self deprecation goes a long way

We should do as comedians do. They risk everything by laughing at themselves to get their audience on side. They get the human dynamic working for them before doing anything else. As activists, we should try to be effective whilst appearing non-violent at the same time. We have to take a few risks in that same comedian’s spirit, by self-deprecation and being prepared to laugh at ourselves. In the hands of a comedian (whose jokes, shall we say, are being aimed at vegans) we would be portrayed as ‘bleeding hearts’, animal lovers, fussy eaters, tree huggers, etc. There’s no reason why vegans shouldn’t be able to laugh at all this; to enjoy the joke. In this way, we can show we aren’t afraid of being sent up. We can show we are confident of our facts and views, and it also proves we have a healthy sense of humour (without which animal rights advocacy doesn’t stand a chance)! By letting anyone who is interested see our naked side, we can show we trust them. And we can also show we don’t consider ourselves better than anyone else - vegan diet notwithstanding. If we can let others see our clowning mask, we’ll be better able to show our serious side too. If we come across as a bit weird - so what? As long as we have a sense of humour plus a clearly non-violent tone in our voice, then our words can fly free and we can’t do too much damage. What we have to say won’t be too drastically reacted against or too easily dismissed. Our message needs to be sung in much the same way that difficult-to-listen-to music is rendered; it’s done well but without need of apology.