Ambassadors for animals

1130: 

For me, being vegan and going public is advocating, not unlike representing a client, but having to guess how best to act as if I were following the instructions of the animals themselves.  I trust I’m acting with their approval.

As farmed animals aren’t gratuitously violent, I imagine they wouldn’t want me to be hostile with anyone (I like to think animals know best how to deal with the human since they’ve seen the very worst of human behaviour and learnt how to survive it).

If they could advise us in any way at all, they’d probably advise us to work on our fellow humans in a slow and steady way.

 We can learn a lot from animals.  Since they don’t draw attention to themselves when dealing with their handlers, neither should we when talking about animal farming with anyone at all.  We can let them have their say first, to earn their go-ahead to have our say, and then there’s just a chance we might just persuade them to less violence.

Why be so indulgent? Because they, whether farmer or customer, represent almost all of our population.  That gives them confidence to do what they regard animals as objects to do with as the human pleases.  The law allows this approach, and the law makers reflect the wishes of the general population.  So, although there are still many, they are the ones who we need to convince.  They must be  brought on-side before any changes will be made to the laws.  And until the laws change, the Animal Industry will continue to treat animals with contempt.

To date, most people still love their animal foods, as well as leather goods and woollens, and much more.  Omnivores aren’t going to roll over easily, and are even less likely to if we try to corner them.  It’s easy to forget just how aggressive otherwise-peaceful people can be when it comes to protecting their own rights.  It’s likely we’re seen as threatening their animal-dependant lifestyles.  It’s understandable.  None of us likes being placed ‘in the wrong’, which is precisely what we do when talking Animal Rights to non-vegans.

Perhaps we have no other option.  We have to lay it on the line, we can’t soften up the facts as horrendous as they are.  But, to be fair, putting people right will always seem like showing off or being morally superior.

Even though we have watertight arguments, we’re likely to put peoples’ backs up when we start talking about all this.  It’s likely most people have never come across ‘abolition-ism’ before.  Once they realise where we’re coming from, it’s likely to make them feel uneasy.  It’s likely they’ll react negatively, or at least be defensive.  They feel insulted by having what has been, up to now, an accepted part of their life – we’re making it into something wrong.  Their aggressive reaction or pretend naivety is often a cover-up, because they can’t get past the ugly facts.  Having no strong arguments, there’s nowhere else for them to go.  They feel uncomfortable.  They take umbrage.  Maybe they storm off.  And we might think we’ve won the day, but in truth the damage has been done by perhaps losing them altogether.