A Conversation between You and Me

1839:

A Conversation between Me and You

People are afraid of getting tangled up in awkward situations, and veganism IS an awkward situation. Each fact concerning the treatment of farm animals can be a bomb shell, guaranteed to ignite an argument. Here’s a vegan, probing attitudes: here’s you, listening, and in too deep for comfort.

My dropping, as if out of the sky, some horrible fact about animal abuse, seems to suggest you make some sort of polite response. It’s usually in the form of a question, which aims to divert but only gets into even deeper water. For the average omnivore this is a conversation-trap. You’re either going to look foolish or look like a heartless bastard.

Which is why I’m suspicious of ‘horrible facts’, at any initial stage, whereas I think it’s important to find out asap, who one might be talking to and where that person is at.

In any conversation, where animal-use gets mentioned, if it won’t go away then we all want to have our say. Our strongly held views reflect our values. And I, for one, would be more interested in getting fundamental values clear – I’d suggest two questions:  

Are humans more entitled to be free than animals?

Is a sentient being more entitled to consideration than a non-sentient being?

Fascinatingly, we could spend a lot of time considering this. But what I’m emphasising here is that something happens in a conversation between you and me. I drop a tiny grenade into the converstion. Unexpectedly, and out of the blue, we have a situation forming between You and Me. My opinion : your opinion. And on this particular subject, vegans feel undaunted. We might have expectations of omnivores – we expect a response. At the same time you are more wary of me, and you realise the conversation is veering around towards animals, and the eating of them.

Facts are one thing. Your feelings about Me talking to You about Animal Rights is another.