Kicking and screaming

All of us hate being imposed upon, whether by illness or authority or fear. For omnivores there’d be no worse torture than having to live the life of a ‘lettuce-eater’. We don’t need converts “kicking a screaming” so we don’t need to apply pressure.
Vegans have a good case to make and don’t need to fuel up the guilt people have about their food habits. By coming on too strong, too soon or by saying too much is where we waste our best advantage. If we sell veganism with aggro or threats we reinforce the worst stereotype.
It might be exciting to ‘get through’ to a potential convert. In our concern not to let them forget what we tell them we get carried away. We over sell. And we think we might get away with it since they’ll see we’re doing it for their own good, we’re preparing them with some ‘hard facts of life’ … of course they’ll appreciate that. “If we speak loudly enough they will have to listen”? Not true. ‘They’ don’t have to listen to anything, least of all us. ‘They’ are in such a vast majority (everywhere on the planet) there’s no pressure on them from anywhere to take notice; in fact they can afford to condemn us for being judgemental (or pushy or whatever). And damn it, there’s some truth (not much but some) in what they say.
To vegans it seems unfair that omnivores will find any old excuse to ‘cut us off’. The main aim is to stop us saying what we want to say, and since they’re in-fashion they can avoid discussing any part of the animal issue if they want to.
To be effective in getting our message across we don’t need to be finger wagging. We simply have to offer people an idea that is too good to refuse.