Hello,
Please just remember that, although he may be a car IAR, he is still a sentient, human being, and he is still your father. As such, he deserves compassion, too. You can love someone and have compassion for them and still strongly disagree with what they do. The kindhearted, moral wife of a murderer might still love her husband even though he is a murderer!
Absolutely, you should promote veganism to him a lot (but not so much as to turn him off of the idea), but do so with compassion.
I am a passionate animal rights person, and my family still eat meat. I hate it. I so wish they wouldn’t. It’s disgusting and cruel. I still love them though, even though we may not always get along. I still love them all very much.
Maybe get him to watch “Earthlings”? He might find that too graphic (I know, typical non-vegan, they don’t want to see animal slaughter, but they’re more than happy to pay for it for their bacon and other meat, ensuring the continued existence of brutal animal slaughter and cruelty on their behalf. If they didn’t pay for it to happen, it would happen to slightly fewer animals, thereby sparing their lives). In that case, maybe get him to watch something like “Live and Let Live”, some of Bitesize Vegan’s videos (lovely Emily and lovely Ooby. RIP, Ooby), Earthling Ed’s “Every argument against veganism debunked” and other speeches, James Aspey, Joey Carbstrong (my favourite vegan activist) and even vegan-related movies like “Charlotte’s Web”, “Free Bird” and “Babe”, if he likes/doesn’t mind children’s movies.
My name is Victoria Salter. I am currently writing a book that is currently entitled “Why You Should Go Vegan”. It is full of information, opinions, advice and pro-vegan arguments debunked. Please keep an eye open for it. If it gets published, and you happen to come across it, please get it and have him read it. I would like for at least some of the proceeds to go to a vegan advocacy group/s and an animal sanctuary/sanctuaries.
It is also advisable to meet people where they’re at when trying to convert non-vegans. For instance, your family member/friend/co-worker/boss might be an “animal lover” who adores dogs and/or cats and supports rescue. In that case, you could ask them things like, “Would you ever want for a dog or cat to be shot in the head with a bolt gun and then slashed across the throat, or put in a gas chamber where they scream and then slashed across the throat?” And then explain that those things are done to cattle and pigs in slaughterhouses. You could also ask, “Would you ever eat a dog or a cat?” And, “Morally speaking, how is eating a pig, a cow or a chicken any different than eating a dog?” You could also try, “What makes it “okay” to bolt-gun, gas or electrically stun and then cut the throat of a pig, a cow, a chicken (etc) and not (insert their companion animal’s name here)?”. You could also try sending/showing them videos and articles demonstrating how intelligent, caring, loving, playful and cute cattle, pigs, chickens (etc) can be, perhaps, in contrast with sending/showing slaughterhouse and farm abuse footage and images.
If the person is into environmentalism, you could bring up the environmental side of veganism and how bad eating animal products and their production is for our planet, and how even organic meat, egg and dairy farming is bad, how they can reduce their carbon footprint by going vegan, how many environmentalists are vegan and how much land can be saved by eating a vegan diet. You could try showing them “Cowspiracy” and getting them leaflets on the environment al effects of meat, dairy, eggs and fishing and how going vegan can help the planet.
If they’re a nature lover, you could try telling them about how overfishing is having a terrible effect on marine and coastal wildlife, how marine wildlife are killed as bycatch, how much rainforest and other natural habitat land is destroyed for meat and dairy farming, how crows, foxes, wolves, coyotes, rabbits and badgers are killed by farmers/because of animal farming, how switching to vegan could help them save more wildlife habitat (and, therefore, more wildlife) and how farmed animals have just as much right to live as wild animals (it’s not their fault they’re domesticated. It’s not their fault they were born into a domesticated species. They still have feelings. They originally came from wild animals. You could even mention the Aurochs - the wild cattle! You could also mention jungle fowl (wild chickens!), wild turkeys, wild geese, wild pigs/hogs, wild sheep, etc).
If they’re really worried about their health, or if they’re really health-conscious, or if they have a specific condition/s that can be healed by veganism, you could talk about the health benefits of veganism. Look up online about the health benefits of veganism and show them the results. Also, get them to watch “What the Health” and read books about the health side of veganism.
If they’re really into cooking or baking, talk about how most non-vegan “foods” and cakes (etc) can be veganised! Buy them vegan cookbooks/baking books. Get them to watch vegan baking/cooking videos. Cook delicious vegan food (in particular, vegan versions of their favourite non-vegan “foods”) to try and convert them.