1905:
The public may have ways of
not responding to our horror stories. We don’t lay enough stress on the need
for the consciousness-raising of the culpable public. It’s their shopping
choices which keep the whole horror thing rolling.
Our target must be the
omnivore, the ordinary Jo who doesn’t think of herself as an omnivore, who has
never given much thought to where her meat or milk comes from. The ordinary Joe
who doesn’t think about his egg being laid by an enslaved and abused hen. All
they know is that there are a few people who feel strongly about animals and eating meat.
The main confusion is over meat
being unhealthy or not. But I think it’s up to us to make sure that people know
that meat is unethical. We all have a conscience and if vegans come along and
tweak it, the omnivore feels insulted. Most omnivores can handle doing
something that’s not healthy but can’t accept they’re doing something morally
wrong, in eating animals. They’ll agree that vegans are healthier, to divert
their attention from the caging and killing side of things. But surely, this is
where we will start to make an impact, when we move on from health issues and
get down to emphasising empathy and sensitivity and softening of attitudes. Surely,
as vegans, we are waiting for the penny to drop, waiting for them to see what
we’ve seen, and respond the way we’ve done.
The image of a struggling,
howling young orphaned lamb being manhandled into the killing chute at the
abattoir, or the chicks being thrown live into a blender (for being male
instead of an egg laying female) is enough to stop us in our tracks. Whether we
continue on again, with our normal diet indicates what strength of character we
have; if we can accept such cruelties we won’t bother to find out about all the
other cruelties.
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