the art of indifference

Being part of The Vast Majority allows people to get away with things, like downgrading the importance of subjects, even when they are obviously important ones. We dismiss certain issues as if we were brushing a fly off our sleeve. But behind every rebuff meat-eaters make, they are observing the golden rule, of never letting ‘the subject’ get a foothold. These issues about how we treat animals must never become the subject of polite dinner table conversation.
To stop the vegan from shouting their mouth off, they must be sprayed with a little social ostracism, just as we would spray an annoying fly. It can be done by belittling, ignoring or avoiding. Each indifferent or hostile response is saying that it is immoral to waste time listening or participating in this kind of talk. Meat consumers (who represent at least 95% of all people on the planet) reckon they have a mandate to refuse to be bothered or intimidated by all this ugly information about animals, and they have the right to their view that “it is essential to eat meat”. It’s something most of us learn when we’re young and it gains strength from universal practice – “as long as most people do it, I can do it”. The norm overrules ethics.