The impact of what we say

Tuesday 21st September 2010

As animal advocates, our number one aim should be never to get nasty. Number two, never insistent. The seriousness of the (animal) issue isn’t necessarily shared by everyone, or even a single other person in any group we might be talking to. So the serious details we might want to impart - we keep them tucked up our sleeve, in reserve for when we can be sure we can use them effectively. Until we have their attention. If they show interest, that’s fine but if it’s not genuine interest we’re wasting our breath.
If we do get the chance to say something, what’s to mention? The less impact we make the less they notice but the more impact the greater the risk of shock and total rejection. It’s a toss-up.
Some fundamentals worth mentioning. (To give omnivores something to chew over when they’re on their own, concerning the treatment of food animals!)
• Sentience - there’s a similarity between humans and animals, in the way we each feel or suffer.
• Poison - there’s especially a long-term effect on health from ingesting animal products.
• Conscience - there’s shame in our being in conspiracy with the Animal Industries, against animals.
All this should be discussed, and when it has been, when first principles of Animal Rights are understood, then it might be appropriate to mention one or two statistics. As an example we can mention that 250 animals will die each year for each (Western) person; that many animals put to death for our own food, each year.

But even before we get to any crunch figures there’s another preliminary has to be settled. Before animal freedom comes our own freedom of speech - if we can’t agree about that, there’s no point talking.
How much right do we have, as humans, to speak freely to each other and how much permission do we need when we expect people to listen to us? No shoulds or oughts about it, if ‘no-listening’ is the way things are we need to accept it. We, as vegans, are still a long way from being able to ‘get down to it’ with omnivores. They need to be weened.
When vegans acknowledge the trickiness of their subject, especially when speaking to reluctant individuals, the ‘vessel’ will be filled according to its capacity. No spills, no diluting, no fighting. Ramming opinions down peoples’ throats is a no-win game: if they aren’t reluctant when we start, you can be sure they will be when we finish.