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What mostly keeps vegans and omnivores apart is that one
side knows what the other doesn’t. The omnivore knows there’s no other way of
living than by using animals. Vegans just don’t understand this. So it figures
that, to the omnivore, any information about not eating food-animals and adopting
vegan diets makes little sense and will be pushed away. It isn’t that people
want to perpetuate cruelty to animals but that is the unfortunate part of
reality which “just has to be”. Pragmatism. And, like an irritating fly buzzing
around one’s head, vegans are irritating. No one likes a bible-basher who is pushing
unwelcome information. As free-willed adults, living in Western democracies, people
don’t like being told what to do, especially what to eat.
I find myself being a bit of ‘basher’
- “You have to hear what I’ve got to say, for your own safety”. Omnivores
question my authority to say this and reply, “You have no right to push me on
that point”. They think I’m trying to
lead them into deep, chilly and dangerous waters.
That’s not the way I see things.
There is so obviously another way of living, without any use of animals.
Omnivores just don’t understand this. So I figure I can make sense by arguing
my point. I’m careful though. I can corner someone (whilst staying just inside
the boundary of acceptable pushiness), thinking to do some good for the
animals. But what a risk! gambling on the chance of a sensible, low-key
discussion of the issues, tempted to gamble on a lucky strike. I’m so used to
having my views put down or ignored that ‘pushing a point’ seems the only way
sometimes. And for me, doing that feels good. It feels courageous. It’s
satisfying to tell an ‘insensitive omnivore’ what I think of their arguments. I
say to myself that I owe it to the animals, to enlighten the omnivore. And with
that in mind I will go in boots and all. But perhaps I should wise up. I
already have enough problems of communication without provoking people.
The omnivore doesn’t need to convert
us. They have enough people on-side without worrying about a few crazy vegans.
Vegans, however, do need to get as much support as they can, since we are still
so few. But perhaps more importantly, we are concerned for non-vegans who have
no idea how much danger they put themselves in. I need to turn around my own attitude
to them, from confrontation to having sympathy and compassion for them, for the
tight spot all omnivores are in. They are possibly very reluctant to change
their lifestyle and diet but aren’t necessarily comfortable, as I’m not, with
the cruelty of animal farming.
My view is that I need to stop
being ‘insistent’. Even though it’s a significant issue for me (as it is, of
course, for the animals themselves), it isn’t an issue for most others, who
believe that animals are here for us to use. Human beliefs are as change-proof
as reality itself - things are as we believe them to be, and many believe life
without hamburgers is no life at all.
To carry someone across, from
their belief to our own, is a big challenge. It’s likely that people are aware
of what they are doing, but their need for their favourite foods is uppermost
in their minds. I’m sure most people these days are well aware of the poor
effect animal products have on one’s health, not to mention the effect on a
sensitive conscience, over what’s being done to animals. But those favourite
foods! Changing to a vegan diet for the sake of one’s self-esteem might seem a
high price to pay (and in fact most omnivores have never seriously considered
vegan principle).
I know that even if they tried a
vegan diet that they wouldn’t stay vegan for long if they’re still hankering
for something that’s ‘off the list’. That has to be turned around if they are
ever able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There has to be a greater
goal they’d be aiming for, which goes beyond taste bud satisfaction and a lack
of interest in animal welfare. It has to have the promise of a less haunted
future.
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