Denial

683: 

By their use of animal foods and by supporting the way animals are treated, most people are in denial. They protect themselves by only-doing-what-others-do. If they practise same-behaviour then they also turn a blind eye to the suffering of these ‘food animals’. The main obstacle facing the liberation of these animals is that there are so many people still supporting the trade; it’s not only ‘most’ people, it’s such a high percentage of the population that for them there is, ethically-speaking, a great feeling of safety in numbers. Everyone knows that everyone else is keen to preserve the status quo, knowing that if the flood gates of dissent were to open even a crack, that people would start to consider the part animals play in our Society, and experience a rather nasty shiver down their spine. So many goods and services would be put on the politically-incorrect list that life as we know it would be virtually unrecognizable in a short space of time; food would alter, confections would change, shoes would be different as would a lot of our warm clothing and bed coverings. And if such changes meant an entirely different lifestyle imagine how attitudes would have to change to keep pace. We’d then be much more open to what Animal Rightists are saying.

Those of us who are advocating rights for animals might try every known argument to persuade people to abandon animal-based foods and commodities, but we know that won’t happen till there’s a fashion change in attitude, a much greater recognition of what sentience means. I hate to use the word ‘spiritual’, with all its religious connotations, but that is more nearly what sort of revolution I am referring to.