1134:
I think there’s support for
veganism, in theory but not in practice. Ideally our arguments are attractive but for
most omnivores they hate the idea of giving up so many things.
The logic goes something like
this: we have, within vegan principle, the inspiration of non-violence by way
of the food we eat and don’t eat. At
every meal I’m conscious of acting ethically and thinking things out for myself.
Non-vegans eat what they like and think
much the same as everyone else, regarding the ethical provenance of their food.
We think plant-based eating and
liberating food-animals important, whereas others do not. At least, for them it isn’t important enough
to break with convention.
So I have to keep returning
to the drawing board, to ask myself what it is we’re really facing. It isn’t just a stubborn mob of meat-heads,
but people with certain difficulties, preventing them taking on any big
personal repair plans. They don’t
believe it’s possible, to change the habits of a lifetime. They do know the essential facts. They recognise the ethics involved, but
they just can’t or won’t act on them.
They know that much of the
food they eat is NOT ethically or nutritionally sound. And doing the maths, you can calculate the rate
of damage done by counting the thousands of meals a year eaten, for every year you’ve
lived. Damage has been done to both body
and conscience. But who wants to admit
they’ve been wrong for all that long time?
If we want to restore the
balance, and make things right, we won’t do it by making politically correct
gestures. It can’t be done by making a
few token changes to the shopping list. The
problem still remains unaddressed. To
stop violence to animals, it comes down to forgoing MANY of one’s favourite
foods (as well as other commodities). This
is based on self-denial for the sake of a higher principle. In that way one can move over, not only into
new food but into new thinking. In daily
reality, it means moving into another world. This is the world of never looking back, of plant-based
foods and non-animal clothing and a deeper respect for sentience.
Put that way, perhaps I’m
making it look like a massive undertaking (for me it was, for others it’s not).
But the benefits outweigh the
sacrifices. I was a cake junkie, and now
I never go into a cake shop - the vegan principle not only makes a lot of sense
but it keeps us away from dangerous substances, which laughingly most people still
call ‘food’.
For any one of us, this sort
of change to veganism is both exciting and daunting. All those years of eating and liking animal
foods - as with any addictive substance, getting ‘clean’ is hard. And if there’s any doubts, like safety, it
won’t take much to muddy the waters, enough to let people take the easy way
out, and stick with what they know.
The Animal Industries survive
and thrive. Making up the conforming
masses are the duped people, willing to comply with the advertising message. They allow themselves to be attracted to displays
in food and clothing shops. They follow
the recommendations in the ads. They end up putting their money where they’re told
to put it. They accept the nutritional
advice from media ‘experts’. They do
what others do; regular usage of animal foods and commodities prevents the
uptake of any negative information about animal foods or farm-animal treatment.
And there’s no guidance coming from
‘above’. In fact, almost every person
with any standing or influence in our society, be they spiritual or educational
leaders, will always remain silent on these issues, simply because they’re
‘users’ themselves. For them to speak
out against any of this would lose them support, or ruin their position in
Society. So much, for those leaders of
our society who live by higher principles.
Despite all this, many are
seeing through the weasel words of The Authorities. They’re breaking away, not only attracted by
the logic of vegans’ arguments but because the can see how heart breaking it is
for the animals. They’re deciding to
change despite all the personal inconvenience of such a change.
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