Strategy

Animal Rights needs a communication upgrade! As vegans we have our own weaknesses and they need to be addressed as much as the general public needs to address theirs, if only to keep our judgementalism in check. But speaking of the animal-eating masses, their habit of condoning the killing and eating of animals is a weakness and that’s all it is. Vegans need to be able to show it for what it is, but ONLY that. No rancour, no disrespect and no value judgements. We don’t win long term commitment by inducing guilt or fear in people. Only by showing we respect them and are interested in their welfare can we keep them on side. Apart from wanting to be warm with people, it is to our strategic advantage to help.
Let’s say we are together, you and I. If you look at my face, you’ll pick up all the essentials as to how I’m feeling – either I’m relating to you non-judgementally (I’ll be giving off signals that I like you or accept you) or I’m being judgemental (signalling disapproval or mistrust). I may not want to be judgemental but that will be overridden by my wanting to show off my high standards. I may be prepared to risk our relationship for the sake of letting you know that I disapprove of something you do. I’ll gamble on you finding my honesty of value and that I’m not trying to deceive you about how I feel.
If I’m being judgemental, it is all about values, mine and yours. It’s about me needing to establish my credentials, showing I have something to say and establishing my right to say it. If I express a moral judgement (aimed at you) you may take offence. It isn’t the same as a judgement that fire is hot. That’s evidence-based, self evident. But when I assess your values, that’s a subjective statement about my values being better than yours. My judging may not necessarily be fair or carefully researched, but because I feel it to be right, I’m impelled to make my position clear, and relate it to yours. I may think the shock of what I say will ‘wake you up’, rather as if you insult me and I punch you in the face before I’ve thought it through. It’s a powerful moment. My judgement is quick, clear and almost primeval. I dislike what you do, I am showing it before I’ve given myself time to make more considered response and therefore a less honest one.
We might often act like this, automatically. Each day we make decisions without taking the trouble to consider more carefully. Perhaps that’s because we don’t have enough time or patience. We think and act almost simultaneously, instinctively liking or disliking. When it comes to straight talking it might not be such a bad thing, if our friends come to know we are as we speak. But if we haven’t thought carefully about it we may use the shock and attack approach and not care about their feelings or setting off a whole train of insensitivity which adds up to being a strategic mistake. So where does that leave us? Perhaps strategically needing to be very careful about straying into the mine field of value judgements.