>I am wondering, if you could take a poll among vegetarians would you find
>that a great many have been victimized, and if you wanted to get all
>Freudian about it, would you find that this has anything to do with their
>decision to be vegetarian?

There's another angle that might be even more common although it's
not necessarily confined to dietary choices only. In my case, I was a
raw vegan and fruitarian for a number of years. Reflecting on that
part of my life (a dozen years), I would have to admit that a lack of
self-esteem and self-love played a major role. Now before y'all start
rolling yer eyes, let me quickly expand on this.

Without self-esteem, I was living a fear-based life. One of them, a
fear of being left alone, was instrumental in my adopting a vegan
diet, a natural hygienic lifestyle, a fruitarian existence. On such
an "extreme" lifestyle, I was able to feel special and draw attention
to myself. "Hey, look at me, I'm weird! I belong to a special small
segment of the world's population. Let me tell you why I'm special!"

When I had no need to "be something," I was able to establish a
dietary that was more suited to my biology.

Cheers,
Jo