Not that long ago, a subscriber to this site asked me if I would be able to write an article giving a the pros and cons of both ‘positions’, as there really isn’t any ‘impartial’ information out there where the new activist can see it all laid out in front of them.
Not being one to shy away from any challenge I sat down with pen in hand to write this out.
Regulation/Incremental Reform
Pro | Con | |
Easy to get public support | Industry has a far greater advertising budget | |
Ability to create emotive campaigns | Relies on governments to change policies | |
Relatively easy to recruit people to campaigns | There will always be one more battle to fight | |
Can be used as a funding tool to increase donations | Doesn’t stop people using animals | |
Easy to get celebrity endorsement of campaign | a victory today could be a defeat tomorrow if gov changes their mind | |
Protests/petitions are quantifiable | Doesn’t realistically do anything for the animals today |
Vegan Education
Pro | Con | |
This is where I got stuck.
Looking at it realistically and without the bias of trying to justify incremental reform, there are no cons to vegan education and two pros that I can think of.
Anyone can do it, and once someone does go vegan, the job is done you don’t need to talk to them about the next thing they can do to help the animals.
I’m sure it won’t be too long before someone says that the word vegan itself is a con and should be listed because it scares people off. Whilst in some instances it may be true, more often than not, the claim is used by those promoting reform as some sort of justification of their position.
Think about it another way.
The words F*^k and C*^% are also words that can be off putting to some, yet that hasn’t stopped people using them. So much so that, if I remember correctly, the first dozen or so words spoken in the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral were the very word starting with “F”.
Remembering that vegan education can be something as simple as wearing a t-shirt that says vegan on it, all the way through to something complex like setting up a pro-vegan website, and everything in between.
When you look at it this way, maybe vegan education isn’t that scary after all…
This article was written by the founder of VeganPolice.com.au, Cameron Blewett.
Cameron is a long term vegan (30+yrs), and is passionate about veganism, and helping people to understand more about it and giving other animals equal consideration.
You can find Cameron’s other rants on his website, CameronBlewett.blog