Vegans who have a loud look

In the past (owing to our small numbers) we’ve had to look stronger by being louder. Those who do protest sometimes seem pushy, even sour. Maybe this can be a symptom of inner aggro but, to be fair, it’s also us going out of our minds with anxiety over the horrendous things happening to animals. It especially drives us nuts that people (kind, intelligent, educated, economically comfortable people) don’t want to know about ANY of this.
But ours is a communication job, teaching not attacking. No need to sledge hammer information. We’ve all contributed to an unfortunate image and if our image is to change it will take time. But towards that. Just as we talk about people moving ‘towards vegan’ so we can talk to our selves about moving towards just telling. The truth, maybe in small enough doses to digest, has got to overcome a deeply entrenched animal-using lifestyle.
If we’re ‘animal advocating’ then our whole vegan lifestyle becomes that much more significant. No one can disagree. But is it exciting enough? That’s the problem. Can it jolt omnivores out of their trench.
Amongst hardened omnivores there’s still an “it’s-not-for-me” reaction. And that reaction means “I’m not ready to make that sort of commitment … at least not yet”.
For omnivores there are two off-putting perceptions about being vegan – what you eat and who you mix with. If a diet, for instance, is animal-rights-friendly it means unfamiliar foods. That’s one thing, okay, maybe one can deal with that but what are vegans like, as people? Could we mix with them? Can they be ‘aggro’ (of course always on behalf of the animals)?
The negative reaction to ‘vegan’ in the past might have no reason to change. Vegans may be seen as frightening or confusing. People may see us as “kind” to “animals” but if they spot any “aggro” in us that that contradicts the ‘kindness’ image … and then people get nervous about us. My point here is that it must be possible to look a whole lot less unfriendly without compromising anything we say.
Although they are absolutely valid, our ‘shouting protests’ may have had their day. Inside the omnivore head there’s an opinion already set, about “these sorts of things”. An image has already been inscribed on the tablets of the omnivore memory. To move people on, about the sort of people we are we may need a subtler approach to carry our message. We need to whet their appetite, and I don’t just mean with food but with all the other great benefits of our way of life.
When we shout at people (and I don’t mean in terms of volume!) we signal displeasure. We accuse. And in a free-willed, individualistic society, we start to look like oiks. “Good cause but ugly people”.
Each of us has to work out our own way of speaking strongly about what we believe without pointing the finger, personally. Maybe how we do that is not quite obvious, but to address this trickiness is to begin to deal with it, and eventually to succeed.