Vegan Activism: Book Smart Vs Street Smart

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Among the many obstacles animal rights movement faces, one of them is animal rights activists. (Almost) All of them are well-meaning people who are trying to do what they can, but they don't always go about it the right way... in fact they very often don't.

Of course there are many nuances towards maximizing your potential effectiveness towards outreach and helping people become more aware of animal rights as an issue (and hopefully get them to make some steps towards addressing it), but I think the main dimension is the balancing of book smarts and street smarts. You probably already have a good idea what I'm referring to, but let's delve into the details of this relationship.

Book Smart Vegans
Let's start by discussing the Book Smart vegans. These are the ones who have a firm grasp on ethics (will explicitly subscribe to a certain ethical school, often a form of consequentialism, and is almost always Utilitarian in form), are well versed in the scientific and philosophical arguments for Veganism (scientific evidence for animal agriculture's role in climate change, how animal products are unhealthful compared to whole plants, even economic arguments, etc), are able to refute more nuanced arguments against veganism, and have either participated or spectated many debates on the matter. On top of that, they're usually scientifically literate, understanding proper Vegan nutrition, and not going against the scientific consensus, supporting things like GM technology, nuclear power, vaccines, and also not falling for any of that New-Age nonsense. However, since they lack those all-important Street Smarts, they aren't very good at outreach; They don't know how to effectively communicate these ideas to the average person, which hinders their activism. They are unlikely to come across as relatable, and thus, alienating to many.

They aren't necessarily socially inept, it's more that since they take on a more sophisticated perspective on animal rights and have more nuance on their position, they have a hard time making it relatable and easy to understand for the majority of people, who don't really have the time or interest to spend reading about philosophical ideas and scientific evidence. It is possible to package these more intellectual ideas into something more accessible, given their lack of Street Smarts, they often are unable to do this effectively. While they will have much more luck reaching people who have a passing familiarity on philosophical and scientific issues, this does not represent a very large proportion of the population, limiting their outreach.

Another potential downfall with book-smart vegans is that they also tend to be the ones who think outside the box more, and while this doesn't sound like it'd really be a problem, this often results in them taking on more fringe and eccentric viewpoints that are usually regarded as crazy, immoral, offensive, or extreme. Examples include advocating for antinatalism, conspiracy theories, and political extremism (communism, anarchism, primitivism, etc), to other things such as advocating for the extermination of predators. Debates on these topics are usually not useful; they are often just a huge distraction from the actual issues at hand (that is, Veganism). Most people don't really care about the content of these debates, all they need to see is a Vegan advocating the position for them to be put off of Veganism (and really, who can blame them?).

Their lack of street smarts comes into play here; Since they don't really understand how people operate, they fail to realize that holding and loudly advocating these viewpoints not only makes them look crazy, but the movement as a whole. Less charitably, they are aware that most people view their other perspectives as repugnant or wacky, but they don't really care; For them, it's primarily about an egotistical urge to be in the right, and get "dunks" on the other side. This pseudo-intellectualism is a pretty big problem in many online Vegan circles, but they tend to be stuck in their ways. Luckily, not every book smart vegan falls into this category, so it isn't a super pervasive problem outside of Discord and Reddit circlejerks.

Street Smart Vegans
You can probably deduce what the pros and cons for Street Smart vegans are given what we've read about book smart vegans, but let's make sure we give it a good rundown.

Street smart vegans don't necessarily understand how to reach people on the topic better, but they do know how to relate Veganism more since they have more charisma, passion, and energy than the book smart Vegans. They're able to ve very social, and know how to use rhetoric (valid or not) to make their argument. They can be passionate to a fault, and are often the Vegans people see in public, though their methods vary. Basically, since they are often talking with people and are desperate to share Veganism with others out of a desire to help animals, they know how people work, and how people understand various topics, without coming across as too intellectual or douchey. The book smart vegans are usually too busy intellectually jerking themselves off, while street smart vegans will actually be getting out and trying to help the movement.

Of course, though, given their lack of book smarts, their enthusiasm comes at a price. Their arguments will generally be of more rhetorical quality than of substance; They don't really have a firm grasp on ethics, and are Vegan more due to an emotional, intuitive response, rather than arriving to that conclusion as a logical result of a system of ethics. Instead, they rely more on emotional arguments, gross-out, and various pseudosciences (which will be elaborated on shortly).

They likely are aware of some of the scientific arguments in favor of veganism, but they don't really understand the evidence itself, and are very prone to exaggerating them. For instance, they'll likely claim that animal agriculture is responsible for over 50% of greenhouse gas emissions (when in reality it's closer to about 15-25%, at most 30%), Veganism is a panacea for pretty much every non-communicable disease (this idea is shaky at best when applied to heart disease, but even more so when applied to cancer), animal agriculture being the main cause of world hunger (it certainly creates problems with food security, claiming it to be the number one cause is suspect). They'll also promote a lot of pseudoscience, ranging from anti-B12 supplementation, to anti-GMO, and sometimes even anti-vax.

Another problem is that they make the common fallacy of equating use to abuse. This stems from their lack of understanding of ethics.
They also tend to lack nuance on other issues, such as opposing a meatless Monday (it's Vegan or bust!), placing equal value on all life (dogs, humans, pigs, fish, birds, and insects all have equal moral weight), and not understanding Freeganism. Not only are all these positions wrong, but despite their street smarts, these are also ideas that put people off of Veganism!

But if street smart vegans are more impactful emotionally than the book smart vegans, all of this doesn't seem like a problem, right? Surely, the benefits would outweigh the harms Well, the problem is, since street smart vegans don't use rational, evidence based arguments, even if they manage to convince people, that is unlikely to stick. Recidivism rates amongst vegans and vegetarians alike is extremely high, and very often a contributing factor is people just unable to effectively substantiate their Veganism, since they're basing it off emotional and rhetorical arguments (funny, since these street smart vegans tend to give up on it themselves after a strong tryst).

Being as book smart as you can be and being as street smart as you can be creates an incredibly effective combo: You are able to convince a massive percentage of people of the Vegan message, while ensuring that they remain Vegan much longer than average. Utilizing rational arguments and communicating them effectively so as to rid a person of any excuse to quit Veganism ensures staying power. You also become a positive influence on other Vegans, showing them proper arguments and how to communicate them to others.

Of course, many Vegans don't fall neatly into either one of these categories. You'll find tons of well-read Vegans who advocate for pseudoscience, such as Michael Greger (who also has a fair amount of street smarts), with his many overstatements on the positive health effects of Veganism (not the most overt and egregious pseudoscience one can advocate, but it still harms credibility) and his opposition to chemotherapy (2% gambit), and Gary Yourofsky, who certainly falls into the street smart category MUCH more than the book smart category, but still fails to realize his abhorrent views put people off of veganism (his misanthropy, and absurd views on justice), and his constant Holocaust and slavery comparisons (regardless of how valid the comparison is, people view this as ignorant and disrespectful). And let's not forget that there are Vegans who are neither book smart nor street smart, such as Gary Francione, with his ignorant philosophical argumentation and alienating behavior, and frankly he's just not smart in general. And yeah, there are countless vegans who don't have any knowledge on the intellectual aspects of veganism, and are too emotionally invested in it to care about how people perceive it, but I'm sure you know how problematic such a combo is. This is a massive problem in the movement, and one that I think needs to be addressed.

Note, becoming more book smart does not automatically deduct from your street smarts, and vice versa. You ideally should work towards maximizing both, learning the intellectual arguments for Veganism, and understanding how people work in order to not only convince them to go Vegan, but to stay Vegan, and hopefully get them to do the same for others. Being wrong on some matters does not necessarily mean you aren't well-read on Veganism. No one can be expected to be right 100% of the time, the thing is to correct your incorrect views when you are shown they are wrong.

So, how do you increase your book smarts and street smarts? Well, that's a post for another time, but you can probably glean some ideas from the post. Here are some other ideas:
*Socialize. This should be obvious, but social skills are skills you need to acquire, and you can only acquire these from being around people, and having these skills will help you relate Veganism to people.
*Read up on ethics to get a good logical foundation for Veganism, so you aren't just Vegan for emotional reasons only. While there are a lot of problems with it, start reading up on classical utilitarian ethics as a primer.
*Study a little psychology. This helps both book smarts and street smarts, by not only learning how people operate, but how you can apply this to your activism.

Some questions for the forum:
*How would you combine street smarts and book smarts for your activism?
*How would you convey complex issues in a simplified way that's accessible for most people?
*Is it better to be just book smart, or just street smart?