964:
People don’t usually like hearing stories of cruelty and
waste in relation to animals. They feel
guilty about what they’re eating and wearing, but the problem is that they
can’t imagine a world without animal farms and animal foods and animal-based
clothing. Most people can’t accept life
without meat or, if they’re vegetarians, without eggs, cheese, milk and the
hundreds of products using animal ingredients. Most people think a plant-based diet would be
boring and unhealthy. But today people
are better informed, and if they are not yet quite clear about why cruelty is
linked to dairy products, they’ll have no trouble understanding that such
things as leather should be avoided, because it is the skin of executed
animals.
Back in the 1970s there was far less information. I knew very little until I met someone who
explained some details. I became a vegan.
What influenced my decision were stories I heard, from the son of a dairy farmer, who
knew about what they did to animals, for their meat and milk and eggs. I vaguely knew it wasn’t nice but he went
through the details, and why consumers were always kept in the dark. But, as he pointed out, that was just what the
customer wanted; they didn’t want to know too much, in case they might persuade
themselves to act.
This was true for me. I really didn’t want to know. And yet I did. I liked all the delicious foods and yet
disliked them because of their animal content. And this is the dilemma for most people today,
unable to face a life without prawns, steak, ham, eggs, ice cream, milk
chocolate, melted cheese on pizzas, fruit yoghurt and cream cakes. And a lot
else besides.
Every time I eat out, go to a dinner party or a celebration
like a wedding, there are always attractive items to eat, made with lots of
animal ingredients. To pass it up might
seem masochistic. While all the others are
stuffing their faces I end up with a bowl of salad. And clothing, leather shoes, woollen jumpers
and blankets, fur coats, etc. It’s a
long list.
Okay, you get the picture – there is a lot of
‘doing-without’ if you’re a vegan. It’s
a huge challenge to impose on yourself.
If you decide to deny yourself these ‘eating pleasures’ and wardrobe
items, you’ll effectively be stepping aside from normality and from the
lifestyle of your friends and family.
So, you have to adopt an alternative lifestyle. You have to use your creativity to make it
attractive. You find ways to make
plant-based foods interesting and delicious. You wear canvas shoes, cotton, linen and
synthetic fabrics. You have to get used
to explaining to people why such radical changes are being made, in order to
‘save animals’. And at this point some
will fail to understand, since they feel no particular empathy for pigs and
chickens. But for those who do have some
empathy, they’ll realise why you’ve had to make these radical changes to your
lifestyle. And if you don’t become too
evangelical when you tell them about it, they might just go away and consider
things afresh. They might admire the
principles you live by and move towards becoming vegan themselves.
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