Philosophical Vegan Forum

Hi folks

That's the topic for this week's discussion in the Enquiring Minds session I facilitate, this coming Thursday. You may have guessed I chose the topic.

Does anyone have any suggestions - any authorities I could quote, any websites that would help me in getting the best out of it?

I would appreciate any thoughts you guys may have.

I would be surprised if you were to find anyone who would answer "no" to the above question.

I would anticipate the discussion will turn into blatant examples of cognitive dissonance, i.e. people coming up with ridiculous justifications that attempt to align their values with their morals.

There is no way I could walk out of that room being well liked yet still feeling that I had been honest.

Thanks, Jebus. The question for me, as I guess it is for most vegans, is, how come I'm more compassionate than most of my friends? Why do I care what happens to animals, when they - self-professed animal lovers - don't seem to. I'm well aware of the cognitive dissonance at work - I suffered from it myself until I became vegan - and then afterwards, right up until sometime last year, when I finally started calling animals 'Someone' instead of 'Something'.

Most probably it's the fact that I've seen the footage, I'm well aware what happens in slaughterhouses, factory farms, etc. And I've been loathe to share this with my friends, so they're not as aware as I am. So maybe it's partly my fault for shielding them from the truth.

Thursday will be interesting. I'm thinking of taking my laptop in to show 'Land of Hope and Glory' during the coffee break - and then no matter what the reaction is, I'll give everyone an Anonymous for the Voiceless card.

I have had one success, only this morning, when one of the participants dropped by for a coffee. I showed him some of that footage, pointed him in the direction of NutritionFacts.org and gave him oat milk in his coffee. This evening, he rang and told me he and his wife were going to try going vegan for a month.

Like Jebus said, it's all about cognitive dissonance.

So much so that we'll usually call somebody like that a hypocrite, because it's basically inconceivable that a human could choose not to act in accordance with his or her values.
Not quite correct (the charge of hypocrisy), since somebody might just have a weak will, and continually fail yet keep trying. That's probably more respectable than somebody who rationalizes or abandons his or her values.

Might be something worth touching on.