Animal Advocacy Pragmatism vs. Purity & HSUS

[MadamSarcastra]

Pragmatism vs. Purity: How Animal Advocates Are Taking on the Meat Lobby—and Winning


Lengthy article by a vegan of 31 years, but I particularly liked the following passage, and shall do my best to keep it in mind rather than get overly frustrated or irate when dealing/speaking with defensive omnis:

"Do you ever win friends by scolding others? If you want to repel someone, there’s no better way than to act like a know-it-all, condemn them and show that you have all the answers and that others are fools or callous and heartless.

The fact is, you win friends by earning trust, by listening and responding to their views, by showing respect and tolerance. Why should we expect these principles not to apply when we are trying to win people over on the matter of eating with conscience?"

 

[Mischief]

Thank you for posting that. It's a worthwhile read, for sure.

 

[Poppy]

That was a good article. What Pacelle failed to mention was a huge mistake HSUS made in 2014 by sponsoring a Meatfest in Denver, Colorado called Hoofin'It “Hoofin It” With HSUS | james-mcwilliams.com . For a week, diners enjoyed meals throughout the city which included animals "raised" humanely. It was a PR disaster for HSUS. HSUS argued that it was to encourage ranchers to improve the lives of the animals they raised, but they received a lot of criticism over the whole fiasco and lost a lot of supporters (including me). While I definitely support positive, encouraging and engaging interactions between vegans, vegetarians and omnis, the leading spokespeople in the vegan/animal rights movement need to strive to be consistent.

But, no group, person or organization is perfect.