"Forum Raid"

[AlexanderVeganTheist]

Couldn't think of another title. So I was thinking of the following: Would anybody be interested in going to a non-vegan forum and basically join forces to hopefully convince some people there to go vegan?

I would basically start a thread where I'd invite anyone to debate me on veganism, and perhaps some other vegans from here could join in...

Can anyone suggest general discussion forums that at least have some level of civility and average intelligence (i.e. one where there is a chance of actually accomplishing something)?

[EquALLity]

I'm up for it.

I think atheist forums will probably have a lot of rational people.

[Volenta]

I think atheist forums will probably have a lot of rational people.

If only this were the case... Atheism and even talk about rationality and reason I'm sad to say doesn't say much in practice. There are reasonable and unreasonable people everywhere, religious (in which case they are one step behind, but yeah) and non-religious.

[brimstoneSalad]

I think atheist forums will probably have a lot of rational people.

If only this were the case... Atheism and even talk about rationality and reason I'm sad to say doesn't say much in practice. There are reasonable and unreasonable people everywhere, religious (in which case they are one step behind, but yeah) and non-religious.

This has been my experience too.

Religious people will use religious defenses, atheists will appeal to other faulty logic and then if you finally convince them they'll usually say "Fine, you're technically right, but I'm still not going to go vegan, I like meat and I don't care."

In one on one, it's probably best to use street epistemology if you want to reach people.
If you want to hit a larger crowd, print out some leaflets, and go hand them out. Most will throw them away, some will read them and make some change.

[Lightningman_42]

I think atheist forums will probably have a lot of rational people.

If only this were the case... Atheism and even talk about rationality and reason I'm sad to say doesn't say much in practice. There are reasonable and unreasonable people everywhere, religious (in which case they are one step behind, but yeah) and non-religious.

This has been my experience too.

Religious people will use religious defenses, atheists will appeal to other faulty logic and then if you finally convince them they'll usually say "Fine, you're technically right, but I'm still not going to go vegan, I like meat and I don't care."

In one on one, it's probably best to use street epistemology if you want to reach people.
If you want to hit a larger crowd, print out some leaflets, and go hand them out. Most will throw them away, some will read them and make some change.

My experience too. People with emotionally-vested interests, in continuing to think/act in a certain way, won't take kindly to those who challenge them. Religious or not, they'll use whatever rationalizations they can to convince themselves that they have a solid case against those who've challenged them.

Even otherwise intelligent/rational people will shamelessly use absurd reasoning to defend their ways (if they cannot come up with a logical defense, and so it no longer suits them to be honest).

[Mateo3112]

Some will think we're pushing our ideologies on them and that would just give us a negative image, i'm all about turning others into vegetarianism/veganism, but i don't think a raid is the best aproach.

[AlexanderVeganTheist]

By a raid all I meant was starting a thread on another forum, and having some people from here join in defending the pro-vegan thread. It is just easier and more fun than having to respond to all responses in the thread yourself. If we remain polite and factual, non-accusatory, at all times, I don't see how we would be doing anything wrong.

I don't think we should be too pessimistic - rationally people will at least see some of the health benefits, the environmental benefits, even if they do not completely reach the same ethical conclusions. If we can get some people to lessen their animal consumption that would already be a win.

The forum of choice to do this on is:
http://www.rationalskepticism.org/

They have a sub-forum called "General Debunking" in which I could start a thread called "Debunking Carnism" -
or I could start a thread called "To Vegan Or Not To Vegan?" in General Discussion.
Any preference? EquALLity?

[brimstoneSalad]

They have a sub-forum called "General Debunking" in which I could start a thread called "Debunking Carnism" -

That sounds like your best bet if you want to go ahead with this. If you're nice and sensible, you may at least get people thinking.

Make sure to get the definition of carnism right. Somebody like Richard Dawkins might not technically be a carnist, since he recognizes eating meat as wrong and thinks we should all be vegetarian, but does it because of habit/general laziness about change which he recognizes as indefensible.

So, the distinction between the belief system and the behavior may be important.

[EquALLity]

By a raid all I meant was starting a thread on another forum, and having some people from here join in defending the pro-vegan thread. It is just easier and more fun than having to respond to all responses in the thread yourself. If we remain polite and factual, non-accusatory, at all times, I don't see how we would be doing anything wrong.

I don't think we should be too pessimistic - rationally people will at least see some of the health benefits, the environmental benefits, even if they do not completely reach the same ethical conclusions. If we can get some people to lessen their animal consumption that would already be a win.

The forum of choice to do this on is:
http://www.rationalskepticism.org/

They have a sub-forum called "General Debunking" in which I could start a thread called "Debunking Carnism" -
or I could start a thread called "To Vegan Or Not To Vegan?" in General Discussion.
Any preference? EquALLity?

I agree.

Is one sub-forum more popular than the other? We want to reach out to as many people as possible.

[Mateo3112]

"To Vegan Or Not To Vegan?" in General Discussion.

That's punny xD