Vegans have the bottle

When vegans are the butt of a carnivore’s joke our response shouldn’t be to make them more frightened than they were when they considered making ‘a joke of it’. The aim of a sharp edged joke is to attract attention. If the joke calls for a response and none comes, then what? If we withdraw does that necessarily mean we can’t come up with a sharp enough retort? For vegans it’s all a bit ho-hum. It’s this sort of ‘joke’ that always sparks a bun fight. It’s the sort of debate you have when you’re not having a debate. It’s a simple heated exchange.
These are still early days for Animal Rights. We’re building foundations and encouraging new attitudes towards animals. We’re outlining law reform that will illegalise abattoirs. There’s so much call on our energy that we can’t afford to waste it on local skirmishing. Maybe “the lamb” jibe needs to be let through, if only because jokers and ‘people with vested interests’ are still in the ascendancy, and they’re busting to put us down if they get the chance. And that’s the trap. We don’t need to be provoked and then appear as the snarling activist. Discretion might be the better part of ‘going in boots and all’. Discretion lets us withdraw instead of fight.
Our compassion for animals is right, of course it is, because it’s the logical outcome to the anti-slavery movement. It feels right.
Just like veganism and eating brown rice and having a sense of humour, it’s the healthiest and most logical way to be. It’s the most viable position. It can withstand a withdrawal. It can handle a heckle or two. It’s ridiculous to wage war over a puff of smoke. We don’t need to take on every red neck we meet, or parry every joke or even be intimidated by what the political corporations have to say. We don’t have to be afraid of any of them because we must never forget one thing - none of them have “the bottle” to take us on in serious debate.
The world’s at a funny stage at the moment. Too many questions still haven’t been asked. For instance, how is it that some of us are passionate advocates for animals and others are indifferent? How is it that vegans are enlightened and meatheads are so backward? The fact is the differences aren’t really that clear yet. Vegans are probably not that much brighter or kinder or healthier but we do have more self discipline because we do so much boycotting. We’re more used to questioning and arguing our case and that makes us stronger in our views and a little frightening to our opponents. It’s their fears we have to try to allay.