Educating the masses

Our society today remains specifically un-educated about certain things and the 1%’ers prefer to keep it that way. Living in our present world of misinformation feels a bit like living in Faulty Towers. In this hotel there’s only a very grudging reception clerk who is not only unhelpful but has no useful information. It’s often like that in schools, where kids can only learn what’s on offer and can’t find out what they want to find out. When censorship and misinformation reigns there’s little chance for any useful learning to take place and therefore no significant chance for change. This aligns with 1%’er interests. Animals, their rights and our right not to eat them, represents a subject so sensitive that it is deemed (by them) threatening. If we can penetrate their defence shield with alternative information it will be done by using our wits alone. We won’t need mass advertising techniques or big publicity stunts but simply information speaking directly to peoples’ intuition.
What vegans have to say needs, to some extent, has to be taken on trust because we can’t prove anything we say. Our main aim should be to launch ideas that trigger a waking-up response in peoples’ minds, so they’ll want to question things and question us. In order to establish the essential trust they need to make the first move they’ve got to want it and be sure they’re not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Even over food nothing is certain; we haven’t been vegan for more than a couple of generations for humans to be certain about the safety of it. And it’s true, that we can’t provide assurances at all since even nutrition is still a contentious science. For my own part, I have to rely on certain overseas scientists who give the vegan diet their gold seal of approval. There is no solid ground here for most people. Ethics are subjective and the idea that any of us, let alone animals, have souls is unprovable. How then do we shake people up and bring them out of the pit? And we’re speaking here of modern day, sophisticated, educated, free-willed adults, not a bunch of dummies who are easy to persuade. Vegans and activists in general often sound desperate when they’re issuing orders, when they’re saying “GO VEGAN”, “Save the Animals, Save Your Health, Save the Planet”. But behind our desperation is enough sincerity that the movement for Animal Rights can be instinctively taken on trust. However carefully we deliver our message there’s no recipe for assuring our own acceptance and trustworthiness. We do ourselves no favours if we seem pushy or weird. Sophisticated intelligent people won’t easily be convinced. And if they can’t trust us there’ll be a ‘disliking’ of us … the very last things we want. We don’t want people to be turned off - quite the opposite.