Emotion using imagination

Other writers, I’m happy to say, are or will be expressing things better than I can. Eventually they’ll hit the spot. They’ll ‘come across’ by painting a picture, sparking the imagination of people, and then hearts will be touched.
Perhaps the beginning of this process is story telling. I can’t think of a better way this is being done at present than in Jodi Ruckley’s new seven part utube film, which lets the animals “speak” as narrators in their own life stories. The film is online at www.ourplaceonearth.com (and click on link) "the animals you eat" - it’s in 7 short watchable and un-horrific parts, suitable for and appealing to three year olds and adults alike.
By images and words (and damn it, some humour too) we can help to lift the leaden weight of today’s collective mind-set. It’s tragic that, at present, it’s holding down our collective potential-talent-for-communication.
Unfortunately, not being particularly skilled in this, some of us depend too much on gut feeling and emotional outburst. We use emotion-only, and that’s not enough for sophisticated audiences today. They insist on getting what they expect, i.e. a high standard of information presentation. Anything short of that is too amateur.
We have to sharpen our vegan imagination, see the importance of our message and come to understand how people will eventually find it irresistible. Empathy we’ll find, good food we’ll find, but best of all ‘hope-for-the-future’ we’ll find - that’s the irresistible part.
The ‘gold’ in what we’re saying springs from mere emotion. Not something we can use on its own (since the slush merchants have been misusing it now for centuries) but it’s the starting point. Our emotion is the springboard to greater things. It leads us towards empathy and that gives us the feeling-good feeling in life. Emotions power the intellect which in turn designs the revolution.
It will be a revolution, of course, and that wouldn’t be such a bad thing in this insensitive swamp we all live in. But an emotional revolution will be a flash in the pan if we neglect our intellect.
It isn’t only sadness that drives us ... although it’s very sad that no one notices us crying ... privately perhaps ... listening to the cries of our own soul ... but emotion must move on to allow Determination to move in. Soon enough it’s time to polish the armour.
The vegan advocate, activist, sees too much sorrow for their own good. We almost wallow in it, perhaps to expiate the sin of what we’ve done, but sorrow begets self pity.
And here’s where I think we may make a classic mistake, we let Self-Pity put through a call to The Anger Department who issue instructions about rescuing the ‘damsel in distress’. We slash away at the undergrowth ... and the harder we slash the quicker it grows back.
We think our message is easier to get across than it really is - proud of the fact that “I say it as I feel it. I feel genuine enough ... so, that’s good enough for me to feel effective” ... but then we see the response ... and then we know we’re a long way from our goal. Uncontrolled emotion takes us nowhere. If we let it loose on it’s own it’s like a small child crossing the road, in danger of being run down. Emotion, in the form of outrage, guarantees the average omnivore a good laugh at our expense. It’s not the sort of laugh we want.