Why are vegetarians always associated with ethical vegitarianism? What about those who just don't like the taste or texture?

I was just listening to the commentary for The Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian", and I just had to get this off my chest.



What bothers me about this commentary is that the makers of the episode seem to think every vegetarian is a vegetarian for ethical reasons, and this is evidenced when one of them says, "This is what every vegetarian goes through, when they picture meat not as a source of nourishment, but as the actual animal it comes from." Okay... what about the vegetarians who just don't like the taste or texture of meat? Do they just not exist? Literally, every other food - most notably broccoli and Brussels sprouts - is disliked for the food itself; it's not like anyone avoids those foods for ethical reasons, like "it's cruel to kill broccoli" or anything like that. So why is it assumed that anyone who dislikes meat does so for ethical reasons, and not just because they simply can't stand the taste and/or texture?

What if they like some meats, but dislike others? That's the camp I belong to - I like KFC, Oporto, Nando's and maybe one or two others, but I generally dislike meat for the texture and the taste. And on top of that, I don't even get nauseous or anything like that when I see others eating meat - when I watch the Walking with Dinosaurs episode "Giant of the Skies", for example, and I see the Utahraptor pack eating the Iguanodon they just hunted down and killed, that carcass just looks so delicious! Like, I feel like I could eat the whole Iguanodon myself. Except that I probably couldn't even if Iguanodon were alive today, because I'd be put off by the smell, the taste and other factors. Ethical vegetarians, on the other hand, would probably revile in horror at that scene, as if it were a human being that got killed and eaten by the raptors (if not other humans), since for them it's not about the food itself, but rather that an animal had to die in agonising pain in order to get there (as was also blatantly shown in the WWD episode).

Just so we're clear, I have nothing against ethical vegetarians or vegans in general; I'm sure they have their reasons for not eating meat - but my problem is assuming that every vegetarian is like that. It's just as insidious a stereotype as assuming that all Australians are descended from convicts, or that every car will explode with the slightest impact; it just isn't true!

But aside from that, I do enjoy listening to these commentaries, and it's nice to hear the process that went into making these episodes. 

For the same reason that feminists are seen by some as bunch of man-hating she devils even though a great many of them aren't, and why a lot of people think any white, American man is racist even though a lot of us aren't: Because of a handful of people who give the rest of a group a bad name by acting superior and proselytizing to anyone who isn't in that group. The most vocal vegetarian/vegan people and the ones who people hear from the most often talk down to anyone who isn't a vegetarian and call them murderers.

Is it fair that one of those people targeted by a militant vegan sees all vegetarians as ethical crusaders who judge harshly?

No, it's not fair and it isn't rational in my opinion, but I think that's why the widespread image of vegetarianism is that it's an ethical movement rather than one of tastes or nutritional preference. I do think that most people who are vegetarian choose to be for ethical reasons, but I certainly know that not all of them are. And of those who are vegetarian based on ethics, a great deal of them aren't the down-talking holier-than-thou sort, but they get colored that way because of a few loudmouths.