18.
Being conscious of
Animal Rights doesn’t stop at dietary change but at the principle of
non-violence. It is becoming a realistic possibility and inspiration. It’s possibly
the most effective panacea for this war-torn age (and needless to say, it
incorporates vegan principle). The only trouble is inconsistency. I’m troubled
by my own inconsistency as perhaps some of my animal activist friends are. We
love the idea of non-violence but applying it in practice is like a five year
old child refusing candy for fear of tooth decay later in life! The Animal
Rights Movement is still very young. There’s a need for all of us in it to grow
up rather quickly in the face of the current ethical meltdown. Our loose
grouping under the ‘Animal Rights’ banner comprises people who aren’t always
entirely clear what their main message should be or how they should exemplify
it. Be a strict vegan, be a hard-working activist, run an animal shelter, be a
nice person? We have vegetarians who still can’t take on a vegan food and
clothing regime. We have dietary vegans who can’t let go of their leathers and
we have sincere animal lovers who take on (albeit as a rescue) a carnivorous
companion animal which will require many other animals to die to feed it. How
can an animal liberation message be promoted by activists who preach one thing
and do another? I hasten to add that I don’t mean to sound harsh or extreme
here, but only want to point out how tricky this subject is, how many pitfalls
there are and how relatively new this Animal Rights consciousness is - to all
of us.
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