Taking the initiative

As individual vegans we should obviously have a no-touch-animals policy – keeping it simple and understandable. From this stems the principle of harmlessness, and then all the other arguments for attitude change.
This principle manifests in the foods we eat and the relationships we have with one another. It starts at home, in personal behaviour. If we want to be independent thinkers we have to set our own standards. We can’t rely on others to set them. No one else is going to make the big decisions for us. For example, no government is ever going to close abattoirs. It would be political suicide if they did. Short of a catastrophe forcing their hand, it is surely never going to happen that way. We need to make changes for ourselves and let others be turned on by what we have done … until there are enough harmlessness-inspired vegans to demand change.
That may be a slap in the face for politicians, academics, spiritual big shots and the media, who will have missed their opportunity to become inspiring leaders, and then it’s up to them to fall into line with the current trend. Change will happen only when ordinary people begin to think for themselves and gather together to make their feelings felt.