Exploding the myths

Vegans will always have their work cut out, persuading people to change radically. But for us it’s not just about persuading reluctant people, it’s surely also about caring for them and being useful to them, just as they are, even if they don’t appear to listen to what we say. Underneath all our anger and frustration and aggressive thoughts towards our adversaries, we have a job to do, to break the myths people are attached to and help them see things as they really are, and go on from that point.
We need to stress the same things over and over, until the penny drops – that some home truths are not as true as people believe. Many people still believe meat (and therefore animal farming) is essential for human survival, and that testing drugs on animals is the only way to have safe pharmaceuticals. People are so locked into these beliefs that we, as vegans, need to explain a different view of safety and survival, all the time emphasising compassion and the reliability of instinct in these matters. We have to persuade them to do what instinctively they know they should be doing, always within a context of non-violence.
But whatever we can get across we have to make sure we aren’t preaching, just advising. We are all hypersensitive to being criticised or being judged. We none of us like being pushed around by people who think they’re right.