They don’t want this to be known

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner (Q): When I see how meat is produced, how vaccines are produced, how wool is produced, how silk is produced, it seems so obvious that I am contributing to that cruelty by consuming those things. But it seems that the rest of the world does not see that; it seems like a crazy world out there, where people are pretending to be righteous and peaceful and good.

An elephant was shot by a hunter in Africa, and people who were eating meat were saying how cruel it was. When I pointed it out to them and asked, “What’s on your plate?” they got very angry and ended the discussion by saying, “I need it for my health!” It seems so obvious, but it’s something that stops people from believing it. Sometimes when they see the animals being killed they change their mind, but not very often. It seems so obvious, so why does it still continue? Why do people resist change?

Acharya Prashant (AP): See, propaganda has to be met with publicity. You know the Foundation had a TikTok account? It got banned because we were posting videos opposing meat consumption. Now I am told that when my videos pertaining to carnism and animal cruelty are posted on YouTube and Facebook and we seek to promote them, the respective companies, apps, do not allow them to be promoted.

So, it’s a matter of publicity. We need to shout into people’s ears. We need to bring this to their notice. Our friend here wouldn’t have asked this question had the thing not happened in front of his senses. So, the matter has to be brought right in front of people’s senses. That’s the thing. Otherwise, we are so occupied with our mundane universe that we have neither the intention nor the opportunity to be fair to us, nor the opportunity to look at these things. Somebody really has to shout aloud. We are trying whatever we can.

See, there is no other way. By hook or by crook, even without taking the other’s consent, the video has to be pushed to the other’s eyes, right? If you do not like the video, block me. But till you do not block me, I will keep pushing it to you. That probably is the only way.

Q: Even something like vaccines, which is so ingrained in our society, is produced using a lot of cruelty and…