On this page I would like to provide some some tips for advocating for sentient being rights and a vegan lifestyle. The first few are in rank order of importance as I see it.
- Go vegan. The first thing you can do is go vegan yourself if you are not already. If you are a "vegetarian," know that there is no moral distinction between eating muscle and dairy or eggs. Animals used to produce eggs and dairy live longer more miserable lives before they reach the same fate as the animals used to become flesh food and the like. So, adopt veganism. It is super easy and is better for your health and the environment. Being a vegan, you set an example that influences a lot of people, probably more than you will realize. Just being vegan, people see this and become more familiar with it and they will think about it more. Rather than being some strange thing they have heard of but never actually seen, the more they actually see it, the more familiar and normal it can appear and the more they will consider it. Please, don't be a hostile vegan though (see below) as that achieves the opposite effect; they will be more likely to believe veganism is crazy or only for crazies and they will be less likely to consider it seriously again, even if presented with an otherwise reasonable case. Being vegan is huge. It seems like it does not get the praise it deserves among vegans, probably because it's just so darned easy to do. But really, my guess is that just being vegan alone is more effective than all the PETA gimmicks and similar theatrics put together. In fact, I think these welfare and regulation based organizations and their tactics are counterproductive, making it more difficult to achieve justice for nonhuman animals. Veganism is the baseline standard for supporting rights for sentient beings of all kinds. If you do nothing else, advocacy wise, know that this will achieve a lot! Simply be an ambassador for veganism, showing people that we are not all hostile and that we are heathy and reasonable people making a reasonable choice about what we believe is right conduct.
- Be an effective ambassador for veganism. The stereotypes of unhealthy looking, hostile people who replace reasonable substantive argumentation with PETA slogans and placards is not helpful. I am not suggesting we turn into a bunch of conformists and stifle our free-thinking approach, but because people's choices are guided largely by what seems normal and common, there are approaches that are effective and approaches that are ineffective. Barking slogans at people (or worse, throwing red paint or the like on them) and being angry will only alienate people who might be prepared to consider the vegan worldview. Can you really envision such a person being open to the argument and making a change in their life when what you just demonstrated is what they would be turning too? I understand the emotional response toward people who are causing suffering and death, but in most cases, they simply have not considered another approach. If you were not vegan all of your life, try to remember how you thought about the issue before becoming vegan. Probably the best way to change attitudes in society is to be an effective (and visible) role model for it. The general image most conducive to persuasion is portraying veganism as a reasonable position and easy to achieve lifestyle choice. Definitely avoid portraying vegans as hostile and unhealthy looking people with a subversive agenda derived from some mental instability. Go in to your encounters with nonvegans with an attitude of respect; if they knew better, they's do better. Just consider how you portray veganism. Are you communicating that is it reasonable and easy with many benefits or are that it is a hostile and hardcore yet naive or wrong-headed agenda?
- Learn the arguments. Although persuasion is not always achieved through proper argumentation, effective argumentation can be effective in changing the behavior of others. If you want to avoid this, then the first couple tactics above are perfectly fine. But, if you want to advocate further for sentient being rights and veganism, it behooves you to put the work into developing your arguments. Most of them are fairly straightforward but you need to understand them and how to adapt them in the real world. How to adapt them might be better discussed in a separate tactic, but for this point, get to know the basic arguments for sentient being rights, for why it is in people's best interest, why abolition of exploitation rather than regulation of it is the best approach and why the welfare approach is counterproductive as opposed to the rights approach. Develop your responses to common counterarguments and other objections. I hope this web site can help you with this. Also, check http://www.abolitionistapproach.com. Gary's web site is awesome! If you want to go the extra mile, book up on effective argumentation and reasoning. Read up on inductive versus deductive arguments and the criteria for each one. Get to know how arguments are structured in terms of premises and conclusions and how they relate to one another. But, this is not absolutely necessary; intuitively, most people can appreciate reasonable versus unreasonable arguments. What I have found useful is to write in my own words the most concise representation of the arguments and separately all that goes behind them, the background, assumptions, facts and other arguments to establish the acceptability of the premises. Try to stay away from rhetorical devices that persuade without clear reasoning (but that does not mean you have to accept and use terminology designed to be vague or inaccurate common among nonvegans). Avoid loaded terms as much as possible and stick with substantive arguments. It's true that charm and rhetoric can persuade many people very quickly but in the long run, reasonable argumentation will go further. Furthermore, hone your arguments over time. Pay attention to what works well and what does not. Always try to prove yourself wrong and find the truth. Remember, no position ought to be supported in spite of truth; we are looking solely for the truth.
- Engage people in supportive (nonhostile) ethical discussion. Take opportunities to supportively explore consideration of ethics and specifically sentient being rights and veganism. First, let me say that if someone clearly does not want to be engaged in discussion on the topic, don't pursue them; you will not achieve what you want from this. But when someone indicates that they would be open to exploring the topic, do so. Sometimes, you are initiating the discussion. In those cases, simply initiate in a supportive and nonhostile manner and gauge the response for indications on whether they are open to it or not. For the most part, in my experience, whether they will be open to it depends largely on how threatening the initiation was. Broach the topics in the context of the situation and pose questions or thoughts not as accusations but more as interesting and worth discussing. As we know, there is a massive disconnect between what people claim about their beliefs regarding the causing of suffering and death of nonhuman animals and their actual behaviors. Demonstrations of this disconnect occur frequently. People will be enraged with Michael Vic for causing suffering and death to dogs for his own amusement or preferences. People will be greatly troubled about someone beating their dog. But, people often do not make the connection between these instances and their own choices in daily life that do the same thing. Click here for a great Gary Francione podcast on this topic that illustrates this whole topic well. Take these opportunities to gently introduce a query about the inconsistency. Ask them why it troubles them so much that someone would sick dogs on other dogs or beat their dog etc. This is often a good way to ask in a nonhostile manner how this is different from relevantly similar behaviors people commonly perform but are not troubled by. How, for instance, is the dog different from the cow or pig that people eat. How is what is troubling so different from what most people do on a regular basis and does not elicit the same reaction? None of our animal exploitation is necessary; it all occurs simply because people are amused by it, desire it as a preference or otherwise just want it. Point gently to these inconsistencies and allow the audience to consider it for themselves. Discovered arguments / conclusion as they call it are far more effective than merely presented argument. Allow your audience the opportunity to derive the conclusion themselves. Don't over do it. Plant the seed and leave it where your audience wants to leave it. Rest assured, this gentle approach will plant the seed that you may not see grow, but it may indeed be growing afterward. They will not feel defensive due to a perception of being coerced or tricked. They will be open to considering the position and may do so.
- More to come...