I recently got a second job washing dishes for the sake of
saving some $.
I live in the facist-christian-bumper-sticker capital of the world,
and to call nearly everyone here "frighteningly sheltered" would
be the most eloquent, polite understatement I've ever made.

I get a free meal every shift and recently ordered a large salad and fries for lunch.

what resulted was a complete meltdown by the girl who was taking my order
about how unhealthy and plain crazy I am for not eating meat, and combining
salad with fries.

she apparently had only heard about my being vegetarian, as I did not include
a mention of that fact in my order.

this is just one of many examples of people somehow confusing my dietary habits
with a massive, ominous, militant declaration of intent to undermine the very fabric
of everything held dear by respectable people.

or so it would seem.

nothing else about me (which has always been seen as generally weird around here)
has ever solicited such feverish, rude, in-your-face reactions from anyone... ever.

I have been a vegetarian for 11 years and was fortunate enough to work in the natural
foods industry for 8 years (damn I miss it) so Im not at all phased by the premise of such
objections, but I wanted to ask your opinions about the place that such a passionate aversion
might come from...
why do you think it is that people are so hair-trigger sensitive about this?

in my personal opinion, I believe that eveyone has at some point
either thought about how grisly the meat idea is and / or felt guilty
about enjoying sausage, bacon and cheeseburgers because
they are uncomfortable with their weight.

I know that many here live in the west and in more advanced societies than I
so this may seem appalling to you, and I do not want to start a flame pit
but I could use some additional perspective on this.