The talker getting a reputation

These days in conversation, I can speak up about what I believe in. But just because I think I’m right it doesn’t necessarily bestow any magical power on my arguments. As soon as I attempt to persuade people, I find they’re not putty in my hands after all. They can’t be moulded to my will. And just because I’m vegan doesn’t make everything I say be respectable. Therefore by being fearless with my words I won’t necessarily impress. More likely I will simply be irritating. If I’m too outspoken, I’ll either be ignored or have what I’m saying denied, if only (for them) to save face. If I mean to make people feel ashamed, that will lodge in their memory, and act as a warning for them in the future, that I am prone to moral lecturing. I’ll be resented for trying to evoke shame. To add to their own justification, they’ll not only see me as preaching but of boasting about my own achievement (of becoming vegan). Unless handled carefully, our "animal talk"might be intended to win converts but end up winning enemies. As Robert Louis Stevenson says: “All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer”.