Family habits

33.

Everything happens within the context of its surroundings. Take a typical family, where eating habits have formed since birth and parents pass on these habits to their children. The eating habits of the whole community have been the same since time out of mind. Food outlets offer the same types of food they’ve always done. Beliefs about the need for animal protein outweigh the recent warnings about its danger to health. Most of these factors encourage conformity - if we eat what others eat we’ll feel normal! We’ll be easier to cater for since animal foods are easy to prepare and are guaranteed to satisfy. Children enjoy food and snacks and confections which taste good, and since they have no way of assessing foods other than by taste, it’s likely they’ll go for what they like! And animal foods are very available, as are most foods made with animal ingredients. Kids care little for complex ethical arguments concerning food, even if they understand them. They eat for reasons of immediate satisfaction, as indeed adults do too. Very often the kids call the shots though, determining what the family meals consist of. And we end up with a nation of junk food eaters who need expensive medical insurance to defray ever-increasing medical bills. The junk food being eaten is almost always heavily animal protein based. You might say that the typical family doesn’t stand a chance under the pressure of so much promotion of conventional animal-based foods.

            The pressures on a parent to conform to majority eating habits are immense. It’s a brave parent who will change their own diet and then enforce that same change on their children, unless kids’ habits have been established from birth. So they continue to buy meat and dairy foods and, if there are animals at home, plenty of pet food too. As it happens, it may be possible to raise a cat on a plant-based diet as long as the diet is supplemented with the necessary essential nutrients missing in plant foods. But again, to change this natural carnivore’s diet in mid stream is inadvisable and only really possible if done from birth. It may well be possible to have the complete household, including companion animals, adequately fed on plant-based food, but it’s rare, even for vegan households which include a dog or cat, not to buy them meat ... and if they do, then they are causing the deaths of many other animals who are killed for pet food.

Competition encouraging cruel husbandry methods

32.

On farms, animal protein is produced by the application of techno scientific methods of animal farming. Genetic engineering, confining of animals and (the use of) growth promotants have been introduced by ‘developed nations’ and have then been copied and become prevalent worldwide. In an ironic twist of fate, we wealthier nations have now become victims of our own inventiveness - as the poorer countries follow our lead, but with lower labour costs, they’ve been able to undercut production costs. The cheaper their product becomes the more efficient and diabolical our own intensive operations have to become, to keep pace with the competition. As developments spiral out of control, so the small farmer goes out of business and agribusiness takes over in order to stay one step ahead of the competition. Today most of the meat, dairy and eggs in supermarkets are produced by large transnational companies, using industrial agriculture methods. Consequently, the animals involved in this food juggernaut are living out ever more horrific existences.

            The consumer accepts low standards of animal welfare. They want cheap food. And although most people wouldn’t be happy eating food that was produced cruelly, in their own minds they consider their hands are tied. It’s a take-it-or-leave-it situation. The option of not eating animal products is something most people have never seriously considered. 

Misinforming the public

31. 

Because the dangers of an omnivorous diet are well enough known by our food producers, it could be the very reason why the information is suppressed, or rather why people are swamped with ‘misinformation’. There are influential elements in our society, especially in the animal food industry, whose interest is to make money from producing and selling foods which are not optimal to good health. Because they are so well established, so insistent and their advertising so clever, their products sell well ... and as the Animal Industries thrive, so human health deteriorates and Animal Welfare worsens.

            You’d think by now we humans would have wised up. With such advances made in food technology, we should be demanding healthy food, but the animal business is so persuasive that nothing ever changes for the better. Mass production means mass demand means low costs and a lot of sophisticated scientific ingenuity, used to make foods addictively tasty. The wealthy identify themselves by the rich foods they eat and the aspiring classes emulate them. The poorest people eat the cheapest foods available, which are mainly plant-based foods, but whenever their circumstances improve they increase the animal protein content of their diet ... and that unfortunately brings them closer to a whole new range of deadly, diet-related diseases, already prevalent amongst wealthier people.

Advocating nutrition, for a start

30.

By pursuing non-violence in all its manifestations, we need only stop attacking animals. Plant energy will do the rest for us, giving us optimal energy, letting us see a whole potential hitherto hidden, and by using that particular energy, we can see better how to repair and remould our world.

            Firstly, the animal industry must stop producing food and consumers must stop using it. For this to happen, vegans must put their case effectively. We need to advocate non-violently, without invoking fear or using force. No better way for people to identify with us than when our persuasions are seen to be helpful rather than pontificating.

            If we are to put a credible case forward for switching over to a plant diet, people will have to be persuaded on many different levels. Our arguments have to be comprehensive and delivered with great skill. The alternative to meat and dairy will have to be presented attractively, to tempt people’s taste buds and seen to be efficacious in every possible way. Above all, as advocates, we shouldn’t seem to be partisan but fair minded - to show that we’re looking out for people as much as for animals! We’re concerned as much for the safety of human health as for the ethical treatment of animals.

            Whatever we might say about ethics and compassion, we must never lose sight of the importance of nutrition, for no one is going to ‘take the leap’ if they think their own life is at risk! It’s likely that most people will stick to what they know best and follow the accepted science regarding the foods they’re used to. 

            Perhaps the most convincing reason that people still use animals for food, is that animal protein has a complete combination of all amino acids, whereas vegetable protein has to be more carefully balanced in the diet. For vegans, there might be a need for Vitamin B₁₂ supplementation, owing to the inability of some to metabolise this vital element. Otherwise, if what we are eating are whole foods, then any amount of vegetable protein will do us no harm and make for optimum nutrition. The same can’t be said of animal products. With so many varieties and combinations of attractive food on the market, people are indulging in as much of them as they can afford. Consequently there’s a danger of over-eating animal protein, which is associated with high blood pressure and heart disease. Because the conventional animal-based diets are high in saturated fats and salt and low in fibre, people who indulge run the risk of obesity and diabetes. These conditions being so closely linked to the conventional diet are the cause of great fear, especially in people of middle to old age. Maybe there is some small amount of care vegans need to take over their diet, but that’s a small matter compared to the great dangers associated with a typical omnivorous diet.

Meat and evolution

29.

By cleaning up our own conscience in the knowledge that diet change is safe, our eating habits can accord with plant-based survival. Because it has been shown that humans have no reason to keep and kill animals for food, other than for reasons of convenience, we are experiencing a unique step forward. We have for the first time in history been able to suggest that, since animal farming is plainly unethical, there’s no reason to continue it! In addition, the environment would benefit in so many ways. Without the millions of animals taking up so much food and fertile land, deforested lands could be returned to tree cover, ruminant methane eliminated and waterways no longer polluted by effluent run-off. If that can interest and move humans to change their diet, then it would even more so, in the knowledge that animal products won’t be poisoning our bodies. By lifting these dead weights we help to restore so many damaged elements of our world that one might say that a mere change to our daily eating habits can save our very souls! For those who do go vegan, they feel a sense of relief. It’s good for body and conscience, and surprisingly straightforward ... almost.

There still remain arguments for not changing, held by people who are still locked into the ‘conventional’ diet. They will say that animal protein has been used for feeding humans since time out of mind. That we are what we eat! That every advancement of the human brain is down to there being meat in the diet.

            But has the human race ‘advanced’ or been ‘held back’ by its much heralded, meat-fuelled brainpower? Has it achieved everything it can achieve or is it yet to reach its true potential? If we are proud of our artistic and scientific endeavours, then aren’t we ashamed of our warfare and violence? Is the world making progress, or is it about to self-destruct?

            Many ‘thinking people’ today see the writing on the wall;  they follow the logic which suggests that where humans have used violence, they’ve brought about chaos. If violating animals has made a meat diet normal, then that diet could well be responsible for our violating the subtlest machinery of the human body, bringing us close to our own self-destruction.

Plant-based diets make everything else possible

28.

Plants are not motile or considered sentient and if humans can live solely from plants, there’s no longer any need to kill animals. That breakthrough brings about what is now known as a vegan diet. For those who become vegan, certain opportunities and responsibilities open up. We are now able to advocate for Animal Rights, whereas that option is not possible for non-vegans who are still caught up in the animal-attack business. A ‘clean slate’ allows vegans to campaign for animal liberation, something that is impossible for non-vegans even though they want to see the end of cages and confining pens.

            If someone isn’t yet vegan but is moving that way, it bodes well for them and for us all, animals included. But for all others, ‘non-vegans’, who are hardened into habits of daily animal consumption, they will be convinced that they couldn’t give up meat and milk. Their reasoning may not be based on need, but on want. The taste for flesh and animal by-products has become a habit and has been further entrenched by the ready availability of thousands of popular food products made with animal ingredients. The shops are full of them and at prices we can all afford - so we can eat whatever we like because we’ve learnt how to manipulate our environment (or so we think).

            But not so fast. As we become smarter we open up to sophistication on all levels, and that opens up questions of ethics, which might suggest the possibility of living compassionately – living without violating animals. Perhaps, for some, this is taking things a little too far.

            However, for those of us who have gone this far and further, we have found that it is possible to develop a sense of equality between all sentient beings. Animals needn’t be harmed or the eating of them be allowed to damage human health – we can avoid them for our own sakes and by doing so atone for what others have done to them in the past. 

The humane response to a story about cold blooded killing

27.

Whether the killing is done at the abattoir or in the back yard in modern clinical surroundings, today or at any time in the past, these moments of horror don’t change much. The innocent animal, nurtured by relatively kind humans, is now forced to meet its doom. The human capacity to turn, in such a cold and calculated way, from kindness to violence is how human dominance has always worked - by playing a trick on our victims, lulling them into a false sense of security in order to manage them with minimum difficulty. The cold-heartedness of today’s animal food industry exemplifies this. And it’s this ugliness that many of us want to put behind us. Vegetarianism starts the process of disassociation.

            What are animals? How are they different to humans? Perhaps they can’t match our brain power, but does that justify humans treating them badly? Most animals that are useful for food have long been enslaved and denied any form of natural life. We justify stealing their lives to meet our own need to survive. It trumps every other consideration. We say that if we have to kill them, then we have to be practical about it by keeping them captive and controlling their feeding, so that their productivity is maximised and their killing presents as little problem to us as possible. If there is any ethical component here, we have to weigh usefulness against compassion even if economic viability involves cruelty. Economics rules the animal-production business. Every cost must be calculated to keep ahead of the competition. It’s a ‘dog-eat-dog’ mentality, and there’s no room for sentimentality.

            But many of us today are not able to accept this, because for us, empathy and ethics are based on the sentience of animals. They are like us in that they have the ability to suffer and have the need to escape attack. On a farm or at the abattoir, where there’s no escape, animals must experience the ultimate terror. And this has always presented a dilemma for those who are kind-hearted but who still believe they need meat to be healthy - they can’t come to terms with animal suffering! But as any Vegan knows, that myth has long ago been exploded. We can now live with a clear conscience, without any need to hurt animals, because we no longer need to ‘use’ them. Animal products need play no part in any human life whatsoever!

A story about killing from Jude The Obscure

26.

If you’ve ever read this book you’ll possibly remember a chilling account of a killing - a depiction of a pig being slaughtered in the nineteenth century, not behind the closed doors of a modern abattoir, but out in the open in a family’s backyard. It wasn’t an easy thing to do then, as it isn’t now.

            In his book Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy illustrates the same betrayal of the animal which we still feel today, by contrasting the pragmatism of Arabella, who was used to killing animals, and the tender heartedness of her husband, Jude, who was not. Each was aware of their dependence on the food the pig would provide or the money it would bring when sold.

It was thick snow and the pig-killer was over-due. It seemed he was not likely to be coming after all and the pig had to be killed that day since Jude and Arabella had run out of the barleymeal feed the day before. Jude would have to slaughter the animal himself. The pig had been starving since the day before. Jude says to his wife Arabella “What - he has been starving?”

       “Yes. We always do it the last day or two, to save bother with the innerds. What ignorance, not to know that!”

       “That accounts for his crying so. Poor creature!”

       “Well - you must do the sticking. There’s no help for it. It must be done”.

       He went out to the sty and placed the stool in front with the knives and ropes at hand. He got into the sty and noosed the affrighted animal who, beginning with a squeak of surprise, rose to repeated cries of rage ... they hoisted the victim onto the stool, legs upward, and while Jude held him Arabella bound him down, looping the cord over his legs to keep him from struggling.

       The animal’s note changed its quality. It was not now rage, but the cry of despair; long drawn, slow and hopeless.

       “Upon my soul I would sooner have gone without the pig than have had this to do!” said Jude. “A creature I have fed with my own hands.”

       “Don’t be such a tender-hearted fool! There’s the sticking-knife - the one with the point. Now whatever you do, don’t stick un too deep.”

       “I’ll stick him effectually, so as to make short work of it. That’s the chief thing.”

       “You must not!” she cried. “The meat must be well bled, and to do that he must die slow. We shall lose a shilling a score if the meat is red and bloody! Just touch the vein, that’s all. I was brought up to it, and I know. Every good butcher keeps un bleeding long. He ought to be eight or ten minutes dying, at least.”

“He shall not be half a minute if I can help it, however the meat may look,” said Jude determinedly. Scraping the bristles from the pig’s upturned throat, as he had seen the butchers do, he slit the fat; then plunged in the knife with all his might.

       “ ‘Od damn it all!” she cried, “That ever I should say it! You’ve over-stuck un! And I telling you all the time ”

       “Do be quiet, Arabella, and have a little pity on the creature.”

       ... However unworkmanlike the deed, it had been mercifully done. The blood flowed out in a torrent instead of in the trickling stream she had desired. The dying animal’s cry assumed its third and final tone, the shriek of agony;  his glazing eyes riveting themselves on Arabella with the eloquently keen reproach of a creature recognizing at last the treachery of those who seemed his only friends.

       “It is a hateful business!” said he.

       “Pigs must be killed.” said she.

About killing

25.

For a long time, the poor in our society have eaten animal protein because it was the only high-protein food available. The belief was universally held that meat was an essential food. In rural areas, many people kept a cow, a pig, sheep and chickens to provide their families with food, clothing fabrics and many other useful commodities. But the question of feeding and caring for domesticated animals presented people with a dilemma. Humans have a great capacity for love and caring. Farmers are no different and believe they truly do care for their animals. The relationship of trust and cooperation between man and animal has always been important to anyone who farms them, but that mutual trust is broken by putting the animal to death. To get around this, most people who had animals, who lived amongst them almost as friends, preferred not to do their own killing or even witness it. The meat and by-products were considered vital food and important sources of cash, but the inevitable betrayal of the living animal meant that only limited affection could be felt or shown to any individual animal during its life.

            The act of attacking a captive animal in the clinical confines of the modern abattoir is not that much different to the roped-down animal being slaughtered in the farmyard or backyard. The animal’s terror is unavoidable, whatever type of death it faces. Whether we call it murder, slaughter or betrayal, it happens to every domesticated animal used for food, whether it is killed for its carcass or killed when it becomes no longer economically viable or productive. There is no such thing as showing gratitude to an animal for all the milk or eggs or wool it has produced by sending it into retirement. 

Cruelty and temptation

24.

If we are animal eaters, we support animal cruelty, whether we like it or not! If we’re at all concerned, then we have to balance our own wants against the cost to the animals themselves. If we don’t care about the feelings of animals then it’s likely we are not to be trusted around any animals at all, since the use and abuse of them is always going to be too tempting. We’re always going to be considering our own interests before theirs. Even the most beloved companion animals at home may prove this point. When their medical treatment incurs high veterinary bills some can’t pay and some can but won’t and have their animals’ lives brought to an early end for their own convenience.

            Perhaps it’s here that we’re most sorely tested – the animal we say we love presents us with a difficult choice between the outlay of a considerable sum of money and the saving of the beloved animal’s life. For some it will always be compassion that decides. For others even the kennelling costs whilst away on holiday convince them to have their animal put down, to be replaced by another on their return. 

             Those animals that are used for food are entirely beyond consideration since we are taught to feel no responsibility for what happens to them. So long as we don’t know too much about their living conditions or the manner of their death, we can enjoy the ‘benefit’ of them. Since almost all of us do it, there’s hardly anyone left to put pressure on us to change.

These farmed, faceless animals are not only very available (when dead), but as everyone knows are so tasty to eat and a good source of protein. Surely, we argue, we’d be mad not to accept Nature’s generous bounty? Since no animal can match a human’s strength and brain power we know there’s no danger of them fighting back. They make easy prey for us and once we’ve enslaved them, they become rather like food-on-tap. We can regulate the timing of their lives and deaths and therefore make efficient use of them, to the fullest extent. Most people have never considered the possibility that this traditional use of animals is wrong.

            Those of us who are more kindly disposed towards animals might want to make our disagreement known. But does that mean we must avoid all animal food? If so, does that mean we will starve or become ill by not eating meat or animal by-products?

            Up until the middle of the last century, this was the common belief; that animal protein was nutritionally essential and without meat our health would be compromised - we’d become anaemic, lack physical and mental energy and our children would sicken. By the second half of the twentieth century this belief was exploded by a few brave people who experimented with avoiding all animal protein, finding that the human body actually thrived on a plant-based diet. From that point, everything began to change, for a significant number of people. Now it was possible, if it suited us, to take on a different regime of eating where there was no danger to our health by not eating animals. Indeed, we were at last realising that humans do not need to depend on animals for anything - transport, clothing, entertainment or food. We would be able to regard animals as sovereign, irreplaceable individuals and allow them to live out their lives without human interference. And yet as free-willed human beings, we still had the ‘choice’ and it seemed that for the overwhelming majority, making use of animals was still too tempting to give up.

The reason behind cruelty

23.

If you haven’t seen it with your own eyes, it’s hard to imagine the depths of inhumanity on farms and most particularly on factory farms. These places serve to illustrate how far we humans might go to secure a living and make money out of animals. It seems we’ll stop at nothing! To deprive animals of their liberty is bad enough, but to deny them any social life, to restrict their bodily movements so they’re unable to turn around or even lie down is the ultimate cruelty. Pigs kept in individual iron-clad stalls, hens tightly packed into small cages in sheds containing many hundreds or even thousands of similarly imprisoned animals, breathing a fetid air which reeks of ammonia from their excreta. Once you’ve experienced this scale of neglect and animal abuse, you’re reminded of the worst scenes of wartime concentration camps. Yet these are the conditions being suffered today by literally billions of animals every day of their lives. It’s being done this way to make them fatter faster, or to make them more productive and all at the lowest possible cost to the farmer. These chickens, pigs, calves or fish, with their sentience never taken into account, are treated like inanimate objects, like so many cabbages in a field. If this seems like pragmatism gone mad, then the farm operator would cite the need for economic reality - “Every competitor is cutting costs by lowering welfare standards, so to stay in business, welfare must be sacrificed”.

Cold kill

22.

The death at any abattoir, of any sentient creature, is a long way from predator-killing-prey in the world of Nature. In the slaughter house, the animal is immobilised and made completely helpless. How it feels we’ll never know but the ugliness of the whole process should make us feel ashamed. This dear, sweet-natured animal has been imprisoned all its life, kept in slum conditions, transported under frightening conditions, arrives at a death-smelling building, encounters a lot of rough handling and is finally put to death ... and none of this need be so;  neither the cruelty nor the killing nor the captivity. However, it is so, in every country of the world. The killing continues at the astonishing rate of 150,000 animal executions a minute, every day, all across the planet. Nowhere is there any regard for the feelings of the animals themselves.

            Since most people benefit from animals being killed for food, no empathy is felt towards these animals, and whilst people are normally hungry for new knowledge, they prefer to know as little as possible when it comes to learning about the way animals are put to death. Conveniently for everyone concerned, the killing is done behind closed doors, most often by men or women who can’t find any other employment and who have to work quickly and harshly because they dare not fail to keep up their killing quota for fear of losing their jobs. They have to adopt the same conveyor-belt mentality as that of a car assembly worker, who welds a bolt to a car door. Each animal passes along the line, to be killed, to make way for the next, and the next, with no one to care how either the animal or the animal-killer feels.

            And yet many people these days do care. They go out of their way to show how much they care for these millions of animals, enough to work hard to establish rights to protect them.

            Whatever we say about animals that are used for food, it comes down to one question - Does pragmatism outweigh tender hearted feelings? Once upon a time the question was about how humanely animals were being killed. Now the question is about whether we should kill animals at all?

            There are many reasons why we shouldn’t kill or even use animals. Certainly there are health presents perhaps the most powerful case. and environmental implications to animal farming, but the ugliness of animal treatment on farms and in abattoirs

Killing

21.

Not many of us would have the nerve to deliberately end the life of an animal unless we were starving. Most, if not all of us, have never known starvation nor are likely to. So what is this mass murdering of animals all about? Why are we condoning something done by others which we could not do for ourselves? Why are we passive proxy killers? Perhaps most people haven’t really thought about the act of killing an animal. If you don’t actually get to see the act of killing you don’t have to think about it - perhaps it’s upon that basis that our society indulges in all this slaughter, and very few make any murmur of dissent about it. So, let’s look at the act itself.

            We see lots of killing on TV but it’s often seen in the form of a drama;  a quick bullet fired from a gun and the victim falls down dead - clean and easy. An elderly friend of mine wants to die of a heart attack – “nice and quick”, she says. Killing is bathed in euphemism; we cull the kangaroos, the faithful family dog has to be ‘put to sleep’. If we have to think of death, we like to think of it as a smooth transition. But there are terrible deaths; lingering, painful and frightening experiences. We dread it for ourselves and can empathise with an animal facing slaughter. A condemned prisoner on Death Row would probably think about all this, but do animals premeditate their own end? Do they ever realise what fate awaits them? Certainly when the day comes and they are transported to the abattoir, they show all the signs of great agitation. It’s likely they can smell death which triggers their terror even if only at the moment when they’re being restrained and positioned for execution.

No one is made to see killing. I live in a sanitised world where such things aren’t even talked about. But recently, the brutal killing of cattle was shown on TV and there was great public outrage afterwards. This was animal slaughter in its ugliest and most terrifying form and because it received a lot of publicity, it made a lasting impression on many people. At an Indonesian abattoir, cattle were seen being dragged to the floor, kicking and screaming, to have their throats cut, without pre-stunning! Animals Australia filmed the whole gruesome business and the National ABC TV network televised it on the popular Four Corners current affairs programme. It transpired that this was not an isolated incident but a routine practice involving hundreds of thousands of animals every year. How could anyone not feel empathy for these beautiful Brahmin cattle and not then feel angry on their behalf? Yet most people eat meat and whether our animals are pre-stunned or not, the killing is always ugly. The cruelty shown towards such animals is always undeserved since the animals are innocent and have no way of understanding what is happening to them. 

To change attitude

20.

Attitude can be turned around by the sheer power of love, but that sounds too slushy for most animal activists so they go the other way, settling for second best; they try to swing attitudes around with ‘fear’. “Stop eating animals or you’ll die a terrible death” ... “vengeance will be upon you”, etc. But whether or not we use that dubious sort of encouragement, the fact remains that we, as vegans, do enjoy a certain immunity from the day-to-day fear of being brought down by common killer diseases. If one is constantly afraid of putting on weight or clogging arteries or raising blood sugar levels then one is going to be too preoccupied with personal concerns to direct much energy towards ‘the other’. Empathy will take second place and concern for ‘food’ animals will be displaced.

I wonder what is lost when we grow up? Perhaps we lose spontaneity, lose the rebel in us and concentrate too much on personal problems. Do we accumulate too much emotional clutter and in the process lose our earlier ideals? In our self-obsession perhaps we hardly notice the love being leached out of us as we lose sight of animal issues.

As vegans, we do feel heartbroken for the ruined lives of farmed animals and this more than anything, drives us to work on their behalf. But others have their own private reasons to make a lifestyle change which may not be driven by compassion for animals. It might be more to do with keeping their figure trim or avoiding heart disease and that might not lead to a permanent change of heart. Nor will such a change be powerful enough to inspire others to change, since it will merely seem like a sensible life choice. It won’t necessarily help to stop others using human advantage at the expense of non-humans.

Perhaps it seems to the omnivore that ‘not-using’ animals for food is about denial. But it’s much more a step towards altruism and perhaps towards a shift in our motives for doing the things we do. The idea of working happily and energetically for someone other than our self and for the benefit of the less advantaged, can be deeply satisfying. Instead of the rape and pillage mentality of the more primitive human, we can see a more inspiring role, that of the human acting as guardian, protector and carer, wherever needed.

If we humans are consciously taking part in the transformation of our species, it won’t be for our own self edification. It’s more likely we’ll be taking on a whole new attitude to equip us for repairing the world we’ve damaged. At this pivotal point in our history humans may be coming together to transform the Earth into a safer and happier place than ever before, and needless to say, the first step would be to resist the temptation to use animals for food.

Availability, voluntary refusal and personal ambition

19.

Slowly we are moving forward in our awareness of animals, the part they play in our everyday life, how we humans exploit them, and how much we like the end-products of the Animal Industries. Many reforms are being made but we are still a ‘million miles’ from addressing the whole problem. We need to see why we like the idea of something like non-violence but don’t want it badly enough to put ourselves out about it. We need to get to the root of why we want something noble but aren’t disciplined enough to bring it about. There are many analogies. We want peace but can’t abandon nuclear weapons. We want a safe climate but want lots of electricity to support our lifestyle. We want paper but don’t want to fell trees. Is there another element muddying the waters? If we look at ourselves, as animal activists, are we fighting for the rights of animals but still need reward for our hard work? Do we have ambitions to be at the forefront of the next great social revolution? If so, are we sure we won’t tread on each others’ toes in our race for personal recognition? Can we be sure that our motives for being animal advocates will remain true? In other words, will we be able to keep enough integrity to carry us through the lean years to come, before this great attitudinal ship can be turned around? Any one of us, vegan or non-vegan, might have high ideals but can we carry them through into practice, until they become just good habits? Or will we be stymied by our need to show off and look more advanced that we are? 

A still-foreign consciousness of non-violence

18.

Being conscious of Animal Rights doesn’t stop at dietary change but at the principle of non-violence. It is becoming a realistic possibility and inspiration. It’s possibly the most effective panacea for this war-torn age (and needless to say, it incorporates vegan principle). The only trouble is inconsistency. I’m troubled by my own inconsistency as perhaps some of my animal activist friends are. We love the idea of non-violence but applying it in practice is like a five year old child refusing candy for fear of tooth decay later in life! The Animal Rights Movement is still very young. There’s a need for all of us in it to grow up rather quickly in the face of the current ethical meltdown. Our loose grouping under the ‘Animal Rights’ banner comprises people who aren’t always entirely clear what their main message should be or how they should exemplify it. Be a strict vegan, be a hard-working activist, run an animal shelter, be a nice person? We have vegetarians who still can’t take on a vegan food and clothing regime. We have dietary vegans who can’t let go of their leathers and we have sincere animal lovers who take on (albeit as a rescue) a carnivorous companion animal which will require many other animals to die to feed it. How can an animal liberation message be promoted by activists who preach one thing and do another? I hasten to add that I don’t mean to sound harsh or extreme here, but only want to point out how tricky this subject is, how many pitfalls there are and how relatively new this Animal Rights consciousness is - to all of us.

Fashion, normalcy and unthinkingness

17.

Despite a certain wave of change taking place today, it is still fashionable to be unaware of the conditions in which farmed animals live and die. Fashion says it’s okay to eat meat, to wear wool, to buy fashionable shoes made of leather, to eat eggs for breakfast and take cow’s milk in our coffee. But what about the big food temptations, the salivation stimulators, the rich foods, the treat foods and exotic foods like lobster or wagyu beef? Or simple mouth-watering confections which contain cruelty-based ingredients? By deciding to buy any of these tempting items, we implicate ourselves in cruelty and even atrocity.

At that most private moment, standing at the shop counter, imagining the taste of an item we’re about to buy, it’s likely we could resent the idea of denying ourselves something which we can, nevertheless, afford to buy. For children, any of these items may have been unattainable through lack of funds or lack of permission. But as we grow up and those restrictions disappear, we are faced with ‘missing out’ and we’ve got into the habit of having whatever we want. It’s then strange for us if we decide, on ethical grounds, not to buy. The allure of certain benign looking and oft used products is often stronger than our impulse to check ingredients.

In our society today, when there’s no fuss being made, where there’s no pressure to ‘do the right thing’, it’s only our own ethical inner-voice which can call the shots. Often it’s a weak, barely heard voice that we can easily ignore. It’s been trained to be weak and it needs amplification by a well respected group that stresses the importance of implementing a ‘non-use-of-animals’ rule, to counter the majority’s sense of normality and unthinkingness. 

Why the reluctance to change

16.

Getting this idea (of expanding empathy for farmed animals) across to unwilling listeners, is always going to be difficult. Most people won’t necessarily see things the way I now see them. They won’t willingly give up meat and eggs, let alone their leather shoes or woollen blankets. So they won’t extend their kind feelings towards animals that provide them with those things. Meaning - they’ll resist our arguments fiercely. This is why I think the key to the success of our mission to liberate animals can only be found in our approach to nervous listeners. Somehow each of us has to find our own way to earn their trust so we can put forward our case without causing them to feel too judged or too threatened.

Animal advocates are essentially information imparters and to a certain extent (especially for those ready and willing to learn) we’ve done a good job. We’ve made masses of information available through our campaigns, literature, web sites and in our personal conversations and exchanges of ideas. Thirty years ago we’d spend all day in the library searching for the facts which we can now ‘Google’ in seconds. Today there’s no excuse for ‘not-knowing’. But the feelings we have are set deep. Any amount of facts won’t necessarily alter feelings and these feelings may be specifically of a ‘disinterest’ towards animals. In fact they’re feelings for the opposite - for the taste of meat, for chocolate and a million rich foods laced with milk products, against the frustration of not being able to find vegan alternatives. I think this is what puts most people off making a radical dietary change. It’s the reluctance to boycott animal foods which stops people going anywhere near even discussing the subject. So we animal advocates can rant and rave till we’re blue in the face, but we live in a free society where everyone knows they are free to do as they please. No one is obliged to listen to what we say, and therefore respecting that reality is the first stage in any approach we, as advocates, make.

Understanding the minds of others starts with ourselves

15.

When I considered becoming an animal activist, I soon enough also became a vegan. I knew my goal was more than just avoiding animal food. There were going to be changes. I’d have to get used to the unavailability of all sorts of things vegan. I wanted to tread more lightly, better appreciate things and transform myself from clod-hopping brute to a more sensitive, gentler adult. I figured I had a simple choice. I could either grab whatever I craved or I could be more circumspect and use a bit of self control. I suppose I was aiming at becoming less attached and learning how to do without. Once I got used to that, I’d be less tempted to compromise my newly found principles. That led me to finding that truth isn’t about attempting perfection or seeking enlightenment or taking a ‘spiritual path in life’. It’s about experimenting and getting used to change when circumstances demand it, and then becoming at ease with that need for change. I wanted to know the truth (don’t we all?). I figured that change kept alive a questioning of those things which others aren’t bothered enough to question.

            For me, then and now, the most bothering thing I can think of is the thought of routine abuse of sensitive and sentient beings. It’s simply the best example of social injustice I can imagine! The reason it’s so bothering is that there are so many who are so innocent and who are being so badly abused. I want to understand why my fellow human beings can be so careless about animals. It’s rather confusing.

I think I know how to treat my nearest and dearest ... with love and affection. But why should I stop there? I have to ask myself if there’s any reason to stop anywhere - with humans, animals, environment - any of it? Is there anything that doesn’t deserve affection and guardianship? Of course my first instinct is to leap to the defence of animals because they so badly need defending. Then I realize that this is going to involve me in a long ‘to-do’ list. Therein lies the rub. What precisely is my goal? There’s the sticking point for me and perhaps for any animal advocate. I realised I was setting myself up for a fall. Being perpetually overwhelmed by that long list and never being able to decide which issue needed most of my attention. This was a list I’d try to shorten, to keep my goal achievable. I’d try to ration-out my reserves of ‘care’ only to end up with inconsistency. The Animal Rights Movement implies a high ideal and many of us become drained by trying to reach it. Facing the issues takes a lot of energy. For animal activists there’s always a danger of spreading ourselves too thinly and pleasing nobody, least of all ourselves. There’s the danger of putting too much onto the ‘back burner’, and then letting these issues become permanently forgotten about. So while I wanted to be consistent, it was only when I lined up all my responsibilities that I knew I was not. And it grieved me when I thought how inconsistent I could be.

But perhaps, I thought, that was my clue to understanding others’ difficulties, concerning their use of animals. Understanding others starts with understanding ourselves. If I wonder why others are inconsistent I only need to look at myself. For example, when I see the homeless man on the streets at night, I ask myself why I should care about him. I don’t want to take on another responsibility so I pretend not to notice him. In the same way, I pretend NOT to notice what I know I HAVE noticed. It’s the same with the way most people choose NOT to see the animals behind the food they’re eating. They know that chickens and pigs are just like dogs and cats, yet they treat one as unlovable and the other as loveable. The homeless man is just as deserving of love as my closest friend and yet I’m able to ignore him completely. That’s an absurdity I have to learn to live with. And in much the same way the collective human race has NOT made an agreement with itself about regarding all sensitive and sentient creatures as of equal importance. They favour some with an abundance of kindness and totally ignore others and support their exploitation.

Self development via compassion

14.

One of the main reasons people become vegetarian is to start the process of self-development, to become more sensitized to their surroundings and animals, and to develop a more empathy-driven approach in their day-to-day lives. In this violent world, most of us want to know how to become less violent, less selfish and more healthy on all levels. Indeed to become an all-round, better type of person. If to some extent ‘we are what we eat’, then more so ‘we are what we boycott’. We make our most sincere statement of intent in what we deny ourselves, by what we avoid eating or wearing when it’s animal-based.

Apart from avoiding all the familiar ‘cruelty’ products by observing vegan principles, we can’t help but become inspired by the broader practice of non-violence. Perhaps our being less reckless in what we eat, will carry through to the way we think. Taking this to its logical conclusion, there doesn’t have to be much difference between the sentient and the non-sentient - it’s all consciousness after all. A generous and gentle attitude should affect the way we drive a car or deal with the kids or respect cows. 

Learning about and teaching Animal Rights

13.

We can’t necessarily trust what we’ve been taught. Every major issue now needs to be run past our conscience to weed out misinformation and test out new information. If we ever do learn the truth and want to pass it on to others, we have to be convincing and make what we say interesting enough to compete with other disciplines, each vying for the public ear. We need to inspire, inform and warn, whilst not sounding too full of ourselves. We can’t afford to have any dodgy habits ourselves, any double standards or any obvious vulnerabilities if we want others to emulate what we do. In fact we have to be squeaky clean and only be seen to be helping people understand this difficult subject, and showing them how to make changes painlessly. There are a few more guidelines I’d like to suggest here. Since Animal Rights is a foreign concept to most people, we advocates need to be a fount of information for those who want it. At the same time, for those who are less willing to listen, we need to avoid making value judgments of them. It’s such a big turn-off! We need to show them the sort of empathy we’ve developed for animals; sublimating any tendency we might have to hurry people on. For ‘newcomers’ there might be a lot to find out, not only about cruelty to animals but the nutritional and environmental consequences of animal farming. All this may sound like a hard slog, but there are great personal rewards too. Being a true vegetarian, we show that we respect ourselves and are open to the truth about animal exploitation. And once we’ve learned we can teach some of the valuable life tips we’ve picked up.

Changing attitude

12.

Despite the die-hard conventionalism of most people in our society there are still many people who’ve been able to break through their own cravings and arrive at a diet that’s entirely plant-based. And let it also be said that a lot of good work has already been done by animal advocates, who’ve devoted a lot of time to training people how to prepare plant-based foods. The work of animal protection groups has brought animal issues to prominence over a thirty year period. But we may have to accept that what we’ve so far achieved is piecemeal. There’s been no tectonic shift of attitude in our society, essential to spark mass habit-change.

Breaking inertia, improving the worst farm conditions, getting people to take up healthy vegan diets - yes - that will be a great step forward but nowhere near big enough to make much difference. The problem is deeper, much deeper; some would say a ‘million years’ deep. The habit of using animals is planted so firmly in our psyche, that no simple dietary shift or welfare improvement will ever impact strongly enough on collective custom unless it is accompanied by an expansion of empathy, for both animals and children of present and future generations. The Animal Rights movement must aim at abolishing of the use of animals to benefit our own lives. Just as the abolitionists demanded a complete end to human slavery (in the Slavery Abolition Act) almost two hundred years ago, so we must do the same to end animal slavery. If we don’t go that far now, we’ll never create the sort of momentum needed to bring about a necessarily large-scale attitudinal change.

The liberation movement is facing two main obstacles. People like what they are eating (and what they’re wearing) and they fear radical change. But these are changing times, and people realise the danger of ‘social meltdown’ if we continue as we are. Our ethics are looking threadbare and the planet itself is teetering on the edge of irreparable damage. Many people now expect that they’ll have to get used to giving up things which they’ve taken for granted all their lives. Radical changes will have to be made to our habits; whether we’re burning fossil fuels and wrecking the planet, eating dangerous foods to the detriment of our health or condoning animal gulags and suffering the shame of that.

The factors linking all the main issues of our day are, in reality, merely reflections of human nature, particularly our collective obsession with high living and maintaining animal-dependant lifestyles. It’s not just a matter of meat-eaters giving up meat or vegetarians giving up eggs and cheese. It is for example-setters to show what can be done by simply changing one single attitude based on a very simple truth - animals are irreplaceable, sovereign individuals, just as we humans are. They aren’t commodities to enhance human lifestyle.

Guiding young people

11.

If you’ve examined a school canteen lately, you’ll see an absence of the very worst foods including fatty meat dishes and sugary drinks and confections. Sometimes salads appear on the menu, but still, animal foods make a strong showing whilst substantial plant-based dishes are rarely on offer; although in fairness a vegan meal can be ordered in advance at most school canteens. The way young people are introduced to food outside the home is a long way from proactive encouragement of healthy eating let alone avoiding cruelty-foods. Students deserve to be taught about the health-giving qualities of non-animal food, but those who are supposed to be food guides (the consultant nutritionists) are not willing to speak out against animal foods for fear of causing offence, losing professional credibility or even losing their funding from animal-industry sources. Meat dishes are known, are popular and are the default because their ingredients are so readily available and volunteer canteen staff  may only know how to prepare meat-based meals. I imagine few would be familiar with making attractive, main course, vegan dishes.

The nutritionists and the teachers themselves allow students to remain unenlightened. Ideally school teachers (whom students already trust) could be teaching useful facts about plant-based foods and farm-animal life; but presently most of them know little about either nutrition or animal husbandry and eat meat themselves. They are hardly in a position to be impartial or encourage students to examine animal foods too closely. Therefore it’s down to those who have a ‘clean slate’ and the necessary information to guide children in nutrition and the truth about animal farming. But many of us are not teachers or don’t have access to young people.  So until there are enough school teachers who are at least practising and well informed vegans, children are unlikely to find out what they need to know until they are old enough to discover things for themselves. By then, too many bad habits are likely to be entrenched. For children and adults alike, there’s so much ground to cover and so much to learn. Being addicted, or at least craving certain foods, doesn’t help. Poor food habits hold most people back from contemplating the possibility of an ethically-based diet change. And apart from the animal population suffering the young people are suffering for lack of responsible guidance.

Pitching to the grown ups

10.

This movement aims to grant animals the right to their own unenslaved lives. It is still a young movement, in the process of formation. It is peopled by passionate and good-hearted activists, who no longer use animals. These people advocate on behalf of the voiceless, and gradually find out (to their horror) what they are up against.

The Movement has made some considerable impact in USA and parts of Europe, but to date it has had less impact in Australia. I like to think we are a more discerning race of people (in this case to our detriment) with greater suspicion of being told what to do and what we should eat. I like to think that you can’t win over Australians with a few slick fundamentalist arguments. We, as a people, are savvy enough to know this is a much bigger matter, a more far-reaching problem than first meets the eye. It involves eating habits, clothing, empathy for animals and the health of the planet. As Australian animal advocates, we might need a more sophisticated approach than our colleagues overseas. It isn’t enough that we merely encourage vegan diets. We have to show our hand more completely, to help people see animals in a different light. We need to encourage them to use their imaginations in order to feel how deeply animals may be suffering and how we humans are suffering too because of the way we treat them.

It’s tricky for the persuading advocate – too much finger wagging and people turn off, too soft a voice and we’re ignored. But it’s not our job to tell intelligent and self-willed people what they should be eating or using. We should encourage them to investigate and become their own judge and jury. Independent adults must be allowed to decide for themselves. Young people too must be given the chance to understand what is going on. 

Children recruited into animal cruelty

9.

Those of us who don’t subscribe to the economic rationale, who think using animals is wrong, also realise that animal protein is unnecessary and indeed harmful to humans. We also see it as a tragedy for both animals and young people. Both are powerless victims in this dangerous game. Kids can’t fend for themselves. They must do as they’re told and eat what they’re given. Misinformed and kept generally uninformed, they inevitably become believers in the necessity of farming animals for food. They grow up never being told how their food comes to them because everything that happens to farm animals is kept secret from them. These days no one, adults and kids alike, is allowed to visit intensive animal farms or abattoirs; so no one ever sees for themselves what happens there.  If we, as a society, weren’t ashamed of our treatment of farm animals, we’d allow and encourage school students to see for themselves every stage of the processing of animals for food. Children would be taken to factory farms and processing plants and shown how meat, milk and eggs are produced … putting them in a position to decide for themselves whether they should use the produce of these animals. But since this would seriously affect the fortunes of the animal-food market, it doesn’t happen! 

The economic rationale behind animal cruelty

8.

In this present day society, we are guided less by ethics and more by economics. From a need for food-energy comes the idea that high-energy-food comes from animals. This logic says that energy production has to be economically viable. Therefore it must be okay for ‘food’ animals to be held captive for their whole life and kept virtually immobilized to maximize energy. The poultry sheds and cattle feedlots are testament to that logic in that they depend on restricting the animal’s bodily movements to make their fattening more efficient. Nothing else makes economic sense. The typical intensive system must go unremarked if we want cheap meat, cheap eggs and cheap milk! There must be tacit public approval for treating animals in this ‘necessarily atrocious’ way. 

Be normal: eat animals

7.

It is an irrefutable fact, that ‘almost’ every human on the planet eats meat and uses animal products! The idea that animals may be used for food, is universally accepted. This Goliath seems unconquerable … and yet the idea of Animal Rights has reached a considerable number of people. They’ve decided for themselves that they’ll no longer be party to animal exploitation. A recent survey by the Vegetarian Resources Group in USA, shows 1% are practicing vegans and so it seems that, against all odds, the ‘Rights’ movement is gaining ground. But to reach the majority who are less sensitive, less empathetic or more animal-food addicted, we might need to re-examine how we approach the majority of practicing omnivores. They may take a lot of convincing and we, as animal advocates, will have to combine all our talents to make a sufficiently large impact.

Many people are not necessarily in full control of their own actions since their minds have been bent so heavily towards the need to comply with majority behaviour. More than anything, people want to be seen as ‘normal’. They certainly don’t want to stand out as being fussy about food, food-wowsers, or weird in any way. To underline their ‘regular guy’ status, perhaps they must believe that what is normal must be ethically okay, otherwise people would reject it. From that belief stems a blind acceptance of a few dangerous premises: firstly in the belief that animals bred for food are not like dogs and cats, secondly the belief that since unloved pigs and cows and chickens are brought to life solely for the use of humans, it is then (by some contorted logic) okay to enslave them, brutally kill them and quickly forget them. Once this is accepted, the rest can be justified - to believe that it’s okay to deny these animals any sort of life of their own, and from there build a case for accepting any level of atrocity, simply by treating them like inanimate objects.

Denial

6.

In their use of animal foods, most people shelter in denial and protect themselves by only-doing-what-others-do. They practise same-behaviour, they turn a blind eye to the suffering of ‘food animals’. In a nutshell, this is the main obstacle facing the liberation of these animals. They shield themselves from hearing what Animal Rightists are saying. Those of us who are advocating rights for animals might try every angle to persuade people to abandon animal-foods. There are so many good arguments to choose from. We might expose the horrors, appeal to people’s sense of compassion, explain in detail why animal by-products involve cruelty, suggest attractive non-animal foods, emphasize the greenhouse implications of animal farming, but we reach relatively few. Most people are unwilling to step so boldly away from convention, especially if it means giving up their favourite foods. At best, they are afraid of the ‘deficiency’ of plant-based diets; at worst, they are in ‘atrocity-denial’ and playing dangerous mind games with themselves.

Maybe they realize the power of what we are saying but just try their best to ignore us. They may be afraid that if a break-through were made (in public acceptance of Animal Rights) it would spell the end of animal farming. That would mean no more meat and none of the thousands of animal-based commodities widely available today. In foreseeing this, people are inclined to vigorously defend their lifestyle and do whatever is necessary to guarantee their favourite food supplies. More importantly, they’ll resist everything we are saying about ‘atrocity’, which is probably why people pre-emptively shy away from discussing anything to do with animals (that are used for food).

The atrocity buffer

5

If hunting with barbed fishing hooks or with guns is a ruthless sport, then animal farming is a cold, calculated and prolonged torture process. Using animals as a main source of food supply has long been shown to be unnecessary, since a plant-based diet is safe, satisfying and very healthy. When that penny eventually drops, one hopes that all intelligent people will say “no more” and start to look more carefully at the Animal Rights arguments and go on to discover a food regime which poses no danger to either health or conscience.

But at the moment, most people haven’t paid too much attention to our arguments. They prefer to eat as others eat, fish as others fish, shop as others shop. Of course, impressionable youngsters think everything is quite normal and acceptable; and we can’t blame them for that.

Over this last half century, since the end of the Second World War, consumption of meat has increased dramatically. It’s cheap, plentiful and animal by-products are widely used in a huge variety of snacks and confections. We’ve become dependent and even addicted to animal-based foods. Greater demand and competition has brought about a creeping deterioration in conditions on animal farms, to the point where intensive farming is now nothing short of an atrocity. When we think of atrocities, we imagine the torture and massacring of people. These horrors, not usually involving us personally, we duly condemn. But this atrocity (the enslaving and executing of food-animals) only differs in so much as almost everyone is involved in it. For example, the life-long caging and brutal killing of chickens is actively supported by anyone who is buying caged hens’ eggs or eating chicken-meat … which is something that most people do. Since no one wants to associate themselves with ‘atrocity’, they try to deny it. They’ll develop an ‘atrocity-buffer’ which allows them to spot any other atrocity except the one they’re connected with.