
Yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with: a lot of people who eat meat get overly defensive whenever the subject comes up, and a lot of vegetarians/vegans get used to people reacting this way and are just as defensive/aggressive in turn. It's a great big cluster.... of a situation.
For me, if I'm overly defensive, it's because I'm not pushy at all, so if people say that I am, I get very pissed off immediately (basically, exactly what you experienced in that thread

).