The obstacles which ironically give us greater awareness

741:

            The big difficulty facing animal advocates is that the more we learn, the more we want to tell our story; but the more we tell it the fewer people want to listen. The more you learn about the abuse of animals the more serious the cruelty seems to impact on both animals and humans.

            Most animal welfare organizations focus their attention on the people who perpetrate the cruelty, whereas it is really the consumer who calls the shots. Customers demand the product at a low price and availability, which forces the producer to take up the cheapest method of supply, which happens to involve the most cruelty.   

            It’s the dishonesty of ordinary people, turning a blind eye, which allows the system to continue; millions of starving children die needlessly and millions of animals are killed shamelessly, and everyone goes about their business as if nothing bad is happening.

            Laying the blame though is futile. It solves nothing. There are always arguments to excuse animal abuse. Ordinary people have their own problems which can’t be neglected. The sheer weight of making a living and paying the bills pushes so many important issues into the background; woe betide anyone failing to pay their rent or mortgage. It’s essential to give the children what they need, to secure their future, to prevent them being trampled on by others who are scrambling for the same sort of safety for their own kids. People can’t see the impact their lifestyle is having on the world about them unless they are consciously leading themselves towards a whole new set of values. It’s almost as if change can’t find fertile ground since the system is so well established that it forces people to go with the flow. And our political leaders can’t be relied upon to show leadership because they’re as nonplussed as everyone else. Even if we know what should be done we don’t have the freedom or courage to break away from the way things have always been done.

            So, there’s an obvious need for change yet a reluctance to step out in front, to take the first steps towards setting off a chain reaction of change. There’s a need for change for one’s own benefit and for the greater good, but a fear of stepping too far away from reality.

            There are many questions for which there are inadequate answers:  Do I believe that my ‘good example’ will encourage others to follow? Does my sowing seeds encourage growth? Do I have faith in others doing the right thing, for the greater good? Should I rely on others, who feel the same way as I do, not to give up on the job? Are our destructive habits and violent attitudes so deeply entrenched that radical change can’t come about? Is change possible? Are intentions good?

            Perhaps we need to turn away from the bigger picture and take a fresh look at home values. We need to walk before we can expect to run. First up, if there are things to be done then motivation is essential - personal change needs good motivation, so I have to create an alternative, non-damaging lifestyle and only then can I defend it and then promote it. But the particular difficulty in promoting Animal Rights is that there are so many competing causes, so many other, more obviously dangerous issues facing the planet. They seem bigger and blacker than concerns about farm animals. At this stage we are becoming environmentally aware. We’re aware of wasting money because of the wasteful spending of trillions of dollars on weapons of war. By looking about us we see riches and lots of fat people who eat to excess, and we see children dying from malnutrition. The obscenity of all this is easy to understand. Even if these three major horrors are known to us what room is there for further, less-obvious horrors to enter the picture? We are overwhelmed with the dangers which are becoming obvious right now without adding to the list. We argue that, surely, these are the most urgent issues to deal with, and the enslavement of non-human animals doesn’t ring alarm bells in the same sort of way. It isn’t seen as such a great threat to civilisation. It’s like in wartime, when bombs are raining down, THAT  dominates everyone’s thoughts, and very little else seems to matter as much.

            Few people care about the damage being done to our ‘humanity’ by confining and killing and then eating animals when it’s these other issues weighing so heavily on our collective conscience. But I’d also suggest that all issues are connected. Connected by fear and violence and the root cause of violation and violence will only mend when we stop attacking animals. That same violence has allowed us to look away from attacks on the environment and on the most poor people of the world. We can hardly pretend we are non-violent people when we still attack and use animals.

            As soon as we stop participating in the mass killing of animals we open up new awareness, but it has to start with individuals, doing what they must do without reference to what others are doing. If I can do what I think is the right thing, then other individuals must eventually start to notice and follow suit. It might take a long time, but surely that is the way the ball starts rolling. I doubt if any government will act on behalf of ‘the animals’, since to ban the killing of animals would be so unpopular that it would spell political suicide. The breakthrough has to start at the grass roots level. With individuals.