1319:
In any sort of discussion on
animal-use we need to keep our cool because there are always two points of
view, each opposite view valid to one person more than the other. Before getting to matters of ethics and
cruelty, we must deal with our own survival, so the issue of food must be dealt
with.
Vegans who are dealing with
matters of vegan nutrition are challenging a food tradition which is accepted
as gospel: that animal foods are essential for health. By promoting a vegan diet, we are making a
case for the safety and healthiness of a plant-based diet. At the same time we’re saying that meat and
animal products are actually unhealthy. This
latter proposal doesn’t make sense to healthy young people, since they’ve been
eating meat and dairy all their lives and they feel okay. They’ll probably suggest we “Go tell it to our
sixty year old friends, not us”. Their
fear of illness seems to them to be a lifetime away.
It’s easy for us to get
bogged down in nutritional arguments and yet we do need to be sure we can address
safety issues. If we can speak
confidently about food, we’ll show that best by inviting genuine questions, so
that we can show that plant-based diets are safe and all nutritional needs may
be met from plant food. There are
safeguards we need to mention in some detail, in order to answer all questions
of safety. But, food is used as a
diversionary tactic, where it becomes easy for them to bog us down in
nutritional argument. It becomes a peg
on which discussion hangs its hat – the talk is all about ‘diet’, anything to
get away from the dark side, the cruelty of animal farming.
Our ‘return-point’ in any
discussion is ‘ethics’. This is where
compassion is ignited and where we can win people over.
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