Being “right”

Wednesday 30th June 2010
For vegans, we have such cast iron arguments we can’t believe they don’t have magical powers. Certainly our arguments are powerful but maybe not yet imbued with magic. That’s what vegans have to do. Bring them to life.
To animal-food-addicted omnivores our arguments don’t seem very magic, in fact they’re a blasted nuisance. Omnivores build cast iron barricades, to precisely guard them selves from vegan assault. To them we are The Heresy. That’s extreme of course, but almost opposite are vegans who think their arguments are ‘sent from God’. Perception to perception it’s omnivore outrage at vegan heresy against the authority vegans feel about their principles of harmlessness.
But of course delusion, belief, ego and all sorts of rights and wrongs muddy the waters. It comes down to perception here. Our arguments might as well have no weight at all if we, as ‘identifiable-with humans, seem like poor ambassadors.
We know omnivore logic is faulty but the trap for us, with our better arguments, is that we begin to feel we are “right”. Right about all sorts of things, and if we feel it we show it. And that’s what is so off-putting to omnivores. It’s our smugness that puts people off. We have a neat answer for people but it’s “look at me, how terrific I am, how healthy, guiltless …” etc. Vegans do it, we all do it. We all do it in our various ways and nothing’s more unattractive than this. It’s what they call here in Australia “big-noting oneself”.
I do it, I put others ‘off’ in this way and ultimately screw things for the Animal Rights Movement. Vegans like me have to control our passions and make sure we don’t give off the signal: that we’re willing to forfeit friendliness for the sake of making a point. What’s so hard for omnivores, when they meet a vegan, is that they don’t know if we’ll suddenly ‘turn’ on them.
We need to concentrate on our style of approach. Think court jester, think of the jester’s style - always respectful, always affectionate, always stirring.