Our aims and the license to speak about them

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Our common aim is profound enough to draw energy from. Our aim is reached by eating plant-based foods and seeing the connections between the food we boycott and the treatment of ‘food’ animals. This is why we decide to become vegan in the first place, to protect certain values connected with humanity; humans are losing their grip on ethical values in relation to their food and what is condoned, in respect of the way animals are being treated. The animal-eaters are talking themselves into becoming monsters, and vegans are trying to talk them out of it. We see a role here for talking about animal issues. As talking-vegans, we need to know how to talk effectively.

The job of public-addressing involves outlining the sequences we go through in the waking-up process. First our attention is caught by seeing how cruelty and animal products go together; everyone should be aware, by now, of the worst abuses of chickens in cages and pigs in sow stalls. Then we start to see how ‘clean’ food leads to a clearing of our view of world events - if people were vegan, animals would be spared, our health improved, world starvation a thing of the past and the threat of global warming massively reduced. The sequence of one thing leading to the next, from food to good nutrition to plentiful food supply to cleaner farming impact on the environment, shows how the world could benefit from simple plant based food regimes. The omnivore needs to be helped to see these sequences, but for that to happen vegan advocates must speak with  permission. If it’s not forthcoming then that’s of central importance. And we have to ask why people are so reluctant to talk or listen to matters concerning Animal Rights. Until we make progress on permission we make no progress at all.