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Blunt approach vs. the politician approach


Adrasteia
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I'm personally in favor of the blunt approach when spreading awareness of the issues of animal agriculture. I don't understand how people can be polite about such a horrific problem. Blunt doesn't mean you have to disrespect the people you're talking to, but it does mean you don't sugarcoat anything and try to butter people up. A lot of people might have a problem with you being blunt, but those people who have a problem with it weren't going to go vegan anyway.

 

I've been vegan for four years and have tried probably every approach in spreading awareness of the issues and getting people to take action. At first, I tried to be a politician. I guess it was partly because I wasn't completely confident yet, and partly because I really thought that if I was nice to people and respected them, they would listen. But I found out over time that in general, the people who are not ready to accept responsibility are going to try their hardest to look for faults in you and your message no matter how nice you try to be about it. I also found out that a lot of people will respect you for being blunt. It was pretty amazing when I realized that my message was actually more effective when I didn't try to sugarcoat it, and I really showed my passion for the cause. All that time I tried to be as patient as possible with people, and they probably would have listened more if I really told them what I thought.

 

You always hear the phrase, "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar", but that is not an applicable expression for everything.

 

Placating meat eaters does no good for the animals. People need to understand how serious the issue is. And if you pussyfoot around and concentrate more on the feelings of the meat eaters than the feelings of the animals, that message is not going to be very effective.

 

Feel free to add your thoughts.

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I've actually worked my way from the other end. I'll have been vegan for 4 years in May. When I first when vegan, I was very blunt, very argumentative, and extremely angry(in thought). The ONLY thing I was able to do, was to get a vegetarian friend to go vegan(being nice...), though I no longer look at this as my doing. I share information I've learned. What people choose to do with that information is up to them. If they go vegan, it's their doing.

 

Anyhow! Over the first 2 years of my veganism, I pushed away most of my friends. I pushed away my family with whom I was staying with at the time, and the arguing got to a point where I decided to move away. It's not healthy for us to be like that We're going to end up making ourselves sick, then imagine what people would be saying. At this point in time, I find being a good example, speaking to people in a relaxed, non judgmental tone is best. I even go as far as to add humour to it. If we push people away, we can do nothing... Political and blunt approaches both get the information out there, but people seem to react worse(more defensive) to the blunt approach. Though I never sugar coat anything, I always get better reactions while being friendly. It also makes me feel better towards who I'm speaking with. Makes me more understanding and doesn't leave me feeling angry with the world and society

 

I work in the meat department at a grocery store. I've had people come up and ask me about my vegansim, and I answer any questions they have. My mission is not to make them vegan by the end of the conversation. I've had several people come up to me and ask me about my diet, where I get protein, calcium, etc. Then we talk about the weather or cars :P What I've found really interesting is that these people walk away without buying meat... I even had one bring back his discounted packages of bacon and tell me he didn't need them. Did they come to the grocery store to speak with me? Of course not. They came to buy groceries, but after speaking to me they decide not to buy meat on that trip.

 

I'm a volunteer firefighter. I spend a lot of time outside(in the summer) and make sure everyone knows how I love to be active. Even that, without words, answers a lot of questions. Obviously fit enough to be on the fire department, obviously fit enough to work all day and hike all evening, and when people see us at the beach, they can see that my partner and I are in shape. That's veganism!

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Don't worry, be happy If we're hiking mountains, swimming and sun bathing, volunteering our time in the community, posting our amazing food pictures and fitness triumphs on facebook... if we're happy, healthy, and enjoying life to its fullest, who knows? Maybe we'll rub off on others. Then everyone can be happy and healthy

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For me, it's healthier to be blunt. When I tried the polite approach I had so much built up anger and frustration inside of me. To pretend to respect people despite their decision to eat animal products is extremely unhealthy, both for the movement and mental health. Obviously I don't mean you should judge everyone for eating meat - but the ones who know the issues and still fund it, f*ck them. It's unhealthy for me to have those people in my life. There's a high chance that they not only don't give a shit about animals, but they don't care about humans either, including me. So good riddance. Those people won't change regardless of how you act.

 

I consider myself to be a pretty nice and understanding person in general, so maybe we have slightly different meanings for the word "blunt".

 

I have turned a few people vegan with the polite approach, but at the same time I didn't really sugarcoat things with those people either. But I've turned the most people vegan through my blunt approach, where I've gone on rants about it. Can't say how much of a relief it was to get all that off my chest AND have people actually support me over it.

 

Doesn't mean you have to be a total asshole, but people should know how serious the issues are.

 

There have been many times it would have been more convenient for me to not be so passionate about the cause. But if people have a problem with my passion for it, that truly is their fault, not mine. I'm not going to censor myself for their benefit. I would be lying to both myself, and them.

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I've been all over the place. I don't find that I lose respect for people, but at the same time, I've lost my understanding of them... I work with people who have severe health issues/weight problems. One of them seems to understand I know my health and nutrition information, but hasn't taken any steps to improve his health Can't push too hard because this person is my boss and when we discussed diabetes the one day, I non-intentionally, but definitely hit a nerve. I've been attending wakes in the community and I find it mind boggling how many of them have envelopes collecting for the Heart and Stroke Foundation... Heart disease? Really? With all the information out there, we're losing our family members to this? It's as ridiculous as losing someone to scurvy.

 

As far as the ethics are concerned, I always seem to scare people off. I haven't yet found a way to bring that up without making people feel awkward and ending the conversation or having people out right attack me. It actually makes social interactions without the topic of veganism awkward because I'm always on guard. Now I just relax... My lifestyle is not the one in need of defending here. If people have questions, they'll be answered. If the want to know why I do this, I tell them it's 100% ethically motivated. The conversation goes as far as they're comfortable with. Once they leave with the information, it's up to them what they do with it. Then again, it always was, but at least their damn pride shouldn't be getting in the way.

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