‘Vee-ghn’

516:


Are you put off by holier-than-thou people? I bet you are. Vegans might seem so. It isn’t a nice-sounding name, ‘vee-ghn’. It sounds almost ugly. It’s too easy to mispronounce (often deliberately – getting it wrong to show how unimportant it is for you). But does it matter? By now, most people know what it’s about – animals, lifestyle, food, ethics. For some the idea of it is a thorn in their side. It stands like a brick wall between the old and the new, between a life-spoiling idea and a life-saving idea.

On first hearing about it, it doesn’t sound credible. The omnivore sees it as a threat to safety and happiness, whereas for an established vegan it’s probably been the best thing we’ve ever done for our self. Omnivores often feel hostile to us promoting it the way we do. Vegans have to get used to that. If we don’t we become bitter and enraged. And that brings up one of the most interesting features of any new-thinking.

It involves ideas and their application but, at the same time, deals with perspectives and patience . For us, veganism is a long term solution to many things. And there’s such a level of reluctance for anything long-term that short-term usually wins out. To push long-term solutions is seen to be confrontational (especially when it deals with a moral matter).

As soon as we confront we act defensively and then aggressively. No one wants to be on the losing side and yet no one wants to take risks. Vegans are often seen as hypocrites because we say we are peace-lovers but we’re quick to accuse and confront. Each side will resort to attack to win.

It’s a case of rebels versus suckers, or any opposing names we can think of, to create an atmosphere ripe for a quarrel. Whereas no one really wants a quarrel, no one wants to be marked down as ‘wrong’. Both sides are determined to be ‘right’.

A vegan’s radical and idealistic expectations are based on being right. We think that’s good enough for converting omnivores, to show we care for them more than they care for us. Perhaps it seems this way, that we care about something other than our selves. Veganism is about care, certainly, but the reason it doesn’t show up the other way round is that omnivores aren’t out there trying to convert us back to the fold. So they seem not to care for us as we do for them.

Since vegans are the initiators in this debate (over animal use) we have to learn how to handle the sluggishness of people. We need to develop patience in the face of short-term thinking. We need to be thinking long-term and fixing on how things are going to be. We certainly have motivational problems, in the absence of any sort of reward or recognition from our society. And then the conduct of our campaigns has to be right too. We’re the one initiating debate so we have to be the ones setting the standards. There’s a lot to deal with, being a peace-lover. And yet peace is at the heart of everything a vegan says, eats and thinks. If it isn’t we have no credibility at all.

Once the quarrelsome element is taken out of the picture then a proper, adult discussion is a possibility. When there’s no simmering threat on either side we can each trade theories and move towards some sort of consensus. Or at least show mutual respect for a difference of opinion, even when it’s as important as this particular difference of opinion.