by Pamela Rice PURCHASE THIS ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION[NEW YORK CITY | OCTOBER 8, 2006] Following is a loose transcript of the talk I gave in Rhinebeck, New York, to the Mid-Hudson Vegetarian Society, hosted by Roberta Schiff, July 22, 2006. I say, "loose," because the transcript has been garnered from the notes that I used for my talk, but in several cases I add material that I never actually said at the Mid-Hudson event. Perhaps an apology is in order here from the start, because it is my intent tonight to push a few buttons. So, be warned. They used to call it fire and brimstone in a different context. Some of what I'm going to say in fact is meant to be provocative. If I can, I'd like to light a little fire under some of you—you, the vegetarians in particular. At the very least, I'm hoping for some healthy soul searching for all of us. Well, let's get on with it. . . . What do the following names portray, in general? Black Panthers, Gray Panthers, Act Up, Suffragettes, Yippies, Wobblies, Sandinistas? I could name many others. Each has a cause. Each has found cohesiveness in determined numbers, as well; but most notably, each has a distinct image, on the level of a corporate logo. And, without question, each has a very catchy name. Let's do some more word association. Here are some slogans: Think globally, act locally; We shall overcome; Peace now!; The personal is the political; If we don't hang together, we'll hang separately; Liberty, or die. These slogans, like a drum-beat, have moved specific groups of people to action.... So, where do the vegetarians fit in in regard to image / public relations / catchy names / slogans. When it comes to exposure about our cause, do we have anything approaching household-name status? For that matter, can you readily find us vegetarians in the phone book? Yes, these days, vegetarianism is up for discussion more and more; we certainly have a presence online. But do we have anything that can be described as a united front, that is, in an iconic way, that is similar to some of the groups and slogans I've just mentioned? I don't think so. Yes, we have friends, that is, natural allies. Each of them, in fact, fights some of our vegetarian battles for us. And we didn't even ask them to do so. For example, environmentalists, such as the Sierra Club and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., fight factory farming, as do local community groups in states such as Missouri and North Carolina. ... Nutritionists and health advocates essentially tell people to eat less meat with the menus that they promote. ... So-called dog and cat people (the ASPCA, for instance) bring attention to animal cruelty, at least for some kinds of animals. ... Libertarians are with us on the farm subsidies that fuel trends toward factory farming, which make meat cheaper and more plentiful in the marketplace. The Environmental Working Group (EWG.org; not Libertarian, per se) has an online searchable database of farmers raking in government largesse. But these people are not necessarily vegetarian—not by any stretch. And some of them actually hold resentments toward us for various reasons. Okay, sure, we have PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). That's pretty good. But PETA is not specifically, by name, anyway, a vegetarian organization. And, technically speaking, neither is Earthsave, the group originally formed by Diet for a New America author John Robbins. Indeed, Earthsave has a policy of using the term "plant-based diet." I really don't have any quarrel with Earthsave. They do heroic work getting vegetarian options in the schools. My question for them, however, is, If you're ashamed to say the word "vegetarian," why would anyone want to be one? Indeed we vegetarians need to stand strong in the face of our detractors and adversaries, of which we have many—at least when they bother to look our way. We are the butt of jokes and derision, as each of us knows. But perhaps our biggest problem stems from merely being invisible. When's the last time vegetarianism topped the list of subjects for the six o'clock news, I ask. Few people think much about us—or the lifestyle we represent—at all. And even if vegetarianism is planted in a person's conscious mind, is it also considered a viable option? Probably not. Yet in their essence, our issues are terribly important and timely in many contexts. Have you seen the new HUMMER ad? Hummer: You know them (how could you not?). These people took a gas-guzzling military vehicle and marketed it for civilian use. If you're really with it these days, you take your Hummer to the opera; this way, people know you've truly arrived. The car is known for attitude—this one: Screw the Environment. Owners of this car are saying, "I want what I want, and you can't stop me." Anyway, back to that Hummer ad: It starts with two guys at the grocery-store checkout line, the first with his giant tub of tofu. Make no mistake: Guy Number One is buying tofu. The tub is marked as such, in big letters: "TOFU." It takes the hands of the checkout person two swipes to get it to scan, just to give viewers a good long look. Next, we see what Guy Number Two is buying: A rack of ribs and several other huge cuts of red meat jerk their way forward on the conveyor belt; we also see charcoal for the barbie, too—you know, man food, man stuff. This, of course, makes Tofu Man visibly uncomfortable. Glances between our two very different customers are strained and particularly unpleasant for the veggie guy. Of course, Meat Man is shown smiling self-assuredly. But a brochure on the wall for Hummer comes to the rescue in this advertisement as we see Tofu Man glancing up at it. In an instant, he's seen in his Econocar, revving it up, the best he can, off to the Hummer showroom. There, he's handed a ring of car keys. The frame after that, he's in his very own Hummer. Close-up, we see a very new Tofu Man driving away with a whole new attitude, to be sure. Headline, in big letters: "Restore Your Manhood." Okay. This is cool. The question is, Where are the vegetarians to fight back? Where is our PR firm to pump out the press releases? Where is our Al Sharpton? I mean, this is on the level of a racial slur. And we know what happens with those. A racial slur out of the mouth of a public figure, for instance, becomes headlines, quick. The same goes for anti-Semitic statements or sexist statements. Keep with me. Let's take the average sitcom: Any scriptwriter knows: Add the word "vegetarian" to the dialogue and you're guaranteed a laugh. Am I wrong? Again, where are the vegetarians to complain? Okay, do most people know of Anthony Bourdain, the celebrity chef, big-time author, and host to now two travel / food TV series? He's getting famous for his derogatory statements against vegetarians. In his blockbuster book, Kitchen Confidential, he wrote, "Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit." Now, there's a twist. Here's the typical news story about Bourdain: Headline: Vegetarians too sick to fight back, says Bourdain. This one ran in the New Zealand Herald in the spring of 2005. Now the text of the article: Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain expects vegetarians to stand up at his guest appearances and return the ribbing he routinely dishes out to them; but none ever show up. It's because they haven't had enough animal protein, he told a New Zealand audience. "They get out of bed planning to go and stick it to that Bourdain, but then they don't feel well and can't go out," he said, pretending to collapse into the podium. So, what is the image of a vegetarian? Pale, protein-deficient, emasculated, gaunt, self-righteous, purer / holier than thou, and, on the other hand, a terrorist, because some in our ilk take part in criminal mischief against meat purveyors. We are demonized if we do not feed meat to our children. We are tolerated with the familiar groan. Again, what are we going to do about all this? What about the misconceptions? Should we just let them slide? Such as:
Lies, deceptions, misinformation... The list goes on and on. So, what are we going to do about it? I believe, we need an Anti-defamation League. Number one: We need to have a public relations engine working for us, round the clock. We also need organizations that promote vegetarianism, exclusively. We need to have the word "vegetarian" or "vegan" in the names of these groups, too. My group, VivaVegie Society, focuses on promoting vegetarianism, to the exclusion of everything else. It's our policy. We're NOT about...
We're not about anything but vegetarianism. I think this is important. Our issues need to be separated from all others for a while, so people can hear our side of things, specifically. Our issues need to come to people undiluted. People need to hear the facts, un-muddled by a litany of other issues that probably already get plenty of publicity (at least compared to our issues). People need to hear the big story about the connection between the meat diet and environmental destruction, the connection between that pork on your plate and a tortured sow, the connection between that hamburger and cancer and heart disease. Our movement, I'm afraid, is only as far as the feminist movement was in the mid 19th century. The feminist movement at that time grew out of the anti-slavery movement and other progressive movements. The upper class (white) women of that time fighting slavery eventually looked around and realized they had issues of their own to fight. Google Elizabeth Cady Staton and Susan B. Anthony for that story. As most of us know, these women spearheaded suffrage for women, and they succeeded, eventually. A good slogan could be one antidote to our PR problems; but do we have one? Our slogan, what could it be? I have an idea...how about this? "Get hip. Go veg." Perhaps... It's short. It's sweet. It says to the public, "Hey you. Get smart. Learn the facts. Don't be a cultural lag. Eating meat is so, so 20th century. Know what your meat diet really means to the world around you." "Get hip. Go veg." The civil-rights and gay-rights movements have turned their adversaries' vicious epithets on their heads with slogans such as "Black is beautiful" and "We're here, we're queer, get used to it." Admit it. Just a few words say so much. In any case, vegetarians eventually need to start being proud of who we are and what we represent. I'd say, we need a good old-fashioned boost of self-esteem. Using the slogan "Get hip. Go veg," could be a place to start. Then, after this, we have to stay noisy. We have to do more street leafleting. We have to do more media events. We've got our work cut out for us producing broadcasts (TV and radio) and podcasts. We need to post videos on the Google Web site. We have to march in the streets. On that score, the Parisians have been tremendously energetic. For some years now, Paris has been the setting for an annual Veggie Pride Parade. Vegans and vegetarians every May, now, dress up in costumes and march in the Paris streets with signs, shouting slogans. Who would have thought Paris, home of heavy cream, would be the place where such a thing would begin? Of course, right here in New York City, VivaVegie Society has been taking part in dozens and scores of demos and street outreach activities, since 1991. Just to name the most noteworthy outreach events, in our case: the Easter Parade, Nathan's hotdog eating contest, the Halloween Parade, San Gennaro feast, Veal Ban Day (Mother's Day), Earth Day, EcoFest, St. Patrick's Day, Great American Meatout, World Vegetarian Day, and the Mermaid Parade. And then, we have generally engaged in leafleting probably a couple hundred times. But, just the thought of vegetarian advocacy makes a lot of vegetarians cower with fear. Get into other people's business? Tell them what to eat? Not me!, says your typical vegetarian. A lot of meat eaters are people I love, is one excuse. Okay...Is this the crux of it? Is this why we vegetarians can't seem to "dish it out," as Bourdain puts it, or generally advocate on our own behalf? May I remind you of the feminist movement? It flourishes despite the fact that women continue to marry men. I'd say, that's a little more intimate than telling a person what to eat. Now, I know your going to come back at me and say... I do engage in outreach. I do this and I do that... And I believe you. But I have two questions:
When it gets down to it, these two questions are the acid test... We must not be doing enough... ### Pamela Rice is the head of the VivaVegie Society, a New York City-based vegetarian advocacy organization, and the author of a new book, 101 Reasons Why I'm a Vegetarian, which is based on her popular pamphlet by the same name. She also founded and heads the Vegetarian Center of NYC. |