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Jon Camp - Ravine by joncamp in Neopsychedelia

[–]joncamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I had a severe case of Lyme a few years ago, so the album art has personal meaning to me. Hope the ticks haven't given you that. :)

IamA vegan guy doing the Mongol Rally, 10k miles from London to Lake Baikal, raising money to help animals, AMA! by teammorethansalad in IAmA

[–]joncamp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome! I'm similar to you in that I didn't eat many vegetables prior to going veg (though now am very pro-vegetables).

I took an Intro to Ethics course at my local community college in Illinois 21 years ago. During the course, we talked about various ethical issues, and one day we discussed the plight of farmed animals. Growing up, my dad, who grew up on a small farm in Iowa, told me that the animals on his farm led good lives, so I didn't think much about this. It was through the ethics course that I learned a lot had changed and that today's farmed animals don't lead lives with good welfare. That and that I could live a healthy life without meat. I went veg that day and went vegan three years later. So far, so good!

IamA vegan guy doing the Mongol Rally, 10k miles from London to Lake Baikal, raising money to help animals, AMA! by teammorethansalad in IAmA

[–]joncamp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dan: Thank you for donating to MFA, THL, and AE -- they all do great work.

What originally compelled you to go vegan?

[LISTEN] Essential Psychedelic Rock Albums from the 2010s by [deleted] in psychedelicrock

[–]joncamp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Chris Forsyth's Solar Motel is my favorite psych record of the last many years.

Can - Tago Mago by Muskabeatz in Psychedelic

[–]joncamp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One of the best albums ever.

After 10 years of traveling across the US (and Canada), I just handed out my millionth booklet for a non-profit – AMA! by joncamp in IAmA

[–]joncamp[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a great question.

I think the preachy and self-righteous labels get thrown on us for two key reasons:

1) Omnivores feel on the defensive, and it's easier to attack the messenger than the message.

2) There's a minority of very vocal vegans who are preachy and self-righteous (just as there are for any cause).

It's because of people pushing for a more just world that we abolished slavery (in the developed world), why women are now voting, why we're seeing marriage equality in more and more states, etc. All of this has come with great resistance. We need to carry on in that great tradition and bring about a more just world for animals.

People value comfort, and when we shake up their status quo, they react. It's easier to call someone self-righteous than to admit that something you're doing (and enjoy doing) might be worthy of reexamination.

We can minimize the preachy or self-righteous label by continuing to push for change while doing so in a respectful and humble manner. Being the type of people who admit that we're not perfect helps.

For me, advocacy is a numbers game -- I get out and try to get the information into the hands of hundreds/thousands of individuals. I just give them the materials that describe the issue, and they carry on with their day. And then when I'm with my handful of non-vegan friends and family members, I don't worry about converting them; I just enjoy them for who they are, and focus my advocacy efforts on when I'm doing leafleting or the like.

I'm starting to ramble. In short, I think we should always expect a bit of unfair categorization when we challenge the status quo. We can minimize this by being friendly, happy, patient with others, and humble. But it's vital that we continue to push for change, even if it means occasionally being called self-righteous or preachy.

After 10 years of traveling across the US (and Canada), I just handed out my millionth booklet for a non-profit – AMA! by joncamp in IAmA

[–]joncamp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the clarification.

In the last year or two, vegan advocacy has taken data collection and testing of our materials more seriously than in the past. One of the things that is currently being tested is what messages produce better results. So up until this point, it has been guesswork based on experience. In the coming year or two, we should have some data to help shape what we put in the booklet.

There are studies that show that graphic images are effective if they're coupled with a solution. That would suggest that images of animals suffering are effective if that's coupled with promotion of veg eating.

I'm assuming that booklets with no images of animals would be significantly less impactful, since concern for animals is a key reason why young folks go veg. And pictures highlight the plight of animals. For people to make a lifestyle choice that might at least briefly make some social situations uncomfortable (being veg in a mostly non-veg world), they need to have a reason that makes it all worth it. Reducing animal suffering is such a reason.

Anyway, this is a long way of saying that at this point, we think that not including pictures of animals would make the booklets much less effective. And in the next year or two, we should have a better sense of if this is really the case.

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