Picking-up on vegan

755: 

I’m suggesting, especially for long term activists, that the good old standby of ‘shock-horror’-protest needs a fresh look. Maybe in the past it’s been a lot of fun, out on protests, with mates, screaming about the horrors of animal abuse – completely valid. But it’s cost us a lot too, since with our overdose of aggro we’ve trashed our credibility to some extent.

Perhaps it felt good to protest this way, it felt ‘right’ and justified. But now I’d suggest there’s a more sophisticated, ‘cooler’ way to talk to ‘the other side’. I think we have to find a way of becoming less emotional about this subject, because once there’s a voice-tone there usually comes a germ of disapproval, even dislike in our voice, then whatever we say is sure to be rejected. I’ve experienced all the rejections - I’m a hypocrite, I have double standards, I’m poorly-informed. When what I’ve been saying is challenged with overtones of personal attack, that upsets me, and I get angry, quarrelsome, even abusive until I fall nicely into the trap that’s been set for me. By sounding and looking like thunder I fail to impress the very people I set out to impress.