961:
If you’re an animal activist, a vegan, a
liberationist or an advocate for the ‘voiceless’, you might have noticed how
alone you feel, even surprised that so few people have linked arms with you.
But you probably know why. You probably realise what a soggy bunch of
people we live amongst, and how dependent people are on such things as milk, eggs
and to a lesser extent, wool. No
ice cream in the fridge, no warm woollen blankets on the bed - the thought of
doing without these items prevents people from joining our ranks. If they
became animal advocates they’d miss these products too much and this is why
most people refuse to go as far as we (vegans) do.
So there’s the conundrum. We hate the
thought of animals being tortured but we can’t face a life without using
them (which always involves exploitation and execution).
Vegans face life without using animal-based
products. We disassociate ourselves from the ‘acceptabilities’ of our
fellow humans because they support this violence-by-proxy. We know that
almost all people are unable to resist the benefits of using animals. For
that reason alone, I’d suggest that humans can’t be trusted around animals
anymore than paedophiles can be trusted around children. Whenever we use
animals, we betray their simple-minded trust in us. We’re conditioned
to turn a blind eye to animal abuse whenever it spells food, leather shoes, silk
shirts or warm woolly jumpers.
That’s putting it bluntly, but it can’t
be written more delicately. That’s how it is. However, we must let
others know that the condition is curable, simply by using some initial
willpower, deciding to do without, or swapping over to products that are 'cruelty-free'.
Generally the human is a 'me-first' creature,
always taking what can be taken. Few of us are prepared to consider the
feelings of animals if that causes us any discomfort or inconvenience.
Almost everybody who isn’t vegan is in some way involved in the
exploitation of animals, yet almost everybody will deny this.
Vegans are, as far as food goes, plant-based
eaters. Our clothing too has no connection with animal by-products. We show that life is possible without using
animals for anything.
If people feel guilty, about the cruelty
and waste in relation to animals, then our job is to explain what is happening
to animals on farms and at abattoirs, without necessarily making non-vegans
feel even more guilty about what they eat or wear. Our job is tricky.
We have to explain things without sounding disapproving because that will
only drive them away. The idea is to explain it as part of the human
condition, a condition that can be moved away from me-first to me-second. I don’t mean adopting an idealised
selflessness, just allowing a consideration of ‘the other’, having more empathy
and seeing animals more as equals rather than as inferiors.
If animals are to be freed from being
our slaves, there will have to be large numbers of people, like us, who are
equally horrified by slavery - in this case animal slavery. The last
thing we need to do is to alienate people unnecessarily. They need to like us, learn from us, not feel
judged by us. But at the same time they
need to be completely clear about where we’re coming from. Our aim is to convince others not to use
animals for ANYTHING. To achieve this, to get past the mind-set of the
normality of using animals, we need a less-than-obvious approach that will
educate but not alienate. First, we have a few mind-sets of our own to
overcome. We need support, but it needs to be voluntary and arise out of
empathy. It must come from within and not be forced from without (by us).
The best support comes when there’s a deeply felt agreement, and the
doors of that agreement can only be opened if people detect no trace of value
judgement coming from us. Therefore we too have something to learn. We need to understand how difficult it is for
those who’ve known nothing different all their lives. Their difficulties
are real to them. The idea of changing from an omnivorous diet to a plant-based
diet is quite a big step forward. It’s likely that most people would
imagine great difficulty in making that change. But when they DO decide
to give it a go, they usually find it far less difficult than they imagined.
But whether it’s easy or hard, there
should be no confusion about what we are saying. This is not about how hard it is for us but
how hard it is for them. It’s
about animal abuse.
People might not be completely clear
about that. Perhaps they’ve been confused by the ‘vegetarians’, who only
put out half the message. For vegans, though, we go for the whole truth
or nothing. We explain the complete ugliness and betrayal. We make
that number one priority, and emphasise that it’s not about our own personal
health, but about the wrongness of animal abuse. Human health is a
secondary aim and certainly a bonus to those who only eat plant-based foods.
But primarily this is about healthy ethics. It’s about developing
empathy for animals, at the same time achieving a clear conscience for
ourselves.
Ed:CJ
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