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As a vegan, I focus my attention both on myself and ‘the
other’ - that’s surely the idea of being vegan, being passionate and concerned
for ‘food’ animals. But in other people’s perception my passion reeks of
zealotry.
All too
often I can only succeed in making zero impact on omnivores. They can’t trust
me (perhaps any vegan, come to that) and worse, they don’t like me (perhaps any
of us), and that helps justify their disliking of what we say. It fits neatly
into maintaining the status quo - the traditional attitude.
Vegans no
longer follow the ‘eat-what-you-like habit. We don’t indulge in the luxury of
easy choices. Instead, we set a difficult example. We can’t afford to be seen
as hobby-advocates. And particularly, we can’t have any double standards. If
veganism is about nothing else, it’s about that.
But if this
sort of exemplary behaviour is difficult to keep up, it’s not because of
restriction-of-food choices but the constant seething feelings we have, about
animal cruelty. Almost 100% of people in our community don’t seethe, certainly
not enough to boycott animal products. They are able to turn a blind eye. And
if we bring anything to their attention they can also turn a deaf ear.
When I sound off about ‘cruelty
to farm animals’ I’m ignored, they thinking, no doubt, “Here he goes again, on
about the same old thing”.
With this
level of predictability, I have to be in control of what I say - I need to be
able to get close-in with people by being professional, civil and affectionate,
and not showing too much emotion. I don’t want to let my face or body language
reveal too much passion, so that I’m not just being identified by that. If I
want to get people to sit up and listen I won’t do it by annoying them.
Instead, I’d rather let them know that I’m on their side, as well as the
animals’. I want them to see that I appreciate their difficulty of ‘not being
there yet with ‘this-animal-thing’. I don’t mean getting ‘pally with the
enemy’, I merely mean to oil the communication-machine.
We have a long way to go, for
many decades to come; at this early stage, vegans need to be establishing a
good example as people-worth-knowing, and set some good communication
standards.
Our cause,
our fight, our arguments, our trying-to-grab-attention, whatever we identify
ourselves with most strongly, as much as it feels right to us, we have to
remember that anything truly right can also be open to misinterpretation.
Do we, as
the father asks his pregnant daughter of the boy in question, have good
intentions? If so, that is what we must project by way of a ‘most convincing
approach’. If I’m looking for a fight, to show off my superior values and
knowledge, if I want to stir you into disagreement, if I just want to be right
and hit out, it might be understandable. But it’s not productive and does no
service to the animals on whose behalf we are surely trying to advocate.
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