When we’re talking animal rights we use words, and it’s impossible not to expose our inner feelings when we speak. Try as we might we can’t take the judgement out of our voice if it’s already in our mind. Our words can sound benign, but if we harbour any negative personal feeling it will show in the tone of our voice, and be picked up. Anyone thinking any sort of judgement about someone’s moral values can be smelt from a distance, and be regarded as hostile. “Avoid, avoid”. So, for vegans talking animal rights, it’s almost impossible for us to win the hearts of people if we are in judgement of them.
If we wear the badge of the ‘animal liberationist’, owing to our general reputation for proselytising, we’re immediately recognised as potentially boring. So somehow we need to win people over in order to get them to stay with us long enough to listen to us. How do we do that? I would suggest by proving to them, first and foremost, that we aren’t judgemental, and if necessary to say so. To do that we first have to BE non-judgemental, truly so. We must be convinced of the futility of making moral judgements, whether it’s about the abuse of animals or about anything we consider wrong. Instead we need to see it in much the same way a doctor sees a disease, without rancour or disrespect but simply as a fault in the system, which needs help and hopefully correction. A doctor will look for a remedy to counter the destructive element, and so should we.
They say there’s cancer in everyone’s body and we have to stay healthy and keep our immune system robust to prevent it taking hold. In much the same way we need to keep a healthy resolve, to not make judgements.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
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