Advocating for veganism

[Graeme M]

When you advocate for veganism, do you worry about whether people are completely convinced?​

I talk to people a fair bit about veganism, mostly on social media. I've found that most people haven't the slightest interest in being vegan, but they will sometimes engage about the general topic of animal welfare. I try to promote veganism as a matter of fairness rather than just a diet. Most people really think it is just a diet and while they might be mildly interested in the subject of fairness and justice I find few are willing to grant the need for animals.

The way I look at it now, I am really more hoping to pique interest in thinking about what it means to be fair to animals. I don't care whether they become vegans or whether they are even prepared to stop paying for animals to be used because to my mind, it seems better to sow seeds than to get frustrated that people can't be convinced to be vegans. Even more to the point I have pretty much given up on the idea of converting people to be vegan.

What do you think about that? Have you had the same experience (assuming you do any advocacy, of course)? Do you think it's abandoning the cause to take a different tack as I have?

 

[Lou]

I have never convinced anyone to be vegan. But I haven't tried that hard. All I've tried to do is fight misinformation and maybe "prepare the ground, plant the seeds". There is a thread here somewhere with our "origin" stories. I will try to find it and review it. if I remember right most of us came into veganism slowly. So maybe the guy you talked to ten years ago became vegan last week. There are people who say that it was like a switch being flipped but I'm thinking that it was something they heard or saw that resonated with stuff in their past.

During COVID I volunteered at PETA and worked at a sort of Help Line for wanna be vegans. I felt that was effective and rewarding. but the people were coming to PETA with questions.

There are books, articles, YouTube videos, about vegan advocacy. I haven't looked into it lately but one of the things that stuck with me is that some vegans do more harm than good with their advocacy. And the other thing I remember is that maybe our best bet is to be a "shining example".

A long time ago there was an article on the web that wasn't too long and had a lot of good tips. but that was a long time ago and I can't even find my bookmark for it. But it was probably PETA, or the Farm Sanctuary or One Green Planet. I'm pretty sure I read an article by Peter Singer that was really good too.

One of Peter Singer's points is that promoting meat reduction as opposed to promoting veganism can be a lot more effective.

Now if I was going to recommend a source to learn about Effective Advocacy I would go right to Melanie Joy. this collection of short videos (about 30 minutes) is great.

Effective Vegan Advocacy

This video series discusses how to become an effective vegan advocate. The videos - created by vegan influencers Dr. Melanie Joy and Tobias Leenaert – presen...

www.youtube.com

 

[Graeme M]

I haven't looked into it lately but one of the things that stuck with me is that some vegans do more harm than good with their advocacy.

I agree. In fact I think a lot of vegan advocacy is counter-productive. Yelling at people how bad they are isn't a great strategy for winning them over.

One of Peter Singer's points is that promoting meat reduction as opposed to promoting veganism can be a lot more effective.

This is where I'm at. I think far more progress would be possible if the focus wasn't on people stopping their consumption of animal products but rather on encouraging small changes that reduce the worst problems. Personally, I'm very much supportive of people such as the ethical omnivore movement. Genuine ethical omnivores are being far more consistent with veganism than most consumers, so it's a step in the rigjht direction.