Say much but say little

Danger of over-saucing the pudding
Non-vegans represent the vast majority of humans: vegans represent a minuscule percentage. Numbers of vegans are not increasing rapidly enough to make veganism fashionable. Vegans don’t stand out enough as being smarter, kinder, more powerful, more creative or more persuasive than anyone else, not noticeably anyway. We come across almost as conservative and unimaginative as the next person. There’s nothing much, other than appearing more healthy. If we have fewer self-destructive habits or better ethics they don’t stand out enough to catch people’s attention.
If we vegans want others to be drawn to our principles we need to be able to talk inspiringly, that is, use arguments that are watertight. We must be beyond reproach ourselves. We have to be squeaky genuine and we don’t need to go around telling everybody that we are ‘vegan’ either. That’s not because people don’t need to know but because it looks as though we are fishing for compliments or spoiling for a fight. If vegans can play down this side of themselves they’ll be in a better position to have some useful exchanges about ‘the animal question’ without seeming to be people who always have to press their point, like door-knocking evangelists. We must resist the temptation to try to convert people. Unless we are asked to say more we should say little. We shouldn’t volunteer too much information at once. Our answers should be specific to the questions asked. By easing up on the hype we stand a better chance of winning people over.