I have seen the word used in both ways, though I think that in this case the user was intending to use it to imply oppression, rather than simply meaning that they do not have a lot of users.

While you have a point, my immediate reaction was, “oh cool, now they’re trying to do it too” (I’ve seen tankies claim the same shit). When I probe my brain to try and figure out why that was a response, the result is my brain telling me that I’m hearing some kind of dog whistle but it won’t go into more detail about what makes that statement sound like a dog whistle.

Tbh, considering how unhinged they’re behaving (though at this point I think they’re doing it for shits and giggles), I wouldn’t be surprised if they truly meant it that way; it honestly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen someone on here try to claim something like that. I suppose that doesn’t mean they intended to mean it that way, now I’m curious if anyone else had a similar interpretation. I’m used to hearing people referring to racial, or gender, or ethnic minorities when they say something like, “I’m part of a misunderstood minority group”; and I know I’ve heard people from other english-speaking countries (other than the US) do it as well.

Religion, by itself, is normally not a qualifier when we refer to minorites, as that word normally implies an ethnic or racial minority. However, there are some religions with ethnicities tied to them, e.g. Jewish people, and Muslims, so the line can definitely become a bit blurred.

Jewish people are a minority in most places because of their ethnicity, not their religion. Muslims are often referred to as minorities in most places, because most Muslims are ethnically related, at least as far as the Western world is concerned.

Some also reuse the word minority interchangably to refer to religious minorities, political minorities, etc, which further blurs the line, but the most common use of the word is in reference to race or ethnicity.

It’s still a CHOICE. No one is born vegan; it’s a position that someone arrives at.

I understand that Veganism is more than just a diet. Its a lifestyle, culture, pledge to a certain set of morals, etc. It can be as important as religion is to a devout religious person.

A person on the Carnivore diet can make the same point. A person that subscribes to a political identity could also make your same point. This slippery slope leads to Nazis being able to call themselves minorities, because technically, Naziism is a culture, too, albeit a terrible one, and they are very thankfully in the minority of political beliefs.

Yes, and there are Muslim diets I’m sure, but Islam isn’t a diet either, for example. Just stick “veganism” into your search engine of choice and the credible sources won’t call it a diet.

And there’s surely people who are looking for traditional Muslim food without wanting to convert to Islam as well. Muslim’s would probably treat people curious about their food less hostile than those vegans would.

I suspect your willingness to assume the worst of what a vegan’s said

You can suspect that I assume the worst of any sort of human, especially when they constantly argue in bad faith and with hostile rhetoric. That being said, I don’t approach vegans at all. I just observe the constant self righteous shit flinging they do from the outside, or get unwillingly caught up in it because they can’t help but attack people even outside of their little radicalized bubbles.