I debated posting this blog entry because I figured a lot of people will stop reading it in the first paragraph, not because of what the actual point of it is but because of the subject I'm using to make that point. That's because on the surface, it first appears to be about animal rights, and that discussion tends to make people uncomfortable, or self defensive, or feel attacked, and so they avoid it. So let me just say off the top -- that's actually not what this is about. This is about the tendency people have to delete information that makes them uncomfortable, to delete information that is inconvenient, to shut down discussions that inspire inner conflict.
And animal rights, particularly when those animals are farm animals that we're used to seeing on a menu, is a sensitive subject that endlessly lends itself to that tendency. There are loads of videos out there of how factory farm animals are treated. Most people would recoil and feel nauseous if they viewed the videos, particularly if they thought about the fact that they eat those same animals and put money into the system that treats them that way. So they don't view the videos, and they don't think about the connection. It's uncomfortable. We don't like being uncomfortable. Rather than dealing with why we're uncomfortable, we tend to choose the easiest way out and ignore that feeling.
But there are also plenty of people out there who don't ignore that feeling once they become informed -- or who even choose to seek out information that would force them to confront the uncomfortable. It might take time, but eventually, instead of continuing to ignore the information, some people change their behavior. My fiancé is one of those people. He ate pigs and cows and told me he would never stop. I told him he should know that pigs are scientifically proven to be as smart and empathetic as a dog and a three-year-old child. If he balks at the idea of eating a dog, if he's against the dog meat trade in Asia, why would he be okay with eating a pig? "Yeah, but they're so tasty," he said with a smile. So I informed him. I never told him he had to stop. But I showed him videos of happy pigs, I liked Facebook pages for him of pigs who were living their lives free from torture and slaughter, and he came to know them as living animals with personalities and feelings, not just as products he ate. And every once in a while, I showed him a picture of what pigs endure in farms. He would cringe and look away and say uncomfortably, "I don't want to see that. Don't show me that." But if you can't bear to look at it, why would you contribute to it?
It didn't take long for my fiancé to make that connection, both for cows and pigs. He now posts extensively on Facebook about animal rights and activism (well, that and baseball) and becomes nauseous and teary at the sight or smell of "friends," as we call them, who have been slaughtered and cooked. If he wants to engage with someone who has been disrespectful to animals, vegetarians and/or vegans, or animal rights activists on Facebook, he usually has to ask me to edit or rewrite his comment for him because he's so impassioned about protecting these innocent souls that he rarely can write something calm enough to change anyone's opinion.
This change in him is only because he became informed. Before, he didn't have the information of who these animals actually are, and how they're actually treated... and then he did. He confronted what made him uncomfortable about his behavior once he had that information, and then he changed his behavior.
I don't believe in changing minds by screaming and shouting and calling names and belittling and insulting and making fun of people. No one was ever confronted by being called an idiot or an imbecile or a child or ignorant and then responded by saying, "Oh yeah, they're totally right. I should listen to their opinions and conform to them." I believe in changing minds through information. Information is the most powerful weapon in effecting change and creating a more enlightened world. And it allows people to arrive at their decisions and beliefs through independent thought, which is the strongest and most lasting way to instill convictions.
But my fiancé is... how do I put this... more of a hot head than I am. He is less likely to try to understand how it is that good people can engage in behavior that leads to bad things, or support bad things, or turn a blind eye because it would be inconvenient to take a good long look instead....
And so we arrive at the issue at hand. Prince Harry is a "sport" hunter. He also seems to have engaged in trophy hunting in the past, but while his trophy hunting might have stopped, his sport hunting has not, at least as of December. Sport hunting means he doesn't kill to eat -- he kills because he enjoys shooting and killing animals. (How that is a sport is beyond me.) Anyway, a Facebook page that is connected to a high-profile farm animal sanctuary posted several posts celebrating the Royal Wedding. Celebrating someone who kills animals for fun seems at cross-purposes with the mission of an animal sanctuary, so my fiancé commented rather harshly on one of their Royal Wedding posts about how Prince Harry is a trophy hunter and shouldn't get a free pass just because he's a prince and the Royal Wedding is fun. His comment was deleted. Though the Royal Family isn't on my radar, and I didn't even know Prince Harry was a hunter, I wanted to give my fiancé back his voice. Thinking it was the tone and his lack of distinction between trophy hunting and sport hunting that got his comment deleted, I posted a much gentler, light-hearted comment that respectfully and almost incidentally informed the page and its followers that Prince Harry is a sport hunter. After receiving a number of likes and comments from people that they had no idea and were glad to know this, that comment too was deleted by the page.
And that's my problem, and that's why I'm posting a blog post that is ostensibly about an issue about which most of my readers won't particularly care. Because the larger issue affects everyone -- deleting information. How is deleting information ever a good idea? I provided information that some of the page's visitors would be interested in knowing so they can make informed decisions. Many animal rights supporters would choose not to spend time reading about and watching the wedding of a sport hunter if they knew he was a sport hunter. Eliminating information without a discussion seems counterproductive to trying to create a gentler and more enlightened world -- which is the whole point of that Facebook page. Yes, it's inconvenient to acknowledge that this fun and fancy event where a beautiful American gets to live a fairy tale and become a princess involves someone who enjoys killing animals... but if we want to change minds through providing information, shouldn't we at least acknowledge truth and let others point it out, even when it's uncomfortable? When have progress and growth ever been comfortable? It is the lack of information and whitewashing that has led to the public's acceptance of the brutal treatment of animals in the first place. I was respectfully and gently providing information that some animal rights activists and supporters would like to know so that they don't inadvertently celebrate someone who enjoys killing animals for fun. I was not judging or criticizing those who choose to go ahead and celebrate the wedding anyway. I was providing information.
And I don't see how information is ever bad. Especially when it's inconvenient and uncomfortable.
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