The danger between division of vegans and non-vegans

The biggest debate of the week meat eater or vegans? Who's the real villain? Annie Caughey writes

Animal rights protesters block the intersections of Flinders and Swanston Street during early morning traffic in Melbourne, Monday, April 8, 2019. Animal rights protesters are blocking a CBD intersection while south east of Melbourne, others have chained themselves to a truck. (AAP Image/David Crosling) NO ARCHIVING. Picture: DAVID CROSLING

Opinion: I'M SAD to see that another big news event has divided us so strongly, yet again.

Categorising and stereotyping people as either "meat eaters” or "vegans”.

Monday's extreme vegan protests across the nation received significant backlash from politicians, the dairy and meat industries and even a majority of the vegan population itself.

Look, I don't think our agriculture industry is perfect, personally, there's a lot of changes I'd like to see in terms of live exports and overconsumption but to storm on properties and private land is a step too far.

Just like everyone else, Australian farmers have the right to be safe in their homes and businesses.

To assume that every farmer is recklessly and inhumanely slaughtering their animals is to assume that all vegans are malnourished or that every one of them shares the same political view.

That is simply untrue in all those cases but that's the trouble with generalisation.

Standing up for animal rights, caring about the environment and speaking up to change our current habits are all very worthy causes to highlight in the public sphere but to take them and shove them down the throats of the Australian public probably won't attract the allegiance one seeks.

Instead, it's got a lot of people offside, especially the policy makers and the sad truth is a really important topic is being diminished in the public eye.

People aren't talking about bringing in further surveillance of breeding and killing practices on farms. People aren't talking about our unsustainable demand for meat and the length farmers have to go to for supply and I bet these protests aren't convincing anyone to try plant-based alternatives anytime soon.

Turning vegan or vegetarian for many people isn't as extreme as these protests seem to depict.

Many people choose the lifestyle change for health reasons. Many choose them for religious reasons and others may even love meat but choose to abstain in an attempt to balance our consumption so Mary Jane can have her bacon for breakfast, chicken for lunch and steak for dinner.

Aussie farmers have it tough there's no doubt and demonising them is not a solution. With that, villainising those who choose not to eat meat or dairy is just as counter-productive.

Pointing fingers like this changes the discussion from, "How can we do better?” To, "We aren't doing anything wrong”.

When someone is forced to throw up their defences it becomes much harder to reach out to them and share a new perspective.

There are misunderstood perceptions floating around on both sides of this topic and whatever your beliefs, I encourage you to listen to the views of the other with an open mind because it's not about wrong or right. It's about how we can collectively do better.

I think there's more we can do in this country to protect animals without undermining the livelihoods of farmers.

So, let's not allow the acts of some to throw a blanket over what is an important discussion.

Originally published as The danger between division of vegans and non-vegans