Many thanks for this article. A point I would like to make is that becoming a vegan is a transformative moment when the individual sees the world differently. This profound life experience strongly influences how it is understood a vegan world could be made. The arguement is: If only we could create in others the same personal transformative experience that I had, well, everyone will go vegan. Consequently, much of the strategy of the vegan, animal rights movement is personal education taking various strategies and tactics toward this goal. All well and good but personal vegan lifestyle choice is optional. Not mandatory. And, as is clearly visible for us to see, not everyone will go vegan. Not everyone will care about animals as we do. So, public education goes only so far. The vegan, animal rights movement has to invest in strategies that change public policy, passes legislation with effective law enforcement compelling everyone to change their attidudes and behaviour. Recent examples of social justice campaigns that have successfully fought on public education and public policy include tobacco consumption, drinking and driving, marriage equality, etc.
Many thanks for this article. A point I would like to make is that becoming a vegan is a transformative moment when the individual sees the world differently. This profound life experience strongly influences how it is understood a vegan world could be made. The arguement is: If only we could create in others the same personal transformative experience that I had, well, everyone will go vegan. Consequently, much of the strategy of the vegan, animal rights movement is personal education taking various strategies and tactics toward this goal. All well and good but personal vegan lifestyle choice is optional. Not mandatory. And, as is clearly visible for us to see, not everyone will go vegan. Not everyone will care about animals as we do. So, public education goes only so far. The vegan, animal rights movement has to invest in strategies that change public policy, passes legislation with effective law enforcement compelling everyone to change their attidudes and behaviour. Recent examples of social justice campaigns that have successfully fought on public education and public policy include tobacco consumption, drinking and driving, marriage equality, etc.
Exactly right. Thank you for your input.