Reflections on extremism

I am opening up my private little world of beliefs where I had surrounded myself with people of like ideas for so long. I love the presence of other animal lovers and vegetarians or vegans. I do not have to defend or explain myself. They do not test me or challenge me. No matter our different tastes in music, views on religion, or extent of our dedication to animal rights, we stand on common ground. As much as I enjoy the security of this bubble, living within it is dangerous to myself and to the causes which I so strongly advocate: animal rights, environmental awareness, etc.

It is when one lives in such a bubble that extremity begins to grow and fester like a malicious bacteria. The protection of being surrounded by agreeable persons makes one defenseless to the outside world where everyone has an opinion and very few share your own. People can be so vicious about protecting their opinion. (We’ve all seen the ferocity of extremely close-minded right-wing or left-wing parties.) How can you defend yourself when you do not know both sides of the argument?

I think we have all got it wrong, myself included. Of course by “it” I mean…heck, what do I mean? I suppose what we have failed to achieve is a balance between all the extremes in the world. That is what I mean by “it”: the balance; it is lost.

Somewhere between alarmists and deniers lies the truth about global warming. It is not as bad as some people claim, but it is certainly not harmless, let alone beneficial to anyone. On a similar note, the line between greedy economists and hardcore environmentalists is drawn by the average person who does what he or she can to help the environment (i.e. plant trees, recycle, unplug cellphone chargers when they are not in use, etc.) while supporting the economy.

Somewhere between radical animal rights activists and the “heartless” advocates of animal testing, hunting, and other cruel exploitations of nonhuman animals lies the truth. As a lifelong animal lover, facing the truth is very difficult. I do not want to consider that animals should settle for “welfare” rather than rights. I do not want to consider that any kind of animal cruelty can ever be justified. I do not want to consider that animals’ capacity to feel pain is not enough reason to earn them the protection I believe they deserve. Nonetheless, these are things which I must examine thoughtfully and respectfully.

Without the moral and emotional stance I take as an animal lover and vegan, cold hard facts are all that remain. The facts speak both for and against me, but I am no longer sure what facts are indeed factual. I hear so much from the extremes, but where is the middle? Where is the neutrality? Does it exist when this touchy subject is concerned?

I have so many conflicting opinions hurled at me from day to day, and I am easily influenced by them. But what should I believe? What should you believe? That is up to the individual. Each person must examine all sides and make decisions for themselves. In a world of well over six billion people, that is all we can do. We must hold on to our beliefs with a loose fist and we must not demonize anyone who holds on to different beliefs.

This is what I believe: conscious eating is a vital part of living a healthy and responsible lifestyle; animal rights, the rights to live healthy lives and to live for their own sake rather than for those of people, need to be reasonably protected; being vegan is the best way to eat consciously while speaking up for animal rights. That is what I believe. That is how I live my life. While I do have the utmost respect for animal liberators who put themselves on the line to save animals from perilous and miserable conditions, I do not necessarily believe that breaking into labs and clinics and vandalizing them is the wisest way to go about campaigning the cause of animal liberation. While I do understand the validity of needing to test medicine before using it on humans, I do not understand how cruel experiments carried out on nonhuman animals which yield unreliable results are going to help anyone.

We need to find the middle ground. If you’re going to take anything from this blurb, remember that: we all need to find a middle ground, each and every one of us. We cannot afford to continue demonizing other people because no progress and no solutions can be made when conflict is unceasing. Everything is connected to everything else, and every action has a reaction. We must keep these things in mind before we define absolutes and attack opposing views.

The religious people and the atheists, the omnivores (or carnivores as some so proudly proclaim) and the vegetarians (including “preachy” vegans), the climate alarmists and the global warming denouncers, Democrats and Republicans, blacks and whites and Hispanics and Asians—we all need to find some middle ground. We need to agree to disagree like adults instead of bickering like ignorant children.