1291:
Veganism shows that ‘omnivores’
are not serious about the welfare of animals, and it shows that being a
herbivore is the obvious way to spare animals. It's obviously a beautiful idea in theory but
in practical terms is it possible? Even
if I could get over missing all those familiar foods, could I withstand the
opprobrium of all those dedicated omnivores and enthusiastic carnivores. Going vegan would mean that I was living in a
society I disapproved of. I'd be
denigrating the eating habits of nearly everyone. By exposing and explaining and talking about
animal abuse in the food industry, I wouldn't be winning myself friends. It's likely, I'd find myself socially dropped
by family and friends, and be considered ‘on the nose’.
Wouldn't my becoming a vegan
win some admiration? Surely they'd see I
was only trying to get to the truth, only wanting to point out the human
capacity for acting hypocritically. All
I wanted was for people to see the way they were living dangerously (acting by
commission or omission, acting directly or by proxy, acting up front or
clandestinely) and for that to be discussed.
As it turned out, it seemed
there was almost NO interest in this sort of discussion. Maybe people hadn't understood what I was
suggesting? Maybe they needed to be
jolted awake? Perhaps I could stimulate discussion by being a bit rude. But that didn't work either. Things quickly descended into mutual abuse,
and that was a long way from any sort of rational discussion of the issues.
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