"You are inferior"

470: If I think your views are inferior to mine and if I try to tell you “you’re wrong”, you can’t be blamed for getting upset. It sounds like a criticism of you as a person (“So, you think I’m inferior?”) If I believe I’m right and you’re wrong it seems like I’m brighter than you, better than you or better informed. In any discussion of ethics, when I win the point I also lose the point - I’ve satisfied myself that I’ve ‘got that one across’. I said it strongly. I proved my point. I have the guts to say it as I see it. But, confrontation and emotionally-charged one-upmanship gets me nowhere. If I can see in front of me a person with a tight lipped intention not to change, I know I don’t stand a chance of making a connection. Perhaps me-the-‘righteous’, who is NEVER wrong simply makes others dig their heels in. Whereas when I’m not trying to sound ‘better-than-you’ then something can happen. We can all indulge the most outrageous disagreements, and it can be fun even though the subject is so deadly serious. Now, in my rush to be acceptable to you I don’t need to betray my own stand, by seeming to go along with views I don’t agree with, just to keep the peace. That takes me nowhere. But on some level I think I have to show an acceptance of the omnivore. (For heaven’s sake, most ALL of the people I know are practising omnivores!) Because there are so many omnivores about I must accept them if I want to have any chance at all of touching their hearts. I have to find a way to ‘dialogue’ with someone who disagrees with me vehemently. This vexed question, of whether this subject is regarded by others as ‘important’ - animal food and animal cruelty - is the foundation for all dialogue on this subject. If this subject were talked about as freely as, say, environmental matters, I’d be happy, but food and animal food (and therefore animal husbandry) always seem to touch a raw nerve, so it’s like no other subject. First up then, I ease up on my attack mode, then relax into the role of ‘information-imparter’. It’s never going to be easy.