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The problem is animal exploitation. The solution is Veganism.
Step 1: You. Change must start with YOU. First you go vegan. You stop consuming animals, wearing animals, and buying products made of animals or tested on animals. You stop going to venues using animals to entertain. You stop accepting that animals are just commodities to use. You start thinking about animals as individuals with their own interests. Simple.
Step 2: NOW WHAT?? Now that you’ve changed, what do you do next? Do you leave it at that? Or, do you speak up and try to help effect change in others? Remember – the point of going vegan isn’t to join a “club” that follows a strict set of “rules.” The point is to help solve a very serious social justice problem.
Solving problems of gargantuan proportion depends on the collective effort of many. No “group” is more oppressed than non-human animals. For the human culture to stop conceptualizing animals as primarily “things to consume” is going to take a monumental push for change.
Definitions: “push”
- To urge forward or urge insistently; pressure: “Push a child to study harder.”
- To extend or enlarge: “Push society past the frontier.”
- To promote or sell: “The author pushed her latest book.”
So who is pushing for change? Vegans. Non-vegans won’t do it. Vegetarians won’t do it. Vegans are the only ones advocating 100% for the rights of animals not to be used.
Passionate vegans work for the greater good. By promoting Veganism, we “urge” others to act with fairness toward sentient beings. We put “pressure” on the status quo. We ask others to “enlarge” their circle of compassion to include all animals. We “promote” non-violence. These are good things. Yet, passionate, active, vocal vegans are frequently called “pushy.”
Definition: “pushy”
- offensively assertive or forceful
- marked by aggressive ambition and energy and initiative
Hmm…pushy sounds bad. So how did we get from “push” to “pushy?” How did we get from the words, “urge forward / extend / promote” to “offensive” and “aggressive?”
I think it has more to do with how non-vegans react to being challenged than anything else. I don’t think it really matters what the frequency– the content– the delivery method– of the vegan message is. The vegan message itself is considered inherently “aggressive” in a culture where animal exploitation is ubiquitous. Where animal slaughter is condoned, those who speak in protest are considered the “offensive” ones. All a vegan has to do is open his or her mouth to be labelled “pushy.” No one minds a quiet vegan!
Push…pushy. It doesn’t really matter. The bottom line is we have a long way to go to shift the paradigm. The animals need our help so we can’t keep quiet. So, spreaders of the vegan message: Keep pushing for change…you pushy, pushy vegans!
(Picture taken September 12, 2011 at the Ringling Circus protest in Everett, WA)
This video was taken exactly 2 years ago…4/17/10. Here I was with my brand new skins. They are ridiculously sticky when new. I thought that Eric was taking my picture. I was trying to make a fierce face. Then I realized he was taking a movie and it cracked me up! I love Eric’s commentary.
To climb uphill with skis on, you must apply “skins” to the ski bottoms. (Unless the skis themselves are made for climbing.) They work like this: when you glide the ski uphill– forward– the fibers run flat, but when you stop or try to slide backward the fibers “stand up” and grip the snow. You won’t slide backward unless the slope is very steep or the snow is glossy ice, or if you don’t weight your ski properly on a steep slope. It’s a pretty strange feeling the first time you realize you’re not going to slip!
(Think of those directional spikes you drive over in your car…“Caution: Severe Tire Damage!”…You can roll forward and the spikes flatten, but if you travel in reverse…Yikes! It’s the same concept.)
Back in the days of “old,” seal skin was used. Not vegan! I’m thinking that people might have used their skis for travel and not solely for recreation in those days? Maybe it was necessary to use seal skin once upon a time? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter now because the past is the past. Point is, we don’t need to use the skin of a seal anymore.
When you can do better, you should do better and you better do better…right? Now, we use nylon skins. Continuing to use the word “skin” is kind of icky, but it’s a good reminder of how times change even though words tend to persist. Change is good!
Freeheel Vegan 