousy cocksuckers start supporting legislation to discriminate in how humans treat animals attacking humans culturaly and economically. Paul McCartney is doing the same.
One note - this characterization of me as a militant vegan is hilarious. I have an omnivorous husband, I cook meat for him nearly every day, and never tell him or anyone else to not eat meat. I’ve helped hand-make sausage before. I eat dairy and eggs, I own a few leather products. I dissected dead animals in high school and college biology classes. I own pets who are truly carnivorous (your characterization as yourself as a carnivore is technically incorrect; the term does not mean “loves meat”) and feed them the proper diet for their species. At the meetings I attend at work, if there is no vegetarian entree I either pick the meat off if possible, or eat bread/salad/whatever may be available.
I missed the sentence in the original article about leather products - that’s just silly. He should be providing the alternatives if he’s that serious about it.
In that light, I’m just stunned at this knee-jerk reaction to what I said. I even admitted in the very first post I made in this thread that McCartney was being overbearing with this, and that people shouldn’t blame all vegetarians for his behavior. So why scream at me for being a “militant”?
I read in today’s Sun that he arranged and payed for the clouds above to be sprayed from a plane with dry ice so it wouldn’t rain during his show. This motherfucker really does have a God complex.
RAAAAA! MCARTNEY CONTROL WEATHER! MCARTNEY NO MEAT! KNEEL BEFORE MCARTNEY!
His pegleg wife can fuck off too. I invented going out with people called Heather, even if I don’t anymore.
Of course, if McCartney was actually preventing those people from eating, you might have a point.
But he isn’t, so you don’t.
Eating might be a pre-requisite to human survival, but eating meat is not.
This is an interesting point.
"And as for the smoking comments, smoking is not a prerequiste to human survival, whereas eating is.
Of course, if McCartney was actually preventing those people from eating, you might have a point.
But he isn’t, so you don’t." quote etc
Alright then high horse, how about the addition of having the right to eat meat is a prerequisite to human people trying to do a job in a stadium for some Uber rich wannabe dictator in town to play some shows for a couple of days before breezing out the way he came to go pollute the air somewhere else with his brand of pub rock Beatles coverbands survival?
And as for your last comment “This is an interesting point.”, your’s certainly isn’t. What the fuck does that add?
mer mer mer put up with it for a few days etc etc etc. They shouldn’t have to, just to satisfy this cunts ego.