Can One Be Too Pushy About Animal Rights?

1302: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

A lot of the information we come across that helps form our views about animals, is often information which is difficult to handle, indigestible even.  We usually 'tell it as it is' and back this up with facts based on hard evidence.  But however careful we are in the telling of our unattractive stories, some of the negativity invariably rubs off,  making us seem unattractive too.  So the bottom line is that we need to be approachable but not too pushy.  Ultimately, we should try to be likeable.  But in so doing, it's probable that we'll settle for a compromise about how we truly feel.  This is why many of us think we ought to go to extremes to spell out the ideal in order to at least represent how things should be.  There are too many so-called 'animal advocates' who are representing a compromised position when it comes to animal use.  The vegan abolitionist advocate, in representing the most radical position of 'no-use-of-animals', is appealing to the highest and most generous aspects of the human spirit.  Involve yourself with animals but don't use them!  

Our arguments for the 'non-use-of-animals' shouldn't be mixed-up with just 'improving animal welfare'. Welfarists accept that animals may be enslaved for human use, but that their slavery should be as comfortable as possible and their killing as painless as possible.  The Abolitionists' aim, on the other hand, is to promote their entire freedom from human interference in their lives, unless it is to safeguard them from danger.  Our aim is to show all animals as irreplaceable, sovereign individuals, who simply need our help in liberating them.

If animals are to be released from slavery, it will only come about if we think of them as we would an abused child.  Their prime need is for permanent safety.  What do domesticated animals need now?  Initially, they need to be released into a safe environment where they're no longer 'farmed'.  Abolitionists have this vision because of their empathy towards animals.  If you don't feel that empathy, you won't be moved by the plight of farm animals.  You'll only see their usefulness and want the taste of them on your dinner plate.  This is the wall we Abolitionist Vegans are up against all the time.  In practical terms, the idea of empathy is usually modified by how radical or inconvenient such ideas seem.  An Abolitionist Vegan's idea of empathy is usually seen as taking things too far by most omnivores. 
Omnivores might insist that they're comfortable being the way they are.   But, by the same token, they're probably also aware that another stage of sensitivity could be reached and they may be tempted towards developing it.   However, this means a lot of re-prioritising and a great deal of lifestyle alteration.  In fact, it requires a shift of emphasis from 'self' to 'other' in relation to one of the most precious joys in life - food!  It requires shifting the personal satisfaction of appetite to the experience of empathy - for animals.  And this would probably mean that the attraction of developing greater sensitivity is subsumed by one's appetite for eating 'animal'.

If one isn't ready to make this particular shift, then one's omnivorousness has to be rigorously justified.  And the best way to do that is to denigrate the chief proponent, namely the vegan.  For this reason, vegans have to be careful not to seem too righteous.  We shouldn't harangue people, or try to trap them into agreeing with us.
If we simply 'hit people over the head' with our Vegan Abolitionist/Animal Rights arguments, it's likely all we will achieve is negativity.  They'll just want us to shut up (even if they did want to agree with us).  We might think we've convinced someone, only to find they soon enough slip back to old habits after we've left.  


So perhaps our main job is to 'attract'.  Present something that could be wanted for itself without using threat, fear or guilt.  One thing's for sure - people aren’t stupid!  They calculate the odds, they value their life, their safety, their lifestyle, their social life with friends.  They weigh it all up when making major decisions.  They value eating together and don't want to do anything that might bring them any sort of social exclusion.  It's all a balance between being an individual, but not too much so.   Which is why becoming vegan is such a big step in anyone's life.  And vegans have to bear that in mind when approaching the delicate matter of making such a radical change of lifestyle.