Comments on: A Good Animal Advocate Is ___ http://www.vegansoapbox.com/a-good-animal-advocate-is-___/ vegan theory, vegan activism, vegan video, vegan food and vegan resources for vegans, vegetarians, animal rights activists, animal liberationists, and abolitionists Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:55:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Gary http://www.vegansoapbox.com/a-good-animal-advocate-is-___/comment-page-1/#comment-2684 Gary Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:00:43 +0000 http://www.vegansoapbox.com/?p=980#comment-2684 Courtesy and politeness should be genuine, not fake, and it should stem from humility, empathy, and respect and compassion for all sentient beings. Including people with whom we disagree and who do terrible things. Who knows what inner demons or environmental influences cause people to act in certain ways? Think of the worst scoundrel imagineable. There but for the grace of God or good fortune go all of us. Granted, being compassionate toward all is not always easy to do. It is an ideal. But it is something that can be cultivated, worked on, and improved over a lifetime, and when we do that I believe we become less prone to angry or defensive reactions and more adept at remaining calm and empathicaly listening to others. Emphatically - being polite does not mean diluting one's message, or being one iota less committed, honest, or forthright about the message. In fact, often when you turn the volume down, people can hear the message with more clarity. What is a polite revolutionary? One who gets others to change by inspiration, not coercion; one who gets others to *want* to change. One at whom members of the revolutionary's target audience look upon and think to themselves "I can relate to that person. I can do what s/he is urging me to do." One who embodies the good s/he wants to see in the world. <abbr><em>~ Recent blog post: <a href="http://www.animalwritings.com/2008/10/carnival-against-vivisection-small.asp" rel="nofollow">Carnival Against Vivisection: A Small Sample of Recent, Ongoing Abuses and Welfare Violations in Animal Labs</a> ~</abbr></em> Courtesy and politeness should be genuine, not fake, and it should stem from humility, empathy, and respect and compassion for all sentient beings. Including people with whom we disagree and who do terrible things. Who knows what inner demons or environmental influences cause people to act in certain ways? Think of the worst scoundrel imagineable. There but for the grace of God or good fortune go all of us.

Granted, being compassionate toward all is not always easy to do. It is an ideal. But it is something that can be cultivated, worked on, and improved over a lifetime, and when we do that I believe we become less prone to angry or defensive reactions and more adept at remaining calm and empathicaly listening to others.

Emphatically – being polite does not mean diluting one’s message, or being one iota less committed, honest, or forthright about the message. In fact, often when you turn the volume down, people can hear the message with more clarity.

What is a polite revolutionary? One who gets others to change by inspiration, not coercion; one who gets others to *want* to change. One at whom members of the revolutionary’s target audience look upon and think to themselves “I can relate to that person. I can do what s/he is urging me to do.” One who embodies the good s/he wants to see in the world.

~ Recent blog post: Carnival Against Vivisection: A Small Sample of Recent, Ongoing Abuses and Welfare Violations in Animal Labs ~

]]> By: Karmalily http://www.vegansoapbox.com/a-good-animal-advocate-is-___/comment-page-1/#comment-2041 Karmalily Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:35:12 +0000 http://www.vegansoapbox.com/?p=980#comment-2041 Forgiveness and understanding is important. A lot of people might disagree with me, but I feel that if someone is not immediately set in place by images of factory-farmed animals or information about how those animals are treated, we shouldn't condemn them. It takes a little while for someone to process information. I also feel that we should respect people. My campus is in the "Bible Belt" and we get a lot of Christian zealots in our free-speech zone yelling about how homosexuals are going to hell, everyone needs to find Christ, etc., etc., and I never want to be like that, regardless of what I'm an activist for. My goal in being an animal rights activist is to provide people with information and to inform them of how animals are mistreated in factory farming and other methods of oppression. But I make it a point never to raise my voice, treat them like a criminal, or dismiss them as "stupid." Lifestyle changes are decisions that people need to make for themselves after long thought and adequate information, not after being shamed into it. It's easy to relapse into earlier behavior if the decision was made hastily. <abbr><em>~ Recent blog post: <a href="http://ahimsablog.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/i-love-alley-cat-allies/" rel="nofollow">I Love Alley Cat Allies</a> ~</abbr></em> Forgiveness and understanding is important. A lot of people might disagree with me, but I feel that if someone is not immediately set in place by images of factory-farmed animals or information about how those animals are treated, we shouldn’t condemn them. It takes a little while for someone to process information. I also feel that we should respect people. My campus is in the “Bible Belt” and we get a lot of Christian zealots in our free-speech zone yelling about how homosexuals are going to hell, everyone needs to find Christ, etc., etc., and I never want to be like that, regardless of what I’m an activist for. My goal in being an animal rights activist is to provide people with information and to inform them of how animals are mistreated in factory farming and other methods of oppression. But I make it a point never to raise my voice, treat them like a criminal, or dismiss them as “stupid.” Lifestyle changes are decisions that people need to make for themselves after long thought and adequate information, not after being shamed into it. It’s easy to relapse into earlier behavior if the decision was made hastily.

~ Recent blog post: I Love Alley Cat Allies ~

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