I'm one of the organisers of Anonymous for the Voiceless, Taunton Chapter. We have two Cubes of Truth each month - second Saturday and fourth Sunday of the month. We can be contacted on our Facebook page. We're always looking for new members - people to speak up on behalf of the animals - and joining AV is the quickest way I know to increase your circle of vegan friends.
This is a post about the way I outreach at Cubes, etc. Everybody has their own approach - please feel free to comment with any of your ideas. It's a work in progress, and I'm always trying to improve.
So many people walk past a Cube of Truth, I’m always grateful if someone stops by. But they don’t have to stop - often if someone slows their pace, whilst looking at the screen, that’s enough for me.
My conversation starter at a Cube generally goes something like this:
Hi! (Big beaming smile) You wondering why we’re here? If the answer is ‘No’, then ‘OK, have a good day.’ End of.
If the answer is ‘Yes’, then my response, generally, is ‘We’re Anonymous for the Voiceless’ (Shows logo on front of hoodie), “There are about a 1000 cities round the world doing this sort of thing on behalf of the animals. Animals do have a voice, but no-one listens to them. We’re showing the public all the different way animals are exploited…And we’re asking, do you think there’s a disconnect between the nicely wrapped and packaged meat on the supermarket shelf and what happens to the animals before it gets there?’ As I’m asking this, I’m bringing my arm over in a sweeping gesture - and often, before I’ve finished the sentence, I get agreement. This can vary between a concerned face, a nod, or a verbal acknowledgement. Then I ask (and this is the question I always ask), ‘How does watching this footage make you feel?’ - indicating the screen. (Sometimes I’ll preface this by asking if they’ve seen this type of footage before - not always, it depends on how whether the onlooker seems to be in a hurry, or whether they seem to be willing to stay and talk. If they have seen this before, i sometimes ask, 'What have you seen here today?', and the conversation goes in a different direction.)
To the question, 'How does this make you feel?', generally their response is either ‘Sad, bad or mad.’ Whatever word they use, I use it back to them, ‘What is it about it that makes you feel sad (or bad, or mad)?”
Other questions:
Do you think we should be doing this to animals?
I’d like to ask, “Why do you think this is happening?” But I want to avoid using ‘Why’, since this can have the effect of forcing the respondent to defend a position, so instead, I ask:
‘What do you think causes this to happen?’
‘Do you think we need to eat meat to survive?’
Other comments I might make:
‘We’re asking people to put themselves in the position of the animals.’ Depending what’s on the screen: “How do you think that mother cow feels when it sees its baby, which it has carried for 9 months - same as us - taken away from her?’ They mourn for days, weeks. Or: ‘Can you imagine what it’s like to be in a CO2-filled chamber, choking to death, lungs burning from the inside? And this is an RSPCA-approved method of killing pigs.’
‘Is there anything more innocent than a day-old chick’ - this in response to seeing male chicks ground up alive on the first day of life.
The inspiration for most of this comes from Alex Bez, of Amazing Vegan Outreach, which I urge you to visit. He has a series of webinars, talks, etc, on all aspects of outreach - from how to build rapport (very important), to the best questions you can ask to turn people vegan, to handling any objection that comes your way. He’s very upbeat - considering objections to be opportunities, for instance.
I try and be mindful of the animals at all times - so, if the conversation goes off at a tangent - about health, or the environment, I'll always bring it back to what's on the screen
