What’s going on here?

902: 

Vegans can either be inspirational agents of change or irritating moralists. There are two types of vegan - those who don’t proselytise and those who do; some vegans speak out in public and are sometimes pushy and off-putting. Some vegans don’t speak out at all and seem to be afraid of confronting people. Outspoken vegans do invaluable work, and quiet vegans do too by their setting a fine example in silence. I think both types are valid, but they’re not mutually exclusive. They can coexist in the one person. There are those who don’t ear bash their friends every time they see them but never miss an opportunity to speak out when appropriate, when invited. Striking a balance is key to success in getting people to consider what we are suggesting.

If that part of us, which chooses to go into the public arena, is going to become more effective, it must be able to deal with opposition, including those who just ignore us. We have to get used to the swagger of the vast majority, who are almost over-confident in their resistance to us, buoyed by the fact that they hold majority opinion. So, to press on past this, we need to turn around the obstinate public mind, simply by enjoying the ‘game of reaching into the public ear’, and not getting huffy when we’re rejected.

I think this approach works best, to stimulate discussion. We can take a few blows to the head, a few insults and jokes at our expense, just so long as we start discussing that most touchy of all subjects concerning animal issues.

If we try to beg people to listen, we lose them. And there again, if we dispense with their permission, if we aggressively challenge them to ‘bring-it-on’, or if we try to force people to listen to what we have to say, they’ll run. And then we’ve lost them. An ‘unpermitted’ approach can cement a person’s dislike of us, and therefore our message. 

So, whereto from here then? Humour can work sometimes but it can give the impression that we are being too light-hearted about an obviously serious subject.

I suppose one of our main problems is that, already, we have a reputation to live down, seeming to be the newest evangelist on the block. People are generally afraid of what they see as our ‘extremism’; they can almost smell us coming from a distance. The danger is that, as soon as we open our mouths, they’ll suspect we are trying to convert them.