A store owner has been branded a psychopath after displaying an “offensive” sign outside their shop.
W.M. Christie Family Butcher is a butcher shop from Bruntsfield, UK, that dates back to the late 19th century. Now, the meat store has come under fire after displaying what some people called an innocent joke on the sign outside their building.
The sign read: “Every day thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Help end the violence and eat meat.”
While the joke was well-received by many meat lovers, animal rights activists and vegans were quick to call out the store’s owners on social media and accuse them of ignorance.
The message went viral on Facebook after a photo of the sign was shared on a vegan Facebook group called Vegan Edinburgh.
Sharing the “offensive” joke with the vegan community, 22-year-old Jakub Dragon sarcastically wrote: “Spotted at family butcher in Bruntsfield, sooo funny!”
Later on, Dragon blasted the store and branded the joke as “nonsense” as he suggested the sign would “only bring anger” in an interview with Edinburgh Live.
“It only bring anger, and fights and I don’t find that funny. Surely eating plants is less damaging to the environment, and plants, unlike animals are not sentient,” he said.
Soon after the photo went viral on Facebook, plenty of vegans lashed out at the store with some branding its owners as psychopaths.
“Jeez, the ignorance is astonishing,” someone wrote. “Plants are not sentient and exist in synergy with humans and animals as a food source. You just can’t say I murdered a carrot. People will cling to all sorts of nonsense to justify murdering animals.”
Another said: “It would be funny if it: was funny, made any sort of logical or scientific sense, wasn’t encouraging people to spend money on propping up the most violent ‘industry’ that has ever existed, showed the slightest bit of empathy towards the victims of this ‘industry.’”
“And what does their meat eat?” the third added.
While most vegans were infuriated by the joke, some rushed to the butcher’s side and suggested the store owners have the right to joke in any way they see fit.
“Surely we can take this in good humor. These people are running a business that has been in their family for generations. It doesn’t mean we all have to eat meat,” someone wrote.
Another said: “They absolutely know this, for goodness sake, we need to be a bit less uptight. The family who own this shop are educated lovely people. Who make a choice to eat meat and run their business. The message is tongue in cheek. A bit of light relief.”
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