Saturday, June 21, 2014

Dialogue between grown ups

1088:

Why can’t we discuss this subject of Animal Rights like adults?  Perhaps because we haven’t established any ground rules.  Certainly, we vegans want to discuss it, whereas most non-vegans do NOT want it even mentioned let alone discussed.  But if we ever do get to talk about it, before we can be taken seriously our adversaries need to be sure of some ground rules, which include our being fair minded.  We need to give them a chance to say what they think (without our jumping down their throats at the first opportunity), after which they’ll be more inclined to hear us out.
           
If I’m talking to anyone who isn’t a vegan, I mustn’t show any personal disapproval, it just gets in the way.  It shows I’m afraid of opposition.   If we ever get to talk sensibly about this subject, that in itself is an achievement.  That is already doing a lot for animal rights, just by having the subject aired.
           

For quite different reasons, discussion isn’t always easy for vegans – and that’s our fault, not anyone else’s.  I may have a lot of bottled up anger and frustration, and if that can’t be kept under control, I’ll never reach a mature standard of debate-behaviour.  I’ll just come across as a rat-bag who is easily dismissed.

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