Connecting, not abusing

To attack the non-vegan is a mistake. We have somehow acquired the image of vegans being attackers. If so, this has to be changed. Communication between people of differing viewpoints, high priority to go on the attack. It’s easy and gives a sugar-hit for frustration and feeling alone, but we need to learn how to make connections with people, listen to them, not put their back’s up, or rather their ego’s up.
Perhaps at the back of any frustrated activist’s mind is a reluctance to get down to the business of learning how to connect with people who seem to be opposed to us. A passionate promotion of animal rights might not be the only answer to successfully hitting home. I hope all of us are trying to promote and educate people, even when there are those who so adamantly don’t want to listen. Depressing! Often they’re friends and adversaries at the same time. Rather than trying to persuade them it’s often more exciting to go to a demo, so you feel you’ve done something.
Perhaps what I’m driving at here is that a scale exists. We’re not just tickling people’s ribs with some new brand of idea, we’re making some pretty heavy statements. Anyway, that’s how people feel towards us, as if we were a bit of a threat.
From our point of view, obviously, we’re keen to win over the majority. Eventually many millions. Actually billions! So we’re trying to touch many people and bring them on-side. We can’t afford to miss any opportunity to win people over. We only lose potential supporters when we abuse them. Far better to invite them to eat or go food shopping with us than to fight.