Gutsy Talk

42.

To stand up for animals you have to be vegan, and to be vegan you have to have guts. No tickets on yourself, no boasting about it, just a strong will. It’s not for the faint hearted. It isn’t a breeze.

            So, why go this far? Perhaps because it’s the starting point to all the changes humans need to make - we’ve done horrible things to each other and even worse things to the animals, and in the process nearly wrecked many of the delicately balanced systems of the planet. Those who are making the strongest and most significant stand are vegans. We have such a simple solution to so many of the world’s greatest problems, and yet because the starting point involves animal protection most people can’t see the connection. They dismiss us, our diet, our ethics, and therefore miss the solution we advocate entirely.

            Initially, the solution comes from a reappraisal of ethics, and leads on logically from there. The reason we make such a fuss about animal slavery is because it’s as ugly as any slavery gets. It reflects the nastiest side of human nature. We should all be ashamed. But we should all take the hint, and seize the clue to the solving of many global problems, related to the destructive behaviour of our species. The clue lies in the way we have chosen to treat the ‘sub-species’.

            Billions of beautiful, innocent, non-human animals are ruthlessly seized, imprisoned, have things sucked out of their bodies and then uncaringly and cruelly killed. It’s the unremarkableness of this attitude which is such a worry. We routinely exploit. Our attitude contains no sympathy for the animals that are enslaved. We fail to see our attitude as dangerous for us. We kill without care - it’s the opposite of a mercy killing; it’s cold and hard and cruel.

            This is mainly why vegans call for radical change. But we’re dealing with determined human beings, intent on eating meat and making money from producing animal products. And no one is listening to us yet. Not the producers, not the consumers and not the educators of children. We are a lone voice, but we’re saying what we have to say, nevertheless.