Not overplaying our hand

1116:

When we start to talk about Animal Rights we often get some extreme responses - people aren’t as delicate in their words about us as some of us try to be about them.  They’ll be less familiar with the arguments and be less practised in putting their view forward. But there’s something else.  They probably want to cling to their position, because they’ve got so much more to lose if they find anything at all to agree with us about.  They’re probably afraid we might say, “So, if you agree, why aren’t you vegan yet?”

         

In terms of arguments, vegans hold the best hand.  We can play things to our best advantage by way of logic, if nothing else.  We don’t need to rub it in their face.  It’s not about having a clever win-strategy.  They probably know their arguments are a bit leaky.  They know that today eating animals is a bit on the nose (the cruelty involved, the health dangers, environmental concerns, etc).  For them it’s important that they continue to disagree with us about the need for animals to have rights.  Disagreement is mandatory since they’re still animal eaters.

However, if they were to listen to us, willingly, I think they’re likely to listen most carefully if our concern is also for them, as well as for the animals.  It’s out of this concern that we want to talk things through.  We reckon we can add quality to life.

The reason we need to go easy on the omnivore, apart from not wanting to scare them off, is that their input to any discussion is especially valuable for us too.  If we can encourage them to speak freely, by listening to what they have to say, it helps us better understand the omnivore mind.  But it also reminds us how not so long ago we weren’t so very different.  Many of us enjoyed meaty meals.  Back whenever it was, we probably also had our own reasoning, all of which has now been easily forgotten.

I don’t think people want to allow themselves to join the Sympathy-For-Animals Club.  Consequences!  It would upset your social network, on which you might have spent considerable time and effort building.

You might not want to think about it, certainly not the gory bits, so the strategy is to avoid it, especially speaking about it.  This is not a popular subject for discussion with omnivores, and since almost every human is omnivorous, discussion partners are thin on the ground.  Which is all the more reason why, if we do find someone willing to talk with, we should treat them with great trust and respect.