Focus on the feelgood factor!

How do we most effectively advocate a vegan lifestyle- in order to end animal suffering, health- and environmental issues?

We know that covering yourself in blood while screaming inside a cage might put most people off. If we all look like the aggressive, annoying vegan stereotype, people will get less inclined to go vegan for the simple reason that they just don't want to look like this. Why not flip the coin and show everybody how cool veganism really is?

Make veganism more attractive by focusing on the positive aspects of adopting a more conscious lifestyle. I believe that gently advocating for this healthy lifestyle with love and kindness, is much more effective than shaming, blaming and guilt tripping.

Why focus on the feelgood factor:

What made you go vegan? How can you influence others to choose a plant-based lifestyle, or at least taste the idea of veganism?
Take a look inside your own head and have a walk down memory lane. Just what was it that convinced you to cut out animal products and choose a more compassionate way of living?

Was it the aggressive vegan screaming in your face? Telling you that you must hate all animals while calling you a hypocrite for being a dog owner? Was it the devastating videos showing how animals are locked up and abused in factory farms and slaughterhouses?

Yes, the horrible way in which animals are treated is very real and happening as we speak. It is a sad and devastating truth, and I am not by any means trying to sweep this under the rug as something that is not important to talk and inform other people about! However, we all know that most people are aware of these facts! And that most people still are eating meat and dairy. Why is this so?

When being confronted with unpleased images and videos, most people feel uncomfortable. Without any positive references, such as an understanding yet informative vegan, most people will just turn their head around, or keep scrolling down their feed to get some feelgood entertainment. They will shut their television off when they see an animal being hurt..no one like seeing animals in pain, but well... ignorance is a bliss!

These techniques, like shoving your opinion aggressively on other people, are not as effective as they might seem- especially if you have some kind of idea of how the human mind works.

How do people justify "loving one, but eating the other"?
How is it that most people love animals and oppose animal cruelty, and yet- most people also eat meat?
How can we explain these inherently contradictory and inconsistent behaviors?

Humans..we have something called cognitive dissonance!

Heres a definition of cognitive dissonance, which was coined by the American psychologist Leon Festinger:

"the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, performs an action that is contradictory to one or more beliefs, ideas, or values, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values"

Thus, cognitive dissonance is that uncomfortable feeling you get when you are reminded that behind your meal, are animals that have suffered tremendously, but you really want to eat that bacon cheese sandwich.. so you choose to eat it anyways, while you rationalize your choice to yourself, and turn to excuses and explanations. Here are some classics:

• Our ancestors have eaten meat since the dawn of day
• Animal protein is essential for our survival and health
• Vegan food is disgusting, and changing your diet is such a hassle
• But it tastes sooo good
• I have carnivore teeth- I'm a lion GRRRRR…

And voilà: that negative association between animal suffering and meat is reduced, thus you can preserve your choice of eating meat. You now have rationalizations which support the cognitive dissonance for loving some animals and eating others.

We are being told that we have always eaten meat and that it is natural for us, and we are now given contradictory evidence. Our brain doesn't like this much, so we continue to avoid information which is contradictory to our own well-conditioned belief systems. We often make unconscious rationalizations like this to assuage feelings of guilt.

And then we have the "meat paradox" (1). This paradox refers to an animal lover who eats meat, and the following dissonance which is experienced. In this paradox, animals are divided and categorized as follows: pets, wild animals and farmed animals, thus, some animals are regarded as edible while others are not, and the former exist for that reason only: for us to eat.

Actually, studies have shown that people often dehumanize animals that are raised for food. In a study, meat eaters were compared with vegetarians, in order to test the theory of dehumanization. This study posited that meat eaters assigned fewer emotions and reasoning capacity to "edible"-animals than "non-edible" animals (2). Vegetarians did not. Dehumanization is thus a strategy for moral disengagement: meat eaters reject the idea that animals used for human consumption have minds, supporting the cognitive dissonance theory.

Dr. Melanie Joy, a psychologist and vegan advocate, coined the term "Carnism", which refers to a belief system of people who choose to consume meat in the modern culture: people with this belief system regard eating animals as normal, natural and necessary, by categorising certain animals as food objects, and abstracting their reasoning or emotional capabilities (3).

We are humans, thus, we all suffer from cognitive dissonance in one way or another. Do you see that it is not the people who are the enemy, or the ones to blame- it is the system! It is a type of conditioning that we are led to believe that you need meat and dairy to be strong and healthy; that some animals are worth more than others, and; some forms of cruelty is acceptable while others are not acceptable.

We want to attract people without putting them off! Speak to people with patience, understanding, and respect (after all- that's how we want animals to be treated, right?). Talk about your own journey and the connections you have made.

Educate yourself, and learn arguments so you can cross them off the list as they come.
If someone says vegan food is disgusting- take them out for dinner or make them a tasty homemade meal.
If someone says veganism is unhealthy- show them studies that say otherwise.
If some people resist a plant-based lifestyle because they are afraid it will make them weak- show them all the strong, healthy vegan athletes.
If someone claims that animals are not sentient beings- show them videos of animals doing amazing things.

Don't generate anger, hostility, aggression. If we all look like the aggressive, annoying stereotype, people get less inclined to go vegan simply because they don't want to look like this. If we show the positive sides:
How great we feel
How good we eat
That living plant-based is not a hassle

Then we have another way to attract people to this way of living!

References:

1. Hodson, G. The Meat Paradox: Loving but Exploiting Animals
2. Michal, B., Roland, I. & Marek, D. The Humanity of What We Eat (Dehumanization of animals)
3. Wikipedia. Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows