Vegan Activism is Embarrassing to Vegans (in 2016)
15 September 2016 [link youtube]
Here's the link to the source of the protest footage: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc94WKn7UMQCp-m8Ko3sIZA/videos
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Youtube Automatic Transcription
I start this video with a disclaimer
that Street activism is not activism it's one form of activism that many people mistakenly believe is representative of all activism I've said repeatedly on this channel that the best form of activism is whatever form of activism can really play a meaningful role in your life and that's going to be very different if you're an architect if you're an engineer if you work at Starbucks if you're currently a university student it's going to be different if your first language is Spanish or if your first language is Chinese if you have a stutter if you have a physical disability you'll have different advantages and disadvantages related to all the other aspects of your life that will link to how you best can make a difference in the world how activism how political engagement can be a meaningful part of your life and how you can make a meaningful difference in the world with that caveat having been stated I think there are very good reasons why so many vegans feel embarrassed to attend an event such as the one you've just seen in your screen and I think they're not trivial I think they're not caddy I think they're not shallow reasons I think they're reasons that we should all think about and analyze very carefully even exist speciesism salute the paradigm of street activism brings with it many dangerous delusions and some of them creep up on you gradually one of those delusions is the assumption that this represents a spontaneous outpouring of emotion and it very rarely does the video you've just been looking at is filmed in Toronto Canada a city I used to live in a city where I attended many many protests myself in history of the world we have had examples of protests erupting at funerals protests erupting and sporting events protests erupting spontaneously at a march of another kind or of course in response to a war there are examples in history of the world of sudden unexpected public emotion bringing crowds of people to do spontaneous things but most of what we see especially 2016 these are carefully contrived events and yet the aesthetic of a spontaneous outpouring precludes the possibility that we really question who fashioned this message who approved it who could send it to it and whether or not there really was anything democratic about how the project protests was put together now if I attended this protest I would find it deeply embarrassing what this man is saying on the loudspeaker but it's most likely I would attend this protest like the 95 people who attended this simply in response to a post on Facebook or an email or a telephone message that some electronic medium was used to contact me to invite me to attend and that when I showed up it was assumed I would consent to whoever that man was holding the megaphone stating whatever message he was stating I don't know this group I just say from my experience that many many protests in Canada people are often shocked if you suggest that you should actually have a meeting making use of managerial methods to discuss with a group of people what is the message of this protest and to vote on it to ultimately have a democratic decision-making protest say okay at this pro at this protest what is it that we have to say what is even the wording of that message that we are going to deliver what is it that we share as a values or as a message or what have you and then at the end ultimately who is going to hold the microphone and say it it may not be necessary for that message to be carefully scripted word by word but obviously a fundamental question such as do you think it is effective activism to claim that racism would cease to exist in this world if everyone were vegan to me that is a fundamentally absurd message that discredits veganism that makes all of us look like fools and that makes these people seem like they have no real world experience I think it's always useful with racism to take examples that are not too familiar to the people involved that you may not have emotional attachment to so rather than talking about for instance the oppression of black people United States America let me tell you in southern Cambodia the animosity between ethnically Vietnamese people and ethnically Cambodian people will not disappear if everyone in Cambodia becomes vegan no chance in northern Laos the anima the animosity between Thai kadai people and moan Khmer people and the so-called low lowish people like the akka the different these aren't even ethnic groups these are groups of groups by the way the intense racism that separates the Hmong from the tyloo in northern Laos if all of those people became vegan the world would become a better place in many many ways but racism would not disappear I don't think racism what even be reduced by 5% I don't believe that and I think those examples precisely because most people know I need to know nothing about them in a place like Laos and Cambodia probably you can just nod your head and imagine G on the other side of the world there are different ethnic groups that hate each other for reasons I have never studied I can't relate to and yet I can imagine that whatever those reasons are they're actually not rooted in dietary decisions nor even in ethical decisions make in how they exploit animals now again I might as well stick with the same time in place I remember one of my girlfriends who identified as a feminist when we first got together she asked about those those questions status of women in the countries I studied places like Cambodia Laos Sri Lanka and the very simple answer I gave her was everywhere you go it's a struggle the status of women in Laos or Cambodia is much much better than in Muslim countries because we're talking about Buddhist countries versus Muslim countries but yes there are certainly problems with the settlement if everyone became vegan do I believe that these status of women would be improved to be honest I think the main people whose lives would be improved would be the employees of slaughterhouses and employees in animal exploiting industries whose lives are miserable and who are predominantly men so yeah in so many ways this is just absurd and ridiculous but in this video what I'm trying to alert you to is the fact that you don't need to be a pawn of whoever made the first Facebook post it doesn't make sense to pretend that these are spontaneous outpourings of emotion from people or overwhelmed with a sudden desire to save the world there's a deliberative process in putting together a package of meanings that you're gonna try to communicate and in choosing the methods to communicate those whether it's a sign being held up or a drum or a form of theatre on the street or getting people together to do something that in my opinion would be more productive something has nothing to do with street protests and if you are gonna join one of these groups then you really do have the right to be consulted you have the right to be part of some kind of democratic yet democratic process in fashioning that message and in approving that message and if you don't agree with the message don't be a sheep don't stand there and chant at the end of the day you've got to walk away you've got to say to yourself I can do better than this I can do better than to assent to repeat and chant aloud a message that actually discredits veganism that makes all of us look like fools just because something's true does not mean that it's effective activism to scream it in the streets and that's pretty much exactly what we're talking about here isn't it is it true that the vast majority of Canadians the vast majority of people in Toronto Canada are blind and mute in relation to the exploitation of animals yes it is in the footage you just saw does it look to you like anyone in the street cares the random assortment of individuals in the street whom you're interrupting while they do their food shopping do you think any of them care in the footage I've seen from this protest you can follow the link below this video I think the only people who care are the people who are attending the event themselves and I've said in earlier videos that can be meaningful in its way it can be a rally it can be rewarding for people there could be a opportunity them to network with each other and plan more meaningful events the future but the hollowness of the street protests and even the hollowness of this type of history onic claim even when it's true it's deeply embarrassing to me it makes me feel ashamed to be a vegan and it makes me feel ashamed to agree with her but I come at this from a very different background for most of you I care passionately about many many issues that the vast majority of Canadians are blind and deaf to I have cared for many years in my life about the situation for First Nations people indigenous people American Indians whatever term you want to use it is entirely fair to say the vast majority of people in downtown Toronto Canada are blind and deaf to First Nations most of them make ad ins can't even name the native people that surround the city there they're living in you know let alone more remote people's only when there's a disaster such as mass suicide on one of the reservations that they get onto the news etc etc would it be effective activism advocacy politics for me to stand on the street in Toronto and scream most of you are blind and deaf to this issue it's true but it's actually not my place to scream it it's not effective activism to me to scream it it's just not real politics it's a phony outpouring of outrage and emotion that accomplishes nothing except perhaps for making us look like fools and the contrast is there even in this video all you have to do is really consider the indifference of the random members of the general public that are walking past one of the simplest and most important ideas in the science of economics is the concept of opportunity cost 95 people attended this protest they could have been doing something better with that time to promote veganism I am a vegan I am a political vegan but I actually believe that those 95 people I don't know some of them are probably brilliant some of them are fools I don't know any of them they could have been making a difference inside City Hall instead of screaming on the street outside of City Hall they could have been doing real lobbying or they could have been doing something as humble as trying to write a children's book or trying to influence curriculum and local Board of Education believe me I know in this specific location I've been inside that same City Hall I've been involved with political lobbying on that Street on that block in that government I know I know that system there are real opportunities for you to make a democratic difference and they may not even realize it but they're choosing not to make a difference in any of those ways this is absolutely astounding to me that we have so much we have we counted 95 people here today at the start and that's just incredible on a Saturday like this bad news TN for me as a vegan it's easy to be self-righteous it's easy for me to say shut it all down smash all the cages set all the animals free that's easy yeah but the whole reason why my youtube channel exists is that I'm not really interested in easy answers to complicated questions I'm interested in dealing with all the murky complicated you know moral gray areas ah da new Yin
that Street activism is not activism it's one form of activism that many people mistakenly believe is representative of all activism I've said repeatedly on this channel that the best form of activism is whatever form of activism can really play a meaningful role in your life and that's going to be very different if you're an architect if you're an engineer if you work at Starbucks if you're currently a university student it's going to be different if your first language is Spanish or if your first language is Chinese if you have a stutter if you have a physical disability you'll have different advantages and disadvantages related to all the other aspects of your life that will link to how you best can make a difference in the world how activism how political engagement can be a meaningful part of your life and how you can make a meaningful difference in the world with that caveat having been stated I think there are very good reasons why so many vegans feel embarrassed to attend an event such as the one you've just seen in your screen and I think they're not trivial I think they're not caddy I think they're not shallow reasons I think they're reasons that we should all think about and analyze very carefully even exist speciesism salute the paradigm of street activism brings with it many dangerous delusions and some of them creep up on you gradually one of those delusions is the assumption that this represents a spontaneous outpouring of emotion and it very rarely does the video you've just been looking at is filmed in Toronto Canada a city I used to live in a city where I attended many many protests myself in history of the world we have had examples of protests erupting at funerals protests erupting and sporting events protests erupting spontaneously at a march of another kind or of course in response to a war there are examples in history of the world of sudden unexpected public emotion bringing crowds of people to do spontaneous things but most of what we see especially 2016 these are carefully contrived events and yet the aesthetic of a spontaneous outpouring precludes the possibility that we really question who fashioned this message who approved it who could send it to it and whether or not there really was anything democratic about how the project protests was put together now if I attended this protest I would find it deeply embarrassing what this man is saying on the loudspeaker but it's most likely I would attend this protest like the 95 people who attended this simply in response to a post on Facebook or an email or a telephone message that some electronic medium was used to contact me to invite me to attend and that when I showed up it was assumed I would consent to whoever that man was holding the megaphone stating whatever message he was stating I don't know this group I just say from my experience that many many protests in Canada people are often shocked if you suggest that you should actually have a meeting making use of managerial methods to discuss with a group of people what is the message of this protest and to vote on it to ultimately have a democratic decision-making protest say okay at this pro at this protest what is it that we have to say what is even the wording of that message that we are going to deliver what is it that we share as a values or as a message or what have you and then at the end ultimately who is going to hold the microphone and say it it may not be necessary for that message to be carefully scripted word by word but obviously a fundamental question such as do you think it is effective activism to claim that racism would cease to exist in this world if everyone were vegan to me that is a fundamentally absurd message that discredits veganism that makes all of us look like fools and that makes these people seem like they have no real world experience I think it's always useful with racism to take examples that are not too familiar to the people involved that you may not have emotional attachment to so rather than talking about for instance the oppression of black people United States America let me tell you in southern Cambodia the animosity between ethnically Vietnamese people and ethnically Cambodian people will not disappear if everyone in Cambodia becomes vegan no chance in northern Laos the anima the animosity between Thai kadai people and moan Khmer people and the so-called low lowish people like the akka the different these aren't even ethnic groups these are groups of groups by the way the intense racism that separates the Hmong from the tyloo in northern Laos if all of those people became vegan the world would become a better place in many many ways but racism would not disappear I don't think racism what even be reduced by 5% I don't believe that and I think those examples precisely because most people know I need to know nothing about them in a place like Laos and Cambodia probably you can just nod your head and imagine G on the other side of the world there are different ethnic groups that hate each other for reasons I have never studied I can't relate to and yet I can imagine that whatever those reasons are they're actually not rooted in dietary decisions nor even in ethical decisions make in how they exploit animals now again I might as well stick with the same time in place I remember one of my girlfriends who identified as a feminist when we first got together she asked about those those questions status of women in the countries I studied places like Cambodia Laos Sri Lanka and the very simple answer I gave her was everywhere you go it's a struggle the status of women in Laos or Cambodia is much much better than in Muslim countries because we're talking about Buddhist countries versus Muslim countries but yes there are certainly problems with the settlement if everyone became vegan do I believe that these status of women would be improved to be honest I think the main people whose lives would be improved would be the employees of slaughterhouses and employees in animal exploiting industries whose lives are miserable and who are predominantly men so yeah in so many ways this is just absurd and ridiculous but in this video what I'm trying to alert you to is the fact that you don't need to be a pawn of whoever made the first Facebook post it doesn't make sense to pretend that these are spontaneous outpourings of emotion from people or overwhelmed with a sudden desire to save the world there's a deliberative process in putting together a package of meanings that you're gonna try to communicate and in choosing the methods to communicate those whether it's a sign being held up or a drum or a form of theatre on the street or getting people together to do something that in my opinion would be more productive something has nothing to do with street protests and if you are gonna join one of these groups then you really do have the right to be consulted you have the right to be part of some kind of democratic yet democratic process in fashioning that message and in approving that message and if you don't agree with the message don't be a sheep don't stand there and chant at the end of the day you've got to walk away you've got to say to yourself I can do better than this I can do better than to assent to repeat and chant aloud a message that actually discredits veganism that makes all of us look like fools just because something's true does not mean that it's effective activism to scream it in the streets and that's pretty much exactly what we're talking about here isn't it is it true that the vast majority of Canadians the vast majority of people in Toronto Canada are blind and mute in relation to the exploitation of animals yes it is in the footage you just saw does it look to you like anyone in the street cares the random assortment of individuals in the street whom you're interrupting while they do their food shopping do you think any of them care in the footage I've seen from this protest you can follow the link below this video I think the only people who care are the people who are attending the event themselves and I've said in earlier videos that can be meaningful in its way it can be a rally it can be rewarding for people there could be a opportunity them to network with each other and plan more meaningful events the future but the hollowness of the street protests and even the hollowness of this type of history onic claim even when it's true it's deeply embarrassing to me it makes me feel ashamed to be a vegan and it makes me feel ashamed to agree with her but I come at this from a very different background for most of you I care passionately about many many issues that the vast majority of Canadians are blind and deaf to I have cared for many years in my life about the situation for First Nations people indigenous people American Indians whatever term you want to use it is entirely fair to say the vast majority of people in downtown Toronto Canada are blind and deaf to First Nations most of them make ad ins can't even name the native people that surround the city there they're living in you know let alone more remote people's only when there's a disaster such as mass suicide on one of the reservations that they get onto the news etc etc would it be effective activism advocacy politics for me to stand on the street in Toronto and scream most of you are blind and deaf to this issue it's true but it's actually not my place to scream it it's not effective activism to me to scream it it's just not real politics it's a phony outpouring of outrage and emotion that accomplishes nothing except perhaps for making us look like fools and the contrast is there even in this video all you have to do is really consider the indifference of the random members of the general public that are walking past one of the simplest and most important ideas in the science of economics is the concept of opportunity cost 95 people attended this protest they could have been doing something better with that time to promote veganism I am a vegan I am a political vegan but I actually believe that those 95 people I don't know some of them are probably brilliant some of them are fools I don't know any of them they could have been making a difference inside City Hall instead of screaming on the street outside of City Hall they could have been doing real lobbying or they could have been doing something as humble as trying to write a children's book or trying to influence curriculum and local Board of Education believe me I know in this specific location I've been inside that same City Hall I've been involved with political lobbying on that Street on that block in that government I know I know that system there are real opportunities for you to make a democratic difference and they may not even realize it but they're choosing not to make a difference in any of those ways this is absolutely astounding to me that we have so much we have we counted 95 people here today at the start and that's just incredible on a Saturday like this bad news TN for me as a vegan it's easy to be self-righteous it's easy for me to say shut it all down smash all the cages set all the animals free that's easy yeah but the whole reason why my youtube channel exists is that I'm not really interested in easy answers to complicated questions I'm interested in dealing with all the murky complicated you know moral gray areas ah da new Yin