A personal choice is a personal choice no matter the reasons you* claim*. Some chose to eat only “white” meat for their health- is that choice for health reasons a “higher value”? No, it is still a personal choice. Now, not eating p-nuts as you’ll die if you do so, that is no longer a personal choice.
Note that I had no problem with **otto **asking the Mgt for some veggie sandwich choices, just like I’d have no problem with someone asking for a turkey or whole wheat choice. Fair dinkum. But **otto **chose not to do so, thus he didn’t get his choice. If ottohad asked for veggie options and been ignored, he’d have a legit complaint- IMHO.
If you read my post, it’s once a month for all the people who have birthdays in that month. You have a 12/364.24 chance (not really, but I’m not going to do all the odds for all the months) of it actually falling on your birthday.
What I didn’t saw was that attendence was not manditory. If taking 20 or even 5 minutes out of your life each month to say hello to people is not your bag of tea, then it can be skipped.
We had a very similar situation at work today. We had our back-to-school meetings and luncheon. One woman is a vegetarian, and one is deathly allergic to shellfish. They’ve made this known to the person who orders the food.
We had cold cuts, a variety of breads and rolls, pasta salad, a green salad (no meat), chicken salad, shrimp salad and fruit salad.
The vegetarian ate the pasta salad, green salad and fruit salad and some bread, and the one who is allergic to shellfish was able to eat everything but the shrimp salad.
The point is, they made their food limitations known beforehand.
Yeah, I understood that from your post. I guess I wasn’t clear - if it was the month that my birthday falls on, it’s even worse. I don’t like being on display.
For what it’s worth, it’ll NEVER be on my birthday. That’s one of the perks of being born on a holiday, I never have to work my birthday!
Personally, I agree with you. But what I am wondering is whether you acknowledge that this is a distinctly minority view in global culture. At large, religious strictures are considered of higher value than mere preference. And do you see how when operating in the real world, it might be of practical value to go along with that (if for no other reason than to smooth over social interactions), even if on a philosophical level you and I might consider all preferences to be of equal value?
On the other hand (putting aside for the moment DtC thesis that Western vegetarianism is merely affectation), if you really do believe Meat is Murder, then isn’t it a necessary conclusion that your choice to avoid eating animal products is of higher value that mere preference?
They are, and if you are mostly forced into those beliefs by Society, then I understand. After all, it would be very hard to be anything but a follower of the Koran in Iran. Thus, there, not eating pork is more than a simple “personal choice”.
If indeed, that belief is held by the vast majority of Society, then yes it is a higher value than mere personal preferance. It then becomes both a personal and societal preferance. However, “meat is murder” is not such a belief; and not only is it a distinct minority in the USA, but it is a belief scorned by Society. That makes it entirely a personal choice. To take an extreme example, you may have a very strong personal belief that getting your picture taken will “steal your soul”: but the dudes down at the DMV will insist on a Photo anyway. You may have a stroing beleief that you must wear a tinfoil hat to protect you from Alien Mind Control, but they will make you take it off at the airport security line anyway.
(Of course, sometimes a Societal belief is enshrined in Law, thus that changes everything)
I doubt anyone was thinking, “Let’s fuck with the vegetarians and only order meat subs.” Either the person who ordered never gave it a second thought, or was unaware that there were any vegetarians in the group.
Should they have also asked if anyone is allergic to peanuts, to make sure there were no food items with peanuts?
Should they have ordered without cheese for people who don’t eat dairy products? How about a few sandwiches without bread for those who don’t eat carbs?
As a courtesy, and probably on the spur of the moment, they ordered from a place that SPECIALIZES in sandwiches that have meat. What did you expect?
Yes, even McDonald’s now offers salads and such, but let’s be honest, it is never going to be a hangout for vegetarians.
In the old days, when flights offered free food, you had to make sure to request a vegetarian or Kosher dinner long before the flight, otherwise you were out of luck.
Next time, do the same and remember to ask up front.
