The quote below is from the Vegan Outreach newsletter. It looks so useful. After having been a vegetarian for over 28 years and a vegan for over 12 years I can’t tell you how tired I am of amateur lectures in biology, theology and philosophy. The response below looks like it will work for a variety of common dodges I encounter while leafleting:
At Kent State, one guy said he would never consider becoming vegetarian because we are biologically designed to eat meat (“canine” teeth, protein needs, etc.). I explained that I didn’t want to get into a debate with him about our “natural” diet, but that he should just look at the information; regardless of how he thinks primitive humans ate, he’d have to agree there’s no reason to support the cruelty inflicted on farmed animals now. He shook his head and walked off. About an hour later he came back and said he had read the entire brochure and it was “really good.” I think it had a huge effect on him.
-Jen Kaden, 11/14/07
Yes! I loved that when I read it.
PW
I saw that too, and I thought it was very similar to my own philosophy, but a lot less eloquent than I usually am. I probably would have added something about sustainability (so that if the guy comes back with “Well then, I’ll just eat free range, etc.” I could still give him good reasons to eat less animal produce, whatever the source), and then I would have gotten sidetracked and it all would have gone horribly wrong.