Crafty ways to end ignorance

[lozza]

I do, however, often feel depressed about all the animal cruelty and violence perpetrated against people. But I think it's normal, it's a sign that I'm a thinking compassionate being, not only absorbed and preoccupied by my own personal problems.


you're so right.. its strange. lately, i feel all i think about is the world's problems. the animals, 3rd world countries, etc. etc. and then people around me talk about things like "ooh did you hear about that rapper that got arrested?" or "this & this happened at a nightclub" and i'm too pre-occupied thinking about the world and how i can change it, & these other things just seem so petty in comparison.

at least its something to care about other than your own problems, like you said :/

[lozza]

btw, i'm all for educating others in this way! if i wasnt so lazy and i had more time, i would do the same sorts of things.

in fact, when i first became vegan, i had another vegan friend (who i dont talk to anymore now) & we used to go round the supermarkets with those stickers that say "hi my name is....& i usded to be alive" & we'd write names and put them on the frozen chickens & hams!

hehe :)

[archaeopteryx]

When receiving charity appeals from organizations that fund/practice vivisection, I use their own freepost envelopes to send back anti-vivisection information to them.

[herbwormwood]

I thought it would be a neat idea if we all brainstormed up some ideas for distributing literature.
Thanks for reading! :)

Thank you for writing!
I am in a skills swap club in my local area. Members do things for each other that they are good at and receive a credit for each hour or part hour they work. You can "spend" your credits too!
Its a really good way to get to know people in your local area and time banks or time exchanges are set up in many areas !
One of my "skills" is vegan cookery so every once in a while I cook vegan meals at our local community cafe. Its really hard work cooking for 30+ people! This month I am doing a vegan only night, only vegan food allowed. I have recruited my arabic neighbour whose skill is cooking halal middle eastern food. She has promised to chop the veggies and make middle eastern salad. I am planning to do veg bolognaise, risotto, hummus, melon, and fuit salad and ice cream. I have been sent a load of literature from the vegetarian society, the vegan society, animal aid, and Viva, but I am not sure of the best way to distribute it. Should I keep it behind the counter and give it to people with their meal, or should I just leave it on a table? The customeers are usually a real mix, mostly working class, a few people with learning disabilities and quite a few children ages 8-14.

[scruffyhead]

Ive just thought around where i live we have different bins for different waste, now if i was to walk along my street and look at which house uses the bins correctly the people who live there have a tendancy to care, so their house would be a good start to post a leaflet on veganisum and animal cruelty.

[Maisiepaisie]

Here in the uk theres a very popular bike ride from London to Brighton ( only 57 miles )each year. Approx 27000 people enter the race to raise money for The British Heart Foundation who look into finding a cure for heart disease. This year myself, another veganforumer and six others ( all vegan ) did the ride in meat is murder t-shirts on old fashioned butchers bikes with the aim to promote prevention is better than cure. We handed out various leaflets along the way inluding some promoting www.britishheartlessfoundation.com (http://www.britishheartlessfoundation.com) . Just to be clear, we didn't enter the ride ourselves. Theres always next year.I love this idea. This has given me the idea to do this at the Cancer Research marathons www.raceforlife.org (http://www.raceforlife.org) Gertvegan which are the best leaflets to hand out, leaflets promoting veganism? I am going to bring up this idea at our next AR meeting.

I think a really important thing we should all be doing to help end vivisection is to inform the public what some unethical charities spend their donation money on :mad:

[VeganJohn]

The http://www.britishheartlessfoundation.com/ is an excellent link. Amazing what people are blind to......

[lozza]

cheers for the link to that site. i've copied some info off it, to send to my mum. she tells me that its cool i stand up for my beliefs, but she says i am too obsessed and take it too far when it comes to charities, cos "cancer is such a killer" yeah well i wanna show her that theres charities out there who DONT use animals.. & why, :)

[Romac]

my email sig is my primary means, but it's a very tricky thing because people are motivated by different things, and can erect a bit of a sheild if they are approached in the wrong way.

For instance, although i've been a compassionate pet owner for many years, and have called the humane society a few times when i've witnessed animal abuse, i've never been big on animal rights...and still am not too keen on that angle.

The bigger picture motivated me...the billions and billions of tortured, mutilated, sentient beings is mass produced suffering in my eyes. It's like the earth's some kind of great machine pumping the universe full of suffering. Like some kind of futuristic horror film. If someone would have tried to sell veganism to me from the angle of individual animals needing rights i would have most likely rejected the pitch, or just agreed that we should treat animals well before we killed and ate them.

But since going vegan, and gaining more info i think some of the most powerfully persuasive tools we have are the environmental impacts of livestock farming, and the incredible disease prevention information revealed in the china study.

my email sig (some of the sats may be inaccurate, but they provoke a reaction nontheless):


"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." ~Albert Einstein
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources consumed to put 1lb of beef on your plate: 2500-5000 gallons of water
16 lbs of grain
1.7 gallons of oil
5lbs of antibiotics
3lbs of growth hormones
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5 acres of land can feed 23 people if vegetables are produced or... 1 person if beef is produced
now watch this shit (http://www.petatv.com/veg.html)

[Maisiepaisie]

The http://www.britishheartlessfoundation.com/ is an excellent link. Amazing what people are blind to......I've seen that site. They do produce their own leaflet but this is quite focused on discrediting the British Heart foundation. A similar leaflet focusing on Cancer Research would be ideal for distributing at the Race for Life marathon. I found this one from PETA http://www.peta.org.uk/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=138&pf=true
This gives all the facts but is 5 pages long. Perhaps it could be redesigned into 1 leaflet though to make it more financially viable.

Romac, are you saying we should not focus on the issue of animal rights in order to win support? What do others think about this? That PETA factsheet does not mention animal rights once. Maybe that is the way to go as the majority of people do care about their own interests above animal suffering.

[Romac]

it's just what has the best chance of working with people i know. All my friends have always been concerned with environmental issues, but i've never heard any of them mention animals rights issues outside of wildlife conservation.

all it takes is to get people interested in one aspect and when they start reading all the other issues will open up to them.

i declared veganism to reduce suffering caused by commercial livestock farming practices so i'm a bit of a contradiction to my statement. But once i started reading about that all the other information came flooding in. I had no idea about the very important environmental and health issues, but if i had it may have swayed me over sooner.

i just wrote a lengthly email to my stepfather who suffers from hepatitis b which dramatically increases your chances of developing liver cancer. I told him about some of the information discussed in the china study regarding vegan diets virtually eliminatinating liver cancer development and promotion. He's ordered the book, and i'm hoping he goes vegan. He's open to the idea from a health stand-point but i'm sure once he starts reading all the other issues will fall into place for him.

if cancer, diabetes, and heart disease can get people to go vegan just spread the word to anyone you know with those conditions or anyone who worries about those diseases...which should be just about everyone in north america since they are the number 1 and 2 causes of death on this continent.

[herbwormwood]

One of the strongest human motivations is the difficulty of holding 2 opposing views. This is known as cognitive dichotomy.
Human unconsious minds will create a massive amount of strategies to avoid holding 2 opposing views.
People will ignore and deny what they can't handle. Just refuse to see it.
Also people don't like abandoning their views when they have a lot invested in them.
This is partly why most people go veggie when they are fairly young. They don't have as much invested in their worldview.

So if you attempt to open people's eyes to cruelty they are only going to open their eyes if they are willing to let go of the other view, the view that says cruelty does not happen.
Letting go of the view that cruelty doesn't exist is just beyond some people, and those people will rationalise it by saying we (vegans) are mad or extemeist. In this way they can deny our opinion has any value.

The other problem is that many people are not avid readers, and will not read anything unless they have to. For some people reading is actually hard work or very boring for them. Avid readers find this hard to appreciate but it's true.
Because of this, a lot of leaflet campaigns are not very effective. It is imporant to only give leaflets to people who are interested. Otherwise they will be thrown away unread.
By the way I am doing my Veggie food Night tonight. Hoping to convert a few people via their stomachs! And we have decided to give out leaflet packs with each meal. The leaflets that get left behind will be saved for next time!

[DoveInGreyClothing]

Email your entire list of contacts a petition to sign... hopefully they'll read a bit of the website and get thinking.

[Antonia]

I try to be more discreet than that. I leave them in library books I borrow, etc. Or just slip them between books at the library or behind videos at the video stores.

Thanks Pilaf,
I read your post literally before going to the library last night. So I slipped some Viva leaflets ("So you're an animal lover are you?") in the books and cd booklets. What a great idea!

[the_red_star]

That is a fanitastic idea -so simple but i've never thought of doing it before!! I have a whole uni library to fill now! - good job i dont go to a big library... :D

I tried putting leaflets up around my uni, and last yr i put up posters for the G8alternatives events but everything got taken down about 2 minutes after i put it up ... if only i knew who by... :mad:

[Bluey]

When receiving charity appeals from organizations that fund/practice vivisection, I use their own freepost envelopes to send back anti-vivisection information to them.


I really like this idea...:eek: I think will be a good hobby to take up.

[Bluey]

One of the strongest human motivations is the difficulty of holding 2 opposing views. This is known as cognitive dichotomy.
Human unconsious minds will create a massive amount of strategies to avoid holding 2 opposing views.
People will ignore and deny what they can't handle. Just refuse to see it.
Also people don't like abandoning their views when they have a lot invested in them.

!


;) Are you studying psych?

[Haniska]

I defiantly think that appearing strong and healthy is the way to go. I lift weights for this reason. Unfortunately for me (on this one aspect) I have always had a small frame and don't really gain weight, just like my mom. One thing that is funny is that everyone believes that I am so small because I am a vegetarian, even though they knew me during the two years that I was not and my weight has not changed. Another thing that I do, when I bring a dish to my father or someone else, I don't include any "weird" foods like soy. Which I think makes vegetarianism seems easier.
Oh, also I try not to go on any weird bents like how I wonder if potatoes have feelings in front of omnis. That would defiantly perpetuate the stereotype!:D

[Zorillo]

I live near Northfield shops. There is various stuff put up about not eating meat or whatver. I'm guessing that people have tried to remove them, but they are so firmly stuck. Anyone know what stuff firmily sticks things to telephone boxes, trees, etc? I have left paper because of animal welfare around. If ONE person puts stuff up around their area, then maybe we will have new vegans. Just think how much stuff ONE person could put up! I suggest not putting up "Go vegan". Put reasons for going vegan or whatever. How about if you are in the library and have finished using the internet, leave a website open with reasons to go vegan or whatever? How about putting things on your bags?

[TofuFooYung]

When I go to the supermarket, I try to remember to bring my own leaflets about going veggie and I hand one to the cashier before I leave and ask them to read it and try to go veggie.

Being a paying customer, they're obliged to be polite to me :)

[Bluey]

Has anyone ever tried giving a pamplet to a morman or jehovahs when they are doorknocking and trying to sell you the watchtower?
Maybe even someone trying to sell you something or make you donate to a charity?
Sometimes I think of doing this but I don't have any pamplets.
Which pamplets do you use, the only ones I know of are Vegan Outreachs?

[Maisiepaisie]

Has anyone ever tried giving a pamplet to a morman or jehovahs when they are doorknocking and trying to sell you the watchtower?
Maybe even someone trying to sell you something or make you donate to a charity?
Sometimes I think of doing this but I don't have any pamplets.
Which pamplets do you use, the only ones I know of are Vegan Outreachs?Yeah I kept 2 Jehovas for ages telling them about how God would not approve of factory farming and why we shouldn't eat meat. I don't even believe in God but didn't tell them that. I have a stack of Viva leaflets for next time they come :D

[monkey60613]

I just ordered some of Peta's "Being Boiled Hurts" stickers that I will stealthily stick on the lobster tanks at some of the local grocery stores.

http://www.petaliterature.com/prodinfo.asp?number=VEG309

http://www.petacatalog.org/images/100-VEG309.jpg

[chickendude]

I volunteered at PETA a few months ago and they had these HUGE walls filled with various stickers. Needless to say, I grabbed more than I thought I'd ever need, although I'm now out. For about two weeks straight, ever chicken breast/leg/other slaughtered poultry product bore the following:
WARNING: This package contains the decomposing corpse of a small tortured bird.

I thought maybe some little kid would ask what it was and his or her parents would either ignore it or feel obligated to explain how chickens are killed in order for them to eat it.

In fact, I actually bought a checkbook from PETA, with each check saying a various animal rights phrase (Go Vegetarian, Help Stop Animal Testing, etc).

[DancingWillow]

In fact, I actually bought a checkbook from PETA, with each check saying a various animal rights phrase (Go Vegetarian, Help Stop Animal Testing, etc).

Oooh, I didn't know they had that! Now I have an excuse to shop...all in the name of vegan awareness, of course;)