Attack

763:

Whilst vegans are free to be open on this Animal Rights subject, non-vegans are not. I often expect people to be as open with me as I think I am being with them, but let’s be honest, non-vegans are in a tricky position, we know that. And we vegans, in our urgency to get essential facts across, can sometimes act like attack dogs. I have to NOT to drop bombs on people, when I speak to them about veganism. As soon as I start to explain my ethical position I find that I’m turning the screws. I can see the effect it has. What they hear isn’t necessarily what I think I’m saying – they often feel me getting ‘personal-by-implication’. If things deteriorate in conversation, they might feel me getting snippy about ‘differences of opinion’. They might hear familiar words and slogans they’ve heard before, and to them this sounds like quotes from Scripture. So they feel unsettled or bored by me, and I get frustrated with them, and then, effectively, our time’s up, and any chance of a useful dialogue is over.

If I can remain non-judgemental in my exchanges then I probably can’t go wrong; I’m more likely to be accepted as an approachable person, and what I’m saying felt as non-threatening.

Somehow, god-knows-how, we need to establish mutual respect by promising not to judge each other’s values. In fact I want to ooze non-judgement. I never want to be seen lunging at anybody with my spear of truth.