1. It’s
all about people!
Be optimistic,
energetic and positive in demeanour. Learn to be a great salesman; read up if
necessary.
Prepare a focused
30 second elevator pitch [1] for why we should care about animals
with our purchases.
Maintain
composure and be respectful. Don’t be antagonistic, especially in the face of
strong disagreement!
2. Appearance.
If people see
vegans must be outside of mainstream culture it is one more strong reason to
reject it. It’s unfortunate that people judge by appearance but be pragmatic -
what’s more important: your wardrobe, or the animals?
People like those
who remind them of themselves; don’t wear all black, dye your hair green or
wear body piercings.
3. Lose
the vegan ‘badge of honour’
Be inclusive, not
exclusive; stop seeing people as ‘vegan’ or ‘non vegan’. Purity from cruelty to
animals is an elusive goal for all of us in the real world.
People will
notice if the messenger is even slightly hostile or self righteousness, to the
detriment of the message.
Bear in mind that
all of our beliefs are a constant work in progress.
Lose the sense of
certainty that we are right; don’t
claim philosophical supremacy.
4. Don’t
mention veganism or vegetarianism[2]
Talk of veganism
as the ‘ultimate goal’ makes people think it must be ‘all or nothing’, turning away
a large bulk otherwise willing to make significant partial change as they reply
‘oh I couldn’t do that’.
The stigma of the
v word (even vegetarianism) overshadows anything else you say. No-one wants to
feel they are being converted by religious vegetarian nuts.
Talk about significantly reducing animal products
in our lifestyles and give people reasons why. Make ‘helping animals’ the goal;
make ‘decreasing suffering as effectively as possible’ the goal.
A fanatical
obsession with minute quantities in ingredient lists follows a law of
diminishing marginal return [3] and only reinforces the
inconvenience. Pushing people away is an opportunity cost that only the animals
end up paying.
5. Minimise
disagreement; focus on what you agree on.
Start
from where your audience is.
Most
people are ok with an animal being killed- bluntly
disagreeing with them on their basic belief pushes people away.
Focus not on
converting them to another opinion but grabbing at the threads of their
existing opinions already consistent with ours.
Re-frame in terms
of their existing sympathies and beliefs - usually around suffering and how we
treat the animals that are used. Talk in terms of the waking cruelty inflicted
at every stage of an animal’s life.
Avoid your own
politics, economics, religion, New Age spirituality, animism or mysticism
For optimal
impact, veganism can’t be presented as a part of some larger package – that
makes it too easy to dismiss. The message must remain simple: buying animal
products causes suffering.
6. Mix
with all people
Too many
activists mix only with other activists and imagine that everyone else thinks
as they do; they lose feel for what the average person in the street might
think.
They no longer
know what’s achievable and what is a fantasy grown out of their own intense
conviction for change.
Eat with
non-vegans. Our non-attendance is seen as deprivation or self-righteousness –
if you can’t go to parties or go out to eat, who would want to live like that
and join that club?!
7. Keep
reasons & arguments simple.
Avoid ranting and
monologue – ask the other person questions to stimulate dialogue
Avoid lengthy
debates with little useful outcome eg. prehistoric ancestors’ diets
Check facts;
avoid exaggeration and pseudoscience.
8. Speak
and debate with people in private,
one on one, if possible.
With no audience
to play to or prove yourselves to, you can both relax more and avoid ego-driven
point scoring - and you can each potentially give some ground and change your
minds in the face of rational argument with less embarrassment.
9. Convenience
food.
Modern culture
has significant demand for convenient, quick-to-make foods
Don’t over-advertise
a vegan diet as necessitating time, prepared ingredients or cooking skill.
Highlight the
traditional foods, mashed potatoes and faux meats- not just the curries!
10. Aim
for university age people if possible
Most receptive to
change and new ideas; less entrenched by habit
Newfound control
& independence over what they choose to buy
Maximum impact of
having many years of life ahead
In summary, the degree to
which veganism will become mainstream depends upon the degree to which we
transform the least-palatable aspects of our stereotype - the stigma of the
tree-hugging crank and the slogans that make most people roll their eyes. Whether
deserved or not, these give us a bad reputation and repel the vast proportion
of people.
[1]
[2]
In the influential film Earthlings, the word
vegan appears zero times, while vegetarian appears only once (and then only in
the context of a quote)
[3]
Veganism, far from helping
animals, is a huge problem for the animal rights movement. If we want to stand
up for animals, then we should stop calling ourselves vegan; stop asking others
to go vegan; and even stop using the word vegan. When asked, we should state
that our fight is for animals’ freedom from suffering.
