629:
Veganism isn’t just about food, it’s an idea, only part of
which concerns food. Getting people to adopt a vegan diet isn’t the end aim. It
simply allows us to look at vegan principle without being knocked back by our
own food practices. This principle logically gives rise to the diet, and that
gives rise to the boycott that leads to an entirely changed view of how humans
might interact with the animal kingdom. Giving people advice simply about vegan
diet isn’t necessarily going to change them as people. Omnivores need something
inspiring and completely rational to convince them to get rid of ‘certain
habits’.
Almost all of us have been
brought up with specific ideas about food, regarding the safety of it and to
some extent that includes an ethical angle; we wouldn’t, for instance, eat
whales or pate de foie gras, it would outrage us. But all the rest of it, which
is still fashionable to eat, the omnivore will eat. And eat and eat and eat until
addicted. And then getting supplies becomes more important than anything else.
We, as vegans, mustn’t
underestimate how much we are pushing the omnivore’s most sensitive buttons. As
advocates we need to understand the logic of an omnivore mind, ‘why they eat
the foods they do’, ‘why they believe in these foods’, ‘why they like the taste
of them, the feel of them slipping past taste buds into their stomach, and
therefore why their very life depends on supply.
Vegans might have to be
determined advocates if the omnivore population is going to be swung over.
No comments:
Post a Comment