The Antidote

1656:

Most of us see a wash of seemingly insuperable, human-made problems and can't see a way through them. It makes us sad and it leads to pessimism. Vegans argue that, by boycotting what we find most wrong, we start to turn things around, both for ourselves and for others. By convincing ourselves why we should boycott, we highlight what we consider to be most destructive in our society. People who aren't in the habit of defending their principles fall so easily into the trap of submitting to those who run the show. They work for them, and then spend the money they're paid by them on goods sold by them. They comply with the exploitative production methods, and support the very worst systems whilst keeping quiet about anything they don’t like.

         

As soon as we drop our own participation in what we don't approve of, we start to drop our pessimism. But there might be some personal cost at first, since we have to get used to changing such habits as buying things we've always enjoyed. But reversing consumer compliance is the start to reversing the acceptance of dangerously destructive habits. On a personal level, it leads to a much more optimistic outlook on life. But it takes effort. For instance, by letting go of so many popular food items that are animal-based, we confirm and make clearer our ethical reasons for doing so - we go up against the popular attitude that say's it's okay to make use of 'food' animals.

The pessimism, the drabness of conventional attitude, the de facto cruelty people condone, the mindless compliance - all this is reversed by a simple boycott of products. As difficult as this might seem, it's the antidote to the main nagging worry and guilt over what we do against our own better judgement. Turning that around is the beginning of a cure to a very entrenched illness amongst humans - a feeling that things are never going to get any better.