The starting line

1779:

Vegans want to be thought of neither as missionaries nor as being too mild mannered to speak up. We want to be taken seriously and have what we say considered constructively.

Whatever we say should be offered up on a ‘suggestion only’ basis because we shouldn't sound dogmatic. We need to be seen to show respect for the integrity of the person who is willing to listen to what we have to say. Whenever I get the chance to speak about animal issues and veganism, I don’t expect others to agree with me, in fact I’d be surprised if they did. But more importantly, I don’t want them to go home and forget what they’d agreed with and slip straight back into old habits. I don’t need to be humoured, I’d rather have dispute than polite agreement. I want robust debate. I want to encourage devils advocacy and try not to sound too know-it-all with the uninformed. I don't want to win converts but to get people thinking afresh, for themselves. The trick, as I see it, is to tread a fine line between informing and maintaining an equal footing. I want to guide information along what I expect will always be a very rocky and resistant road.

But however smart my approach, however slick my arguments, however nice a person I might want to seem to be, I know that I just represent just one side of the debate (to my mind, the right side!!). There’s always something valuable to be learnt from listening to the other side of the argument.

Since everyone wants to be right, does that present an insuperable obstacle? It’s a bit off-putting to meet and talk with someone who thinks they’re right all the time. Over these animal issues and nutrition issues, I suppose I must admit that I feel very right about the non-use of animals, but my feeling right doesn’t give me ‘the right’ to ear-bash anyone. If I’m given the chance to put my point of view I should, our of respect to that person, be short and to the point. Initially, there’s no need to go into great detail. I imagine that as much as someone might want to hear something about veganism, they also want to know how a vegan behaves - that we are fair minded. And that we aren't boring or dogmatic.

Once that's been established, then our aim should be made clear. We don’t ‘touch’ animals. This is the start of it all - animals are not used since humans always abuse them. This is the abolitionist position. If it doesn’t start there then it’s just a vegetarian diet with some extras bits thrown in for good measure, but without a strong and broad philosophical basis.