Vegans, There’s No Such Thing as the “State of the World”.
“It seems as if the world is on fire!” was a comment I recently heard on a podcast.
Every day, we are bombarded with bad news from around the world, seemingly a world on fire and many feel compelled to take a stand on issues. For most, they don’t have first-hand experience of the person or issues, let alone do some research to verify the facts. Then there is the political and financial biases of the mainstream media, all of which are owned and operated by six major corporations. How objective do we think their journalistic endeavours are when their own objectives and those of their sponsors finance their existence?
Recent reporting of atrocities happening in the USA or abroad, quickly resulted in vegans (many of whom didn’t even know the issues beforehand) taking a stand on this. Some say they don’t support violence but point fingers back at the victims. They are quick to say that all violence is bad, presumably hoping for some empathy with all suffering.
However, does it really matter what side we take or does even commenting just feed the polarisation, in-fighting and personal misery as we conclude how horrible humans really are?
Is the conclusion of the “state of the world” correct or does it depend on what we focus on?
Experience at a Farmers’ Market
Last weekend I visited a local farmers’ market, something I enjoy immensely, despite the very small number of stalls selling hidden cruelty. The laughter, the sense of community, the creativity, fresh produce and feeling of community are very nourishing.
As I stopped to congratulate someone on the hard work put into their sewing endeavours, an older man said to me, “I am SO excited!” “Today I am collecting a mug which will sport an image of a vintage car I owned back in the 1970s.” I smiled and told him how wonderful that was.
20 mins later, a stallholder beckoned me over to show me the mug, saying the man recognised me and wanted to share his treasure. I shared his excitement and then….
…..Something Magical Happened.
The stallholder said to me, “I love these markets. I don’t even care if this man pays me. Do you want to know what my real reward is? It’s the look on his face – that’s priceless!
At that moment, juxtaposed against an earlier coffee-shop owner bemoaning the state of humanity, I was reminded that “The state of the world” is “Our world and what we focus on.”
The stallholder and the customer were both happy and their ‘state of the world” was right there and co-created by them.
What are the lessons for vegans?
Vegans, like anyone else, are concerned about lots of social issues and have information, perspectives and opinions on what is going on. Many explore how injustices or cruelty intersect with other and can only be examined systemically or by looking much more broadly at the issues. However, are the solutions to be found in social media feeds or do these serve to distract us, depress us, separate us and deplete us from focusing on creating the world which we all wish to belong to? Is our distraction and our emotional outbursts really emboldening us to focus on solutions and contribute to creating a kinder, vegan world?
I don’t think so and, I would argue, are most probably feeding right into the intended narratives to polarise people even further on issues yesterday they hadn’t thought of, and have their social media feeds further reinforcing that humanity is beyond redemption, and we will never see a vegan world.
Is it Naive to Focus on Flourishing Rather than Oppression?
As a former organisational psychologist, I have worked in over twenty different countries. I am no stranger to seeing with my own eyes the places reported on in the news and to hearing first-hand accounts of people’s experiences. And most of them do not match what I subsequently see reported in the media.
So whilst I am deeply concerned about the well-being of all living beings, I choose to not deplete my energies on issues I can’t do anything about from an armchair. Instead….
I choose to focus on the flourishing of human and non-human animals, because it reveals what oppression takes away.
I have seen with my own eyes many of the gulags which incarcerate non-human animals for human exploitation. The anguish I have felt, and often re-experience, at the ubiquitous suffering of animals at our mercy, resulted in naming that anguish as Vystopia. And whilst a dark and agonising journey to uncover what is hidden in plain sight, it has fuelled my purpose and is the backcloth against which I work for the liberation of non-human animals – and in turn the human ones.
So what will you focus on?
Remember the stall-holder who said, “The real reward is the look on that man’s face!” Focus on creating the world you and others truly wish to belong to – on your doorstep, local market and local community – because that’s the ‘state of your world” you can influence.
