Two stage break-out

842:

Most people have invested in a collective mind-set, which takes the form of an intractability of attitude about the treatment of animals. By keeping them as slaves we can maintain our dominant position in the hierarchy. We can remain omnivores. For some, the cruelty and waste associated with animal-farming is a worry but they can’t shake the habit of eating animal-based food. It’s addictive.

Maybe our worry isn’t confined to the magnitude of the problem so much as the cover-up we have to be party to. We’ve been tricked by the food companies into thinking there’s no ethical component to food and, as soon as we realise there is, we try not to think about it too deeply. We know that thought persuades action; if we gave the situation any thought at all it would lead towards boycotting. At first it would mean giving up meat, then eggs, then milk, then we’d end up avoiding many, many things.

The logic behind ethical boycott applies to very many food items. We fear that if we start along that road then, soon enough, there’ll be nothing much left to buy (especially those comfort foods of which we are so fond).

Everyone knows about the amount of animal exploitation going on, just by seeing footage on TV. But what we see is a momentary shock that we might be able to forget. Statistics aren’t as easily forgotten, especially when we learn that an average Westerner eats twenty one thousand animals (in his or her lifetime). That’s a lot of executions weighing on our conscience. Each death tells of an individual animal’s horror story. Each death  is a death that consumers are responsible for.

Just by writing this, I’m conscious of saying something highly unpopular! But I hasten to add that almost every single one of us, present day vegans included, are or were hardened animal eaters at some stage of our lives. We’ve all got blood on our hands.

Once we acknowledge this, we can start to repair, to atone. And then keep moving on, for this is just one hurdle to pass over. The next step is to stop judging those who aren’t vegan, because it’s not only a waste of time but it serves to alienate people.