Solutions, the Future of Veganism.

I think it's a lot easier for people to
talk about problem-based politics rather than solution-based politics because when we just talk about the problem we don't have to look in the mirror and admit to ourselves that we lack the talent to accomplish the solutions I'm gonna talk about veganism this video but for a quick comparison if you're really talking about solution based politics in relation to global warming things get technical quick anyone can just scream about the fact that in global warming is a problem carbon dioxide is a problem water pollution is a problem problem problem problem it seems real simple to advocate for a problem all you're doing is a screaming that this problem ought to be in the newspaper headlines and Parliament ought to do something about it okay who has the expertise to really lobby and really push forward and design a solution involving solar power involving wind power who can even answer demanding questions about what those solutions entail what advantages and disadvantages what the sacrifices and trade-offs are okay who can actually deal with the extent to which satellite technology and so-called misting technology cloud creation technology can mitigate the effects of global warming can preserve the polar icecaps talent talent expertise knowledge hardwork and you know a little bit of money a little bit of a budget is involved when we're talking about solution based politics once in a while people ask me stop talking with the problems with vegan activism stop talking with the problems in the vegan movement and start talking about the solutions here's the problem guys here's the problem with talking about solutions as soon as I start talking about solutions the whole tone and tenor of the video switches to lamenting that these are solutions none of us are working towards because we do not have the I think it's a very clear road ahead I think the future of the movement what it needs is completely obvious I'd be interested if anyone's gonna write in disagreeing with what I set out in this video it's very clear but I've just attended large-scale vegan activist conference I gotta tell you something we don't have the talent conference and when tea was excellent single best vegan event I've ever attended in my life guess what it's depressing no why it's not a single person at that conference I could accomplish anything with in the next five years even though some of them are nice people some of them aren't some were terrible people some of them are nice people I like them you know met a real nice guy who's planning on going on permanent vacation in Hawaii it's gonna go to Hawaii two years and I can't work with them they don't nice guy though great guy like a lot of things but I really do I'd invite that guy to my wedding I'd be happy if he married my sister what a real a nice guy can't get anything done with him and in the last five six years in veganism I haven't met one person with whom I could work to get anything done in the next five years to say I have come to an impasse would be an understatement the whole movement is that an impasse and here is why start by illustrating this with just a little anecdote talk to somebody at this conference called up his Member of Parliament he made a phone call to the federal government here in Canada just the highest level of government in Canada this is the equivalent United States to talking to your senator at the federal level at the national level this is talking to an elite level following him up today I want to talk to you about veganism secretary said okay well can you describe to me what you want to talk about said well you know factory farming and ecology and you know government's involvement with subsidies for this kind agriculture and you know there are the ethics and there's the health you know try to get say okay okay one hour appointment spent one full hour talking face to face with an elected member or the federal government and that Member of Parliament was receptive and appreciative and she offered to follow up by meeting again not just with him but meeting with the whole group of activists said okay she'd show up for a you know an event and talked to a roomful of these these strange vegan people maybe you would find that a very heartening very encouraging for a positive example it's very sad for me to reflect on it today because I attended this conference and so many people from so many walks of life sat down in the halls of academia some of the events were outdoors as you saw on the lawn under a tent but many many of the lectures were given in rented rooms on the University campus here people presented seemingly sophisticated papers about strategy and tactics and the law and the future of the movement and you know this morning I had to watch a video of these same people the same people who at least sat through all of these lectures seemingly area di't sophisticated complex lectures of with these really very simple topics but what we shouldn't shouldn't do for the future at the moment this morning I received a video of them breaking into illegally breaking into a chicken slaughterhouse and stealing chickens and getting themselves arrested they were immersing their arms in liquid concrete trying to force the slaughterhouse to shut down they were indulging in the worst kind of attention-getting ambulance-chasing extremists illegal protests that is celebrated by groups like direct I should never wear and indeed it was the video was broadcast on the social media of direct action everywhere and many of the people in that video maybe even most I just met them I mean you know just that little chitchat oh hey we know what do you do for a living worry free mm-hmm not people I know or trust but it's a little bit different it's a little bit different when you seen these people and smelled them and when you're aware they have sat through a seminar explaining to them what the alternatives are explaining to them that with just one phone call they could deliver their message to the most elite level of government if they just had the humility to participate in the democratic process in a democratic country like Canada why would you leap to getting yourself put in prison breaking the law spending your time in jail being denigrating and cruel to the factory worker it's also an element of that video I don't relate to I don't appreciate putting your arms and liquid concrete you know it's great you're spending time in prison it's so counterproductive it's not just counterproductive for the optics of how the vegan movement is is perceived it's obviously counterproductive for these people's own lives and one of the kids at that event I met him a set met him in person you know and then I see this video of him doing this illegal protest he looks 16 years old he could be - look at him he looks 15 years I don't know maybe he's 18 it's a great kid you got the rest of your life ahead of you and now you're gonna get yourself a criminal record and hold into court and you know of course I don't even think they're gonna do hard time in jail but still there are gonna be consequences for you for the rest of your life and you had an alternative Canada is not Saudi Arabia Canada is not even Russia there was a democratic participatory process open to you and you chose not to participate you chose to exclude yourself because you'd rather think of yourself as a radical and a revolutionary you want the mystique of going to prison instead of the actually effective activism of talking to Parliament and that's something you have never even tried even though you just attended a whole bunch of seminars in an academic setting that explained to you this range of completely legal positive production off of productive options that are set out in front of you what is the path for the future of veganism there are three elements they're linked to do this in like two minutes flat suppose you're cynical and say well if I do talk to that Member of Parliament for an hour they're not going to pass a law tomorrow that makes all slaughterhouses illegal correct why is that it's because only one of the three prongs of the future of veganism just one has to do with participating in the democratic process okay the progress you can make in Parliament in the Senate and Congress is limited by point to cultural progress why why was it possible to pass laws for gay rights in Canada and it's not possible in Saudi Arabia legislative progress and cultural progress are linked they have to go hand-in-hand all right it's not a simple mathematical formula but to some extent you're not going to pass a law protecting gay people for example guaranteeing that gay people cannot be fired from their job as a schoolteacher because their sexual orientation passing that law you first have to get out there and do public education engagement original cultural production you've got to make the TV shows and movies and music that that create an appreciation for gay rights of the gay community that creates a sensitivity to the issue in this culture that gives people the sense this is something that matters even it's in a very vague sense throughout the whole culture and I'm old enough to remember that I'm old enough to remember when people were freaking out because there was the first gay character on TV or the first gay kiss in a movie the first gay character on a science-fiction moving all this stuff it may sound like a joke but it's not that was that was in its way really part of the cultural production of ideas that she the transformation of our culture from a homophobic one to basically a gay rights appreciating culture if you want a culture that's receptive to and sensitive to animal rights that's receptive to insensitive to ecology even to the health concerns that drive the vegan movement ahead okay it's not enough to just lobby Parliament in a vacuum it's not enough just to produce pardon me it is not enough just to participate in a democratic process you've also got to be involved in transforming the culture in the struggle for original cultural production and then there's the exception 0.3 the only time you get to take a short cut you can pass a law without the long hard struggle change the culture is when you've got hard scientific facts on your side and sometimes we do in veganism sometimes you can go to parliament and say hey guys you ever heard of chromium hexane chromium hexane is released by leather people have leather couches in their home they have leather coats hanging in their closet it releases chromium vaccine maybe I've got the scientific facts to convince you that this is a problem to such an extent that legislation has to tackle it even without any cultural sensitivity they should even if nobody cares same way if you can prove cigarettes cause cancer maybe you can push ahead legislation to try to eliminate cigarette smoking maybe you can take the facts that are now you know accepted by the United Nations that have been in all the newspapers maybe you can put together a dossier with all the hard scientific facts of a processed meat such as bacon and hotdogs and say hey look guys there's a hard scientific case here for why bacon should never be served in hospitals for why hotdogs should never be served to schoolchildren for why it's immoral even for the government to be providing processed meat to prisoners in prison here's the case so even if culturally people aren't sensitive to it let's try to move ahead with some kind of democratic political change let's try to pass legislation that basis those are the three prongs that's what we have to move forward with you know why it's not happening because we do not have the talent those poor pathetic people who went to clip away at the chicken cages to steal the chickens out of that go to that slaughterhouse who put themselves into liquid concrete who did this terrible dramatic protest today those poor people I know what it is they think they're rebelling against I know what it is they think they're at war with but in reality what they're rebelling against is their own feeling of impotence you don't need the bullet when you've got the ballot any one of you could have picked up the phone and talked to Parliament but on some deep level you know that if you went to Parliament you wouldn't have enough to say you know that this movement doesn't have the talent backing it to pursue any of those three prongs we don't have enough talent on the hard sciences side of things we don't have enough talent in terms of lawyers and lobbyists and the democratic process side of things and we definitely do not have the talent we do not have the talent in terms of cultural production in terms of bringing out new storybooks to replace Curious George new comic books to compete with Batman or even movies that are maybe meant to entertain people who are more than sixty years old or new retirement homes or new vacation decadent destinations for people more than 65 years old there are so many ways we can work to transform the culture of carnism into a culture that's appreciative of veganism animal rights and so on but when you start talking about solutions instead of just complaining about the problems it forces you to face up the fact that we don't have the talent to get out and do it