Educating the Doubters

1778: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

Our society today remains specifically uneducated about certain things and the wealthy and powerful like to keep it that way. Living in our present world of misinformation can feel a bit like living in a take-it-or-leave-it Fawlty Towers, where there's a grudging receptionist who is not only unhelpful but has no useful information. It’s often like this in schools, where kids can only learn what’s on offer. They can’t find out what they want to know or get credit for creativity. When censorship and misinformation reign, there’s little chance that any useful learning will take place and therefore no significant chance for change. This is good enough for the wealthy guys who run the place, but no good for the oppressed.

Animal Rights (and Our Rights to not eat them) represents a subject so sensitive that it is deemed (by the wealthy and powerful) to be threatening. If we are to penetrate their defence shield with alternative information, it will best be done by using our wits and the available media channels. We don't need mass advertising or big publicity budgets, but simply information in accordance with peoples' intuitive sense of truth - e.g. Online.

To some extent, the vegan message has to be taken on trust. We can't really prove anything we say! Our main aim is to launch ideas that trigger a wake-up response in people so they'll want to question things and question us. In order to establish that essential trust, non-vegans need to make the first move. They need to be sure they're not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Nothing is certain - even about food. Vegans have only been around for a couple of generations, so it's hard for humans to be certain about the safety of plant-based diets. We can't provide assurances since nutrition is still a contentious science. We have to rely mainly on overseas scientists who do give the vegan diet their gold seal of approval; but this might not prove to be solid enough ground for most people. And then there's the matter of ethics, which is certainly subjective.

How then do we shake people up and bring them out of their comfort zone? And we're speaking here of modern-day, sophisticated, educated, free-willed adults - not a bunch of dummies who are easy to persuade! Vegans (and activists in general) often sound desperate when they're issuing orders like: "GO VEGAN", "Save the Animals", "Save Your Health, Save the Planet". But behind our desperation is enough sincerity for the Animal Rights movement to be taken on trust. We do ourselves no favours, however, if we are pushy or come across as 'weird'. Sophisticated, intelligent people won't be easily convinced. And if they can't believe us or trust us, they'll be able to convince themselves that they dislike us, which is the very last thing we want! We don't want people to be 'turned off' - quite the opposite.