Thought Experiments. Are They A Tool Of The Ineffective?
The buzzwords of vegan-ISH and the reducetarians at the moment are strategy and effectiveness.
To prove how effective and strategic the pundits are, they fall back to thought experiments to justify their position.
It is time that we ask the question.
Thought experiments. Are they an effective tool in advocacy or something the ineffective rely on?
Contents
Predetermined Outcome
For a thought experiment to actually be one, they have to challenge the person and be relevant to them.
Today’s effective vegan tends to deploy them with strict parameters resulting in predetermined outcomes.
Take the veggie burger example from the previous post.
Real life would present you with more than two options.
- You could get a packet of chips from a vending machine
- Wait until you got home to eat
- Ask for extras on the vegan burger
- Eat the ‘bland’ option without the world ending.
The only options you can choose are ones that would A) cause you to go against your own morals/beliefs. Or B) cause the other person to dismiss the vegan message for all eternity.
Tools For The Ineffective
These sorts of thought experiments do not consider the impact that they have on the oppressed. Only the ‘comfort’ of those who can make a choice.
The same ‘experiment’ used in other social justice issues, highlights how ineffective they are.
For example.
You are out with your friend one night. It comes time to get something to eat. You are feminist, and your male friend isn’t, though he has been humouring you by talking to you about it.
Your only option is A) mouthwatering meal at a strip club B) boring meal served at a ‘feminist-friendly’ place.
Do you go to the strip club for the mouthwatering meal because it will show him how ‘flexible’ feminism is?
Or, do you abide by your morals and choose the bland meal?
Knowing full well that you have lost the feminist approach for that day.
Tools For The Effective Vegan
We are at the eleventh hour.
It is time to stop wasting time on make or break ‘tools’ like thought experiments that go nowhere.
Today’s strategic vegan should be using tools/tactics that keep the discussion going.
Find them.
Learn them.
Become proficient with them.
Believe in them.
It is only then that we can have a vegan world.
If you want it.
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