Arrogance-free

485: Inevitably I always resent the arrogance of the majority, which stirs anger, frustration and ‘judgement’ in me. I get angry because I don’t succeed in persuading them: and the more I want them to change the less they seem to comply. As an activist I’m familiar with factory farming techniques but I know most omnivores aren’t aware or choose not to be. I know that if they knew, they’d see the connection – they’d find out where their favourite foods come from, then see how ‘all of it’ should be off-limits. So, I come back to square one, that whatever I say to people about the cruelty of it all, it’ll be like water off a duck’s back. What choice do they have? And for this I judge them … for selling out to convenience and personal pleasure. And that judgement poisons any constructive chance I might have with them. I think the only way to break the impasse is by looking deeply at myself – is my behaviour counterproductive? Is their indifference and my judgement inextricably linked? Let’s pick on me for a start. I am judging a person for doing what their contemporaries do, what they have ALWAYS done and what they’ve been brought up to do – to use animals. It’s part of the fabric of life, as they know it. I paint them black and refuse to see them any other way. They deserve no mercy since they show none to the animals. They don’t respond to routine animal cruelty and refuse to see it as wrong. We both see arrogance in the other. Each judges the other for their faulty reasoning, on this subject of ‘animal-usage’. You might hate me for criticising you and being an arrogant purist. I might judge you for being shallow and hedonistic. According to each perception the other side seems arrogant and therefore flawed. As long as these perceptions remain fixed nothing can move on. My suggestion is that you have no reason to feel warm towards me or to persuade me your way, whereas I DO want to persuade you my way, and so for that reason alone I must try to break the deadlock between us. All I have to hand is my imagination and a determination to find a way to make sense to you without you wanting to run away from me.