Activism vs. Lifestyle-ism: Politics can be Ugly or Beautiful.
07 March 2016 [link youtube]
Political activism isn't always ugly: it can be creative, and even beautiful. We can ask questions about effective activism on a large scale, but also on a personal scale: what is effective activism for you, personally, in your circumstances, now and in the next few years?
Here's the link to the video mentioned (Steve Best vs. Gary Francione), titled, "The Paralysis of Pacifism": https://youtu.be/sHDTZniuzyc
There is also a link to an earlier video of my own that appears (briefly), on-screen, reflecting on the importance of having "just 5 people" organized (and trusting one-another enough to make something positive happen, as activists or otherwise). https://youtu.be/7UezI3u8iXA?t=5m50s
For a more in-depth discussion of these issues (with many practical examples), 30 minutes long, you can see my "advice" video, on "activism and ambition", here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlDRJ8SPZjM
I would really encourage people to click on that link, as it provides practical details/descriptions of the type of political activism I've been talking about in more recently (examples as diverse as starting a magazine, opening a restaurant, launching a legal challenge or directly lobbying city hall) --and it also explains why I put so much emphasis on "organization" as such (i.e., in contrast to believing that a bunch of isolated bloggers are going to change the world by individually uploading lifestyle photos, etc.).
Youtube Automatic Transcription
hey what's up this channel has been
hosted some pretty substantive discussions of the theory and practice of vegan activism there are several videos just in the critique of DX e direct action everywhere I've got at least one video critiquing Gary Francie on a and his methods and so on I mean it adds up to a couple hours in this video I am going to try to summarize the positive message to take out of all that analysis but I'm also going to try to deepen and broaden the discourse little bit because it seems to me a very large number of people coming to this channel are shocked just shocked at the contrast that present between political activism and lifestyle advocacy I mean many people feel that the many people in the current generation who spend their time on the Internet feel that the only valid form of activism to advance veganism and ecology is to glorify a certain kind of lifestyle to convince people that they will be beautiful and healthy and happy if they become vegan and primarily to convince them by portraying themselves by portraying oneself as tremendously a beautiful healthy happy vital athletic etc there's a link below this video to sort of debate between doctors Steve best I guess Professor Steve best and Gary francais on a now it's just a lecture from Steve best but within the first ten minutes you'll hear him contrasting his views to Fran Sione very directly I think that part is worth listening to you may or may not choose to listen to rest of the video actually it amuses me somewhat because Steve best commits many of the same sins that he accuses Gary fracciones followers of committing including the sort of facile misrepresentation of historical episodes to suit his own argument and this sort of thing but hey it is demagoguery in the truest sense of the word and you know even though I disagree with Steve vest on probably every single point he makes I still appreciate that he's getting up there on stage and you know presenting his argument fundamentally for how to save the world because that's how he sees it right look when I talk about political activism and I do not mean this in a shallow way the fundamental challenge have been presenting to people here is to ask is this effect of activism for you um different all kinds of examples have come up here but if I have someone writing me an email saying that he feels like he's wasting his time by standing in front of an airport holding up a sign and shouting slogans at complete strangers and you know let's say he's an architect yeah you know what you're probably wasting your time I'm in earlier videos talked at great length but yeah that's what it boils down to you know what you feel like you're wasting your time you feel like you could be doing something more effective I think you're right and here's why can out whatever some 30 minute video i think the discussion that spins out of that because the discussions are not simple it really is different if you're living in a western democracy like canada or Germany then if you're living in communist China the type of political agitation and advocacy and organizing that you can do you know it's different if you're living in one place short term as opposed to long term if you can actually build a unit it different if you're working alone or if you have just five people you can really cooperate with you know and ultimately it's different because you are unique you know you may be an architect you may be a construction worker you may be an athlete you may be a bikini model an incredibly small percentage there is population of bikini models but some people are that's your job and that's your form of advocacy I can sympathize I can relate to that but not everybody is a bikini model some people are university professors and some people are university students and some people live in the city and some people live in the countryside and they've all got to ask themselves what is the way I can be effective in agitating for social change starting from where I'm at now and looking ahead of the next five years of my life and wanting to lead a meaningful life myself and wanting to feel like I'm making a meaningful difference at one woman writing to me he was involved with forestry in Germany so obviously it this is more rural than urban and a whole different set of political issues related to habitat conservation deer populations wolf populations bear populations you know really refreshing to hear about that frankly compared to the debates I'm getting from people who just want to promote a vacation on the beach in Thailand as yes this were the apogee for effective activism so again as a kind of wake-up call even though I do not agree with Steve best I am anti violence and Steve best argument is he puts himself as Pro violence I think it'd be a wake-up call for a lot of the people on this channel to click on that link and hear that debate in contrast to this debate that has lately been hosted on this channel so look I really do think that activism can mean very different things two very different people in different contexts and political activism is going to be connected to how you live your life and your personal identity as you present it to others let's say this is building on an example I mentioned it half a sentence earlier let's say you own a small hotel in Thailand and you're struggling to be a vegan and you're struggling to get recognition and respect from the members of the vegan community around you okay you're a westerner you're not ethnically tie you don't really speak the Thai language you're an english-speaking westerner living in Thailand what can you do actually I've had a couple videos really talking specifically about the political conditions in Thailand the potential to make something happen through digital veganism but here's what I'm saying right now you have the stability you have the money you have this small hotel you're running let's say you talk to an illustrator you truck you talk to a publisher or a print shop and you decide to make a children's book all right here's my concept for a children's book it's cold why Little Joe can't eat ice cream it's a book for children and for vegan parents to read with their children and it deals the difficult fact that if you're if you're raising your kids vegan if you have a kid growing up vegan all the other kids eat ice cream why can't I eat ice cream ice cream looks harmless whatever it's this white solid or sorry if it's chocolate it's brown but it's this you know amorphous mass if you look at a dead crab on a plate you can see it's a dead animal you know has all its moving parts it has eyes it has legs and so on ice cream in a bowl with colored sprinkles on it it doesn't look like a dead animal at all you can't see the harm it's doing it's hard for adults to make that connection it's really hard for children also can you write a children's book that just talks about a kid maybe a kid trying to explain to another kid hey you know this is why I can't eat ice cream and maybe you can have beautiful illustrations in there you're not going to have gore you're not going to have pictures of slaughterhouses link maybe you can sit out the case in a way that a child could appreciate or that a parent can sit and read to a child says yeah you know what it's actually meaningful to not eat ice cream to not eat cow milk you know even though when you go to school it seems like everyone else is doing it it's an artistic challenge it's a challenge as an author obvious it's all going to be written in simple sentences if you were doing this and you own a small hotel in Thailand get it translated print it with English and tie and you know there's so many ways to print a book you can do it over the internet you can do about working with a publishing house in person doesn't matter that side of it costs you next to nothing and you know you could have a stack of these books at your hotel and every so often you either sell them to somebody or give them to somebody he said yeah yeah you know I took the time once I took a couple of months I worked with a talented illustrator and we made this book and you know over time people will meet you and they'll remember you and you'll be the guy who made that book that becomes part of your identity and you know in some ways it's fleeting but in some ways it lasts forever standing on a sidewalk holding a sign and shouting I can say both good and bad about it you know I've said an earlier video a lot of the effects really are more like a rally it's more like a benefit for the participants themselves than it is changing anything for the public I'm not going to digress into talking about street protests here there's a lot to say about it and I have already said a lot adds up to a lot of minutes but yeah you know something creative something durable something that shares you know a useful message with an audience that wants to hear it that book were talking about it's unlikely to fall into the hands of anyone who's a non-vegan or doesn't want to read it it's not even public education right this is a form of activism that has almost zero risk the only risk would be if the book is a best-seller you know now you got problems in your life um but assuming you sell a small number of copies and probably you're mostly going to sell copies through your own social network through people who find out about it but boy you know that could be something really meaningful and positive that changes your life the changes the way the people around you regard you as a vegan as a potential activist and it could form the basis for more organization more meaningful connections of cooperations people around you so yeah the point of this video was to ask you to open your mind a bit broaden and deepen how you think about activism whether it's the contrast between Steve best and Gary francia neige or the contrast between so-called lifestyle veganism and political action ultimately yeah we're all struggling to find a form of activism engagement which is compatible with our lives and it brings meaning to our lives short-term and long-term
hosted some pretty substantive discussions of the theory and practice of vegan activism there are several videos just in the critique of DX e direct action everywhere I've got at least one video critiquing Gary Francie on a and his methods and so on I mean it adds up to a couple hours in this video I am going to try to summarize the positive message to take out of all that analysis but I'm also going to try to deepen and broaden the discourse little bit because it seems to me a very large number of people coming to this channel are shocked just shocked at the contrast that present between political activism and lifestyle advocacy I mean many people feel that the many people in the current generation who spend their time on the Internet feel that the only valid form of activism to advance veganism and ecology is to glorify a certain kind of lifestyle to convince people that they will be beautiful and healthy and happy if they become vegan and primarily to convince them by portraying themselves by portraying oneself as tremendously a beautiful healthy happy vital athletic etc there's a link below this video to sort of debate between doctors Steve best I guess Professor Steve best and Gary francais on a now it's just a lecture from Steve best but within the first ten minutes you'll hear him contrasting his views to Fran Sione very directly I think that part is worth listening to you may or may not choose to listen to rest of the video actually it amuses me somewhat because Steve best commits many of the same sins that he accuses Gary fracciones followers of committing including the sort of facile misrepresentation of historical episodes to suit his own argument and this sort of thing but hey it is demagoguery in the truest sense of the word and you know even though I disagree with Steve vest on probably every single point he makes I still appreciate that he's getting up there on stage and you know presenting his argument fundamentally for how to save the world because that's how he sees it right look when I talk about political activism and I do not mean this in a shallow way the fundamental challenge have been presenting to people here is to ask is this effect of activism for you um different all kinds of examples have come up here but if I have someone writing me an email saying that he feels like he's wasting his time by standing in front of an airport holding up a sign and shouting slogans at complete strangers and you know let's say he's an architect yeah you know what you're probably wasting your time I'm in earlier videos talked at great length but yeah that's what it boils down to you know what you feel like you're wasting your time you feel like you could be doing something more effective I think you're right and here's why can out whatever some 30 minute video i think the discussion that spins out of that because the discussions are not simple it really is different if you're living in a western democracy like canada or Germany then if you're living in communist China the type of political agitation and advocacy and organizing that you can do you know it's different if you're living in one place short term as opposed to long term if you can actually build a unit it different if you're working alone or if you have just five people you can really cooperate with you know and ultimately it's different because you are unique you know you may be an architect you may be a construction worker you may be an athlete you may be a bikini model an incredibly small percentage there is population of bikini models but some people are that's your job and that's your form of advocacy I can sympathize I can relate to that but not everybody is a bikini model some people are university professors and some people are university students and some people live in the city and some people live in the countryside and they've all got to ask themselves what is the way I can be effective in agitating for social change starting from where I'm at now and looking ahead of the next five years of my life and wanting to lead a meaningful life myself and wanting to feel like I'm making a meaningful difference at one woman writing to me he was involved with forestry in Germany so obviously it this is more rural than urban and a whole different set of political issues related to habitat conservation deer populations wolf populations bear populations you know really refreshing to hear about that frankly compared to the debates I'm getting from people who just want to promote a vacation on the beach in Thailand as yes this were the apogee for effective activism so again as a kind of wake-up call even though I do not agree with Steve best I am anti violence and Steve best argument is he puts himself as Pro violence I think it'd be a wake-up call for a lot of the people on this channel to click on that link and hear that debate in contrast to this debate that has lately been hosted on this channel so look I really do think that activism can mean very different things two very different people in different contexts and political activism is going to be connected to how you live your life and your personal identity as you present it to others let's say this is building on an example I mentioned it half a sentence earlier let's say you own a small hotel in Thailand and you're struggling to be a vegan and you're struggling to get recognition and respect from the members of the vegan community around you okay you're a westerner you're not ethnically tie you don't really speak the Thai language you're an english-speaking westerner living in Thailand what can you do actually I've had a couple videos really talking specifically about the political conditions in Thailand the potential to make something happen through digital veganism but here's what I'm saying right now you have the stability you have the money you have this small hotel you're running let's say you talk to an illustrator you truck you talk to a publisher or a print shop and you decide to make a children's book all right here's my concept for a children's book it's cold why Little Joe can't eat ice cream it's a book for children and for vegan parents to read with their children and it deals the difficult fact that if you're if you're raising your kids vegan if you have a kid growing up vegan all the other kids eat ice cream why can't I eat ice cream ice cream looks harmless whatever it's this white solid or sorry if it's chocolate it's brown but it's this you know amorphous mass if you look at a dead crab on a plate you can see it's a dead animal you know has all its moving parts it has eyes it has legs and so on ice cream in a bowl with colored sprinkles on it it doesn't look like a dead animal at all you can't see the harm it's doing it's hard for adults to make that connection it's really hard for children also can you write a children's book that just talks about a kid maybe a kid trying to explain to another kid hey you know this is why I can't eat ice cream and maybe you can have beautiful illustrations in there you're not going to have gore you're not going to have pictures of slaughterhouses link maybe you can sit out the case in a way that a child could appreciate or that a parent can sit and read to a child says yeah you know what it's actually meaningful to not eat ice cream to not eat cow milk you know even though when you go to school it seems like everyone else is doing it it's an artistic challenge it's a challenge as an author obvious it's all going to be written in simple sentences if you were doing this and you own a small hotel in Thailand get it translated print it with English and tie and you know there's so many ways to print a book you can do it over the internet you can do about working with a publishing house in person doesn't matter that side of it costs you next to nothing and you know you could have a stack of these books at your hotel and every so often you either sell them to somebody or give them to somebody he said yeah yeah you know I took the time once I took a couple of months I worked with a talented illustrator and we made this book and you know over time people will meet you and they'll remember you and you'll be the guy who made that book that becomes part of your identity and you know in some ways it's fleeting but in some ways it lasts forever standing on a sidewalk holding a sign and shouting I can say both good and bad about it you know I've said an earlier video a lot of the effects really are more like a rally it's more like a benefit for the participants themselves than it is changing anything for the public I'm not going to digress into talking about street protests here there's a lot to say about it and I have already said a lot adds up to a lot of minutes but yeah you know something creative something durable something that shares you know a useful message with an audience that wants to hear it that book were talking about it's unlikely to fall into the hands of anyone who's a non-vegan or doesn't want to read it it's not even public education right this is a form of activism that has almost zero risk the only risk would be if the book is a best-seller you know now you got problems in your life um but assuming you sell a small number of copies and probably you're mostly going to sell copies through your own social network through people who find out about it but boy you know that could be something really meaningful and positive that changes your life the changes the way the people around you regard you as a vegan as a potential activist and it could form the basis for more organization more meaningful connections of cooperations people around you so yeah the point of this video was to ask you to open your mind a bit broaden and deepen how you think about activism whether it's the contrast between Steve best and Gary francia neige or the contrast between so-called lifestyle veganism and political action ultimately yeah we're all struggling to find a form of activism engagement which is compatible with our lives and it brings meaning to our lives short-term and long-term