Reply #40: I think it's a matter of degree, Evo -

[enlightenment]

you suggest that your vegetarian friends are not pushy because they "at most" try to convince you to change your lifestyle, but meat eaters are assholes because they make snarky comments that hurt the feelings of vegetarians.

I look at that statement and see something different.

If my vegetarian friends tried to push me to change my lifestyle by evangelizing their own - "meat is bad for you; humans are not supposed to eat meat; killing animals is wrong, etc." - I would consider that "pushy." And rude. It may not be snark, but that sort of "convincing" tells me quite clearly that they find my lifestyle choices unacceptable and if I were a better person I would change.

I suspect that a considerable number of meat-eaters leap right to snark simply because they are sick and tired of being on the receiving end of an evangelical vegetarian's commitment to changing the world one meat-eater at a time.

Both sides are in the wrong - as to who is the bigger asshole, well, I suppose that depends on where you stand.