Strong words and strong insults

896: 

I can think of any number of ways to say how I feel about using (abusing) animals, some stronger and therefore more insulting than others. If I want to be insulting I’ll use words that are closer to my thoughts than the way I’d normally express myself.

            The words I use might seem to be the most extreme way of expressing my feelings, and I’ll guess any reader who ISN’T vegan will have already started fighting the words I use. In the last blog, they’d have bristled at the words ‘contempt and love’ - I obviously attribute the word ‘contempt’ to the way omnivores see farm animals, otherwise they wouldn’t countenance the way the animals are treated. They’d be fighting more words I’ve used, like ‘banged up in jail’, ‘ugly death’, ‘betrayed’ and ‘enslaving’. If I’d used milder language, would my words truly reflect what I think of omnivores, for indulging their food tastes? If I didn’t emphasise the crime I would seem to be stressing the positive, the only problem being that there isn’t a positive; even in my most generous spirit, I can’t see anything good to say about the ‘omnivore’ side of people. Unfortunately there isn’t anything good or natural or worthwhile that their own strict diet doesn’t contravene.

            So, here I am, doing my usual trick of slagging off the omnivore. Perhaps just by admitting that this is what I’m doing is enough to soften the impact of my insulting words. But that’s not the point is it. I’m not trying to seek forgiveness or plead acceptance or dodge responsibility, I’m just unable to think of any other way to get people’s attention. And yet, I know that going on the attack like this isn’t effective. The weight of resistance, to what vegans are saying, is enormous. Despite the insulting language and our puny opposition, we are easily made to look ridiculous, simply because ours is such a minority view, while theirs is the collective view of the vast majority.

            Here’s how ridiculous I seem to them: if I slag off someone for eating a cheese sandwich, then I have to slag off everyone, because none of them are vegan. But most people I know (and like and love) are meat-eaters, or meat-eaters disguised as vegetarians. With most people I know, I get on with perfectly well, discussing many other major issues. We have our differences, but it’s still okay. Maybe we agree to differ. But on this one subject, where we take a different stance, we are more fiercely defensive - they acting to protect their way of life, me acting like the attorney, representing a client.

here’s my problem: I feel compelled to say it as I see it, using words to place myself between animals and their attackers. I have to spell out the truth as I see it - that almost everyone is involved in the conspiracy to attack the defenceless animals. The conspiracy is only made worse by the fact that after the animals are attacked, they are killed, then eaten.

            If your own child was being attacked you’d do whatever you could to prevent it. Kids are helpless to defend themselves and they need a responsible adult to protect them when in danger. With animals it’s not so very different. They are routinely attacked and have no legal protection from the attacking human, because humans write the laws to suit human interests, not the animals’.

            So it comes to this: there’s great danger in continuing doing (supporting) what is being done to animals. The only way out of it all is with magnanimity of spirit. Then we can come closer to them. That’s empathy, and that involves an altruism which gets its kicks from engaging in guardian jobs and protective work.