The World’s Outraged by a Stolen Wombat… So Why Aren’t the Vegans Rejoicing?

Last week, two accounts of animal cruelty went viral and the online global response was, “This is horrible. It must be stopped right away!”

The two accounts I refer to are:

1. The laughing ‘hunting influencer’, Sam Jones, taking a baby wombat from his/her alarmed mother, who tried to get her stressed baby back.
2. The staff filmed punching and kicking cows and calves on a farm that supplies the UK’s biggest milk producer.

It is very heartening to see the outrage by people across the globe. In Australia, petitions have been raised to demand Sam Jones never be allowed to enter Australia again, with the slogan, “Keep your hands off our wildlife” supported by the Prime Minister.

The UK Daily Mirror aired footage collected by The Animal Justice Project of heinous cruelty to cows and calves at a farm housing 2,000 animals.

The public are horrified and saying this must be stopped.

So why aren’t vegans rejoicing that the masses appear to be concerned? Why don’t we feel there is hope that the world is waking up?

Surely our vystopia is alleviated a bit? However, for many, it seems to have been accentuated.

Many vegans are redirecting their own outrage onto those around them, pointing out that they’re financing these industries with their lifestyle choices.

Many seize the opportunity to build on the public outrage and declare to everyone they can, “You honestly think this is unusual? This happens every day on a factory farm.”

Maybe punching and kicking isn’t the norm in smaller organic farms, but normal farming practices prevail, albeit less efficiently done.

Vegans across the board deeply desire that the recent outrage, empathy and compassion be extended to the treatment of all animals, not just some deemed worthy of our concern.

So how do we get people to look further into how this abuse exists and is related to their own choices?

Many think, “Perhaps if we just share more footage, the concerned public will make the connection.”

We understandably might take every opportunity to highlight the violation of the mother-baby bond in animal agriculture. Some vegans try to tug at the heart-strings and consciences of the public with experiences closer to home. They share what happens to mothers and babies when someone purchases a designer or ‘breed of choice’ dog or cat for a companion.

Do these strategies work?

For some people, seeing graphic footage or hearing accounts is enough for them to change their behaviour. Yet for most, behaviour change is more complex. People have strong psychic defences to avoid unnecessary pain. They do what they can to move way from pain and towards pleasure.

So hearing that their government is acting to stop cruelty that comes into the public eye is enough for them to look no further.

Powerful social, personal and cultural myths keep a person conforming to the norm, just demanding better animal welfare standards.

What can the vegan do if blaming, shaming and alarming others isn’t working?

There is nothing wrong with sharing graphic footage in videos or documentaries. After all, increasing awareness through information is essential. However, if it is done to blame, shame or simply alarm a person into changing, it rarely works.

As we know, if facts alone were enough, everyone would have to be vegan. Instead, those you are advocating to will simply shoot the messenger and blame vegans for imposing their values on them.

Their resistance is not because they condone animal cruelty. After all, we see the outrage in public exposés. It’s because they do disagree with animal cruelty and yet—at some unconscious level (kept at bay until someone points it out)—they know their actions are out of alignment with their beliefs and values.

We must learn to share facts in a way that invite others to discover what’s being kept from them.

Suggestions to Nudge People to Connect the Dots

I believe the best way to advocate about difficult issues is face to face, remembering that both parties are emotional and outraged by what they’ve just seen. Our job is to fan the flames of that empathy and concern, rather than shaming others for their wilful ignorance.

Here are some suggestions:

• Make a Contract: Ask the person if they have 5 minutes to talk about something important. This gets their attention and permission for you to engage them.
• Tentatively ask if they’ve seen the footage and what their reactions are to it?
• Listen to their answers, provide more detail, share your collective agreement of what’s recently been exposed.
• Judge where you think they are in their concern and ability to handle more detail. Avoid the tendency to push harder if you see them resisting the conversation.
• Instead, partner with them with comments such as, “I understand it’s hard to talk about this. You and I are rightly outraged by what’s happening. There was a time when I too thought these exposés were anomalies. So I did a bit of digging and discovered that far from being unusual, they’re the norm. Like me, I’m sure you’re outraged that this is kept from us and we’re duped into believing that we’re not part of it.”
• Depending on their reaction, share more information. You can add more detail of how we’re all been lied to and what we can each do to not support it. Alternatively, you can leave them with something that makes it hard for them to move to acceptance yet doesn’t allow them to shoot the messenger (you) for making them feel worse. For example, you can say, “I know it’s hard to imagine this is going on every day behind closed doors, but it is. The good news is that we don’t have to accept the lies. We can do something and when you’re ready, I’d love to talk more about this.” You can also offer to watch a documentary with them or share some literature.
• Ensure you make a time to check in and follow up on your conversation. Avoid the tendency to interpret resistance to talking about issues as the end of the conversation. Remember, ‘No’ means, ‘Not yet!’
• Some people might think this approach encourages someone not discovering the truth. The reality is, a person needs time to process new information and related emotions. Your job is to interfere with their tendency to believe the problem doesn’t exist or that someone else is taking care of it.
• Partnering with someone as a fellow-concerned-individual encourages cognitive and emotional dissonance in them. It arises from you skilfully showing them that their actions are out of alignment with their beliefs and values. You will have sown an important seed that you and others can water. This would have been lost if you pushed too hard when you sensed resistance, which was really them revealing how uncomfortable they are with normalised animal cruelty.

____________________________________________________________________________

To discover more about human behaviour and resistance, check out “Myths of Choice: Why People Won’t Change and What You Can Do About It” (Clare Mann 2019) https://veganpsychologist.com