Learning how to like the ‘enemy’

We might think that by morally disapproving of animal-product users that it’s going to stop them in their tracks, and impel them to discover the facts for themselves. We reckon we can shame, and then … it’s a piece of cake.
If only it were that easy! Our own values are usually in line with social norms, but some of these values have become so warped that wrong can seem right when enough people think so. Eating meat, for example - the only way to change the habit is by appealing to people’s individual intelligence. (“Huh!”, you say “people don’t have much intelligence” … but wrong! They have high intelligence, almost all of us have, but we choose to act without it. And that’s when we’re at our most dangerous. The results speak for themselves.
Some do make good use of their intelligence. In fact, they can be angelic in their use of it. Veganism appeals to the angelic of course. It connects directly with our ‘angelic’ centre. It shows no interest in the squalid goings-on, the behaviours erupting from devil-may-care-ism.
Use it - don’t use it. The choice is ours. We all have the ability to go either way. If we choose to endanger ourselves and others we’ll let the element of vested interest appeal to us. We’ll argue our decisions to our own advantage, well at least towards short term satisfaction. We persuade ourselves into doing what we want to do, without considering impact on others - carnivores, for instance, only enjoy eating dead animals, they don’t think about the animal itself.
Overall, our decisions are based on what we want - a lot of inner debating has to be gone through before we can persuade our self to draw away from social norms, especially those to do with food. When we get these arguments and counter arguments swirling around in our mind, we start to consider acting to principle (rather than for pleasure). The over-all pleasure of acting that way seems a better option than only doing what makes us feels better.
So, here we are, going along as normal and someone turns the landscape from black and white to colour. What a difference! Same thing happens with new attitudes, new values and principles; when we come across a new principle, if it looks impressive we can’t help but look at it. In our minds we test it out. If it convinces us then we have to act on it.
This is how I think people change. Not from fear, or coercion, or a desire for the perfect body, or social pressure. We change because we see a good outcome ahead. It excites us, sparks imagination, makes us laugh out loud almost. “Eureka!”
In the end maturity wins. It’s adults searching out and finding opportunities, not just for them self but for their families, their circle of friends. Even for public dissemination. A new principle that generates its own light show sends off lines of connection to a variety of seemingly unrelated branches of an intelligence network. Our synapses tell us when something special is happening, when we make a new discovery.
One of these branches shows light on relationship. This is the Age of Relationship and if we like another person that can be transformative for us. If we make a friend we establish loyalty. If intelligence becomes our best friend the same thing applies. We feel a loyalty to our own intelligence. When we do, we find we do intelligent things and the outcomes speak for themselves.
The popular animal foods of today will eventually be seen as unintelligent food, merely stuff they peddle on T.V., stuff they plant on supermarket shelves to winkle money out of our pockets. It’s stuff that’s manufactured by people who don’t have our best interests at heart. Eventually our intelligence will out it. We’ll avoid the stuff and look back on the days we used it with amazement.
We realise the poisonous effect of this ‘stuff’ on the body. Worse, we realise the conscience-crushing crime of it all. We realise the attraction of organic veggie shops and plant-based foods in general. Real food. Food that isn’t crap food or kiddy-food. We go for energy-food, good-tasting food, ‘adult’ food.
Drawing away from idiot-mode may need the friendly nudge. And that’s where we come in. As vegans we need to sell a product. To sell it we may need to refine our sales pitch. Our arguments must be sleek. Our information tasty in the same way foods are to the tongue.
The story so far: the animal thing (using them) is entrenched, over thousands of years. It’s world-wide. The habit has been there for a long time ... and now its over - end of story.
Vegans need to find a way of telling this story without sounding patronising, without being boring and without ego. We have to find our own way to tell it. And as for the story itself, not too much history and recrimination and heavy on the human face - retelling the story so it’s attractive. You say how can cruelty to animals ever be an attractive story? perhaps that’s where we go a bit wrong - the way we talk about animals and their rights should be drawn back to what is going on with the human - the ‘human doings’. These are interesting because they reveal our own silly habits, all of which we can and must eventually be able to laugh at. Just as we can now laugh at the terrible misdemeanours of our own childhood. We need to get people laughing at themselves. Vegans need a wry sense of humour for this approach. They need some considerable imagination ... if they want to talk to the ‘ enemy’.