TofuFooYung
May 13th, 2006, 11:35 PM
Just wondering what everyone thinks of the average AR leaflet.
Although turning a stranger vegan/vegetarian and/or more compassionate towards animals would be wonderful, lets face it, it's too slow a process to rely on.
Take something like shutting down a laboratory... the average leaflet just doesn't seem accessible enough for the average person. If they cared about animals enough to make a decent enough stand for anti-vivisection etc, then surely they'd be vegetarian. I know many 'animal lovers' who still enjoy their steak. They'll nod their head and agree that vivisection is wrong... but what will they do? They continue to buy P & G, will NEVER write a letter or make a phonecall, STILL buy factory farmed foods.
I think rather than asking them to care about animals, we need to hammer home more of the points that affect them directly. i.e. rather than a leaflet saying 'this monkey endures agony in a laboratory... help stop this from happening', instead, have an image of a human who has suffered as a result of animal-tested drugs and say "You could be next" or anything, to at least get through to people that the AR activists aren't just fighting for animals, but for them and their loved ones too.
i.e. say for instance, a large animal-unfriendly business is set to open up in a town with low employment with X amount of jobs opened up the locals... telling them to feel sorry for lab animals isn't going to cut it. Leaflets objecting to environmental damage, noise pollution, congestion, tax payers money being wasted etc may do the trick better?
Don't mean to sound negative :-) I know a picture of a dissected monkey breaks our hearts, but some people are too far removed to care. And some people will even admit they'd be hypocrites to care given that they eat meat in the first place.
Your thoughts, peeps.
Although turning a stranger vegan/vegetarian and/or more compassionate towards animals would be wonderful, lets face it, it's too slow a process to rely on.
Take something like shutting down a laboratory... the average leaflet just doesn't seem accessible enough for the average person. If they cared about animals enough to make a decent enough stand for anti-vivisection etc, then surely they'd be vegetarian. I know many 'animal lovers' who still enjoy their steak. They'll nod their head and agree that vivisection is wrong... but what will they do? They continue to buy P & G, will NEVER write a letter or make a phonecall, STILL buy factory farmed foods.
I think rather than asking them to care about animals, we need to hammer home more of the points that affect them directly. i.e. rather than a leaflet saying 'this monkey endures agony in a laboratory... help stop this from happening', instead, have an image of a human who has suffered as a result of animal-tested drugs and say "You could be next" or anything, to at least get through to people that the AR activists aren't just fighting for animals, but for them and their loved ones too.
i.e. say for instance, a large animal-unfriendly business is set to open up in a town with low employment with X amount of jobs opened up the locals... telling them to feel sorry for lab animals isn't going to cut it. Leaflets objecting to environmental damage, noise pollution, congestion, tax payers money being wasted etc may do the trick better?
Don't mean to sound negative :-) I know a picture of a dissected monkey breaks our hearts, but some people are too far removed to care. And some people will even admit they'd be hypocrites to care given that they eat meat in the first place.
Your thoughts, peeps.