The Comfort Pit

1771: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

Here in the West we live comfortably enough, but many people are imprisoned by a comfort attitude, where human-centred considerations outweigh other considerations. We trash the planet, we take advantage of defenceless animals and we do it for our own benefit.

We enjoy the fruits of exploitation. We like what 'civilisation' brings us, but we’re compromised by our attachment to certain comforts. We're so enamoured with what we consider a normal lifestyle to be, that we're reluctant to give up any of our comforts; not the least of which is the huge variety of animal-based commodities we’ve come to rely on. Our cushioned lives have softened us to such an extent that we can't make any principled decisions if they interfere with our comforts. We’ve settled for compromised principles and for not living in harmony with the world outside the human realm.

Being trapped by comfort is rather like living in the bottom of a comfortable pit which has steep, slippery sides. There’s no chance of our climbing out while we're still addicted to animal-based material pleasures and the measure of happiness they seem to bring us. If we're content to stay where we are or we've given up trying to escape, we can still survive in our human biased bubble so long as we don't think too deeply about where we are, what we're doing or the independence we've given up. Our willingness to accept our present situation means we're trapped (along with most others) by the animal-based comforts of home. However confining this pit is, it's deemed better than being outside it - on the 'outer'. Our comfort comes at a high price however.

In our trapped existence we seek comfort by using products of The Animal Industries, mainly in the form of violence based foods. But the more we get to know about the background of these foods and the harm they do, the more we consider putting things right for ourselves - introducing some self-discipline into our lives. If we ever consider making a serious move towards self-improvement, we know it will mean breaking the habits of a lifetime which will bring us discomfort. Then any thoughts of boycotting foods made from animals makes for uncomfortable feelings.

If we do consider forgoing some of our 'comforts' for the sake of self improvement, we step towards a group of people we might not be ready for. A group of people who advocate a radical and ethically based diet change. Under their influence, we should not feel we've been pushed into change. Self improvement has to be self-generated or at least voluntary and done at one's own pace.

Vegans encourage people to consider the plight of farmed animals. They want mass change. Some vegans, however, can be 'too encouraging'. They think that leaving it up to the individual to make the decision to change will be too slow. But trying to speed up another's self-improvement may only serve to slow it even further. We vegans often underestimate how obstinately some people dig their heels in whilst accusing us of trying to morally blackmail them into self-improvement.

Almost certainly, most people won't change as quickly as vegans want them to - so we clash. Vegans can become obdurate. We fail to read the signs sometimes and don't see how someone might seem interested in what we have to say but have no intention of changing! Instead they're trying to work out how to justify remaining as omnivores and improving their life 'in the pit' rather than escaping from it. 

If vegans can't reach them on an ethical level by espousing empathy for animals, it's likely omnivores will think this is a health and food matter only. They'll try to work out for themselves ways of getting the best of both worlds. They'll hold back to preserve their free will, but they'll do a few 'right' things to give themselves the impression of moving forward. In this way, they think to keep the best of their omnivorous diet and health without going all the way - as vegans do. 

Their dilemma is that they may be attracted to the idea of self-improvement, even outraged by what they find out about animal farms and animal foods, but they may not like the idea of substantially reducing their choices in food and clothing. Moving on may not appear so attractive when they look about and see that their health is 'okay' and their life is 'okay'. Since they aren't required to confront animal torture or witness animals being killed, the idea of making no change seems 'okay' too.  In this way they get to keep their home comforts, their social acceptability and their feelings of being 'normal'. Anything more radical in terms of change, gets thrown into the 'too hard' basket.

Vegans can be left feeling impotent, non-influential and frustrated. All we can do is stand on the sidelines and wait patiently for people to change. It's difficult to see how activists can feel anything but useless in their attempts to protect exploited animals. It's why we often sound too strident when we speak about "Animal Rights" - and if there's one thing the average omnivore finds difficult to identify with, it's the strident vegan!