Embarrassments over dinner

1118:

What is the art of talking it’s tossing ideas about and keeping ideas interesting and entertaining?  Perhaps the problem with most Animal Rights ideas is that they don’t have much ‘toss’ in them and they aren’t entertaining - the very opposite of interesting, more like cringe-making.

         

I can get embarrassing when I turn the conversation back to animal slavery and the need for abolition – for me, it’s pretty much an absolute position.  I suppose people dislike me because there’s really no middle way.  It’s abolition or nothing.

         

The way I see it we’re, any of us, either involved and outraged or largely uninterested in this subject, the subject is so contentious that it’s personal.  If you’re a vegan you’re implacably on one side of the fence and non-vegans, by dint of what they eat every day, are on the other. 

         

Animal eaters don’t give the matter much thought.  It is so habitual - every time they go food shopping or eat a meal, they pointedly avoid thinking about ‘this subject’.  If pressed they’d believe that animals were not much worthy of consideration, which is more like a non-thought connected to a daily practice than a deeply held conviction.

         

If there’s a vegan present at dinner time it’s much more difficult to sustain this ‘non-thought’ when there’s pointedly different food being eaten.  The meat eater (the non-vegan) can be hypersensitive about being judged or literally be afraid of the vulnerability to attack ... and who wants that at dinnertime?

         

It’s thought to be outrageous bad manners if a vegan were to make an adverse comment about the food on the table.  The provenance of food is normally never thought about or spoken about, in order that the enjoyment of eating isn’t spoiled.  Whenever this subject is approached, whatever is said, especially the way it’s said, is probably going to be remembered until the next time we get together.  If there is a next time!

         

Meat eaters don’t like inviting vocal vegans to meals.  In fact there’s no time when the meat-eater wants to risk being assaulted by a vegan’s views.

If I get an invitation to dinner, and if I start discussing animals with omnivores, I have keep it lively but short and often make some self disparaging remark to soften the impact of what I’m saying and without getting personal or threatening.

My hope is that if or when we do meet again, we’ll still be on speaking terms.