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More from Dale Carnegie's How
to Win Friends and Influence People:
Making Enemies – and How to Avoid It
Few people are logical. Most of us are prejudiced
and biased. Most of us are blighted with preconceived notions,
with jealousy, suspicion, fear, envy, and pride. And most citizens
don't want to change their minds about their religion or their
hair cut or politics or movies. So, if you are inclined to tell
people they are wrong, please read the following from The Mind
in the Making:
We sometimes find ourselves changing our
minds without any resistance or heavy emotion, but if we are told
we are wrong, we resent the imputation and harden our hearts. We
are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, but find
ourselves filled with an illicit passion for them when anyone proposes
to rob us of their companionship. It is obviously not the ideas
themselves that are dear to us, but our self-esteem that is threatened.
... We like to continue to believe what we have been accustomed
to accept as true, and the resentment aroused when doubt is cast
upon any of our assumptions leads us to seek every manner of excuse
for clinging to it. The result is that most of our so-called reasoning
consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already
do.
So rule number two in how to win people
to your way of thinking is:
Show respect for the other person's opinion. Never tell them
they are wrong.
Requests and News
National Day of Leafleting
A great thanks to everyone who has signed up to take
part in the National Day of Leafleting on September 17. You should
be receiving your materials in the mail sometime next week.
The deadline for signing up for the event was yesterday,
September 3. There will be more than twice as many events as last
time!
Please send us a report of your event, and any pictures
you take. You can contact us over
email, or send to:
Vegan Outreach
211 Indian Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
A special thanks to Animal
Rights International for making this event possible!
August 30, 2002, New York Times
"Factory farms have become the dominant method
of raising meat in America. Agribusiness loves the apparent efficiency
that comes with raising thousands of animals in a single large building
where they are permanently confined in stalls or pens.
"The federal government should at minimum serve
as a neutral umpire in the fight between big and small farmers. In
the case of factory farms it should try to control their threat to
the environment through broader, more vigorous application of the
Clean Water Act, typically invoked only in the most egregious cases.
And it should never use taxpayer money to encourage a method of farming
that works against the public's desire for open space, biodiversity
and clean, non-malodorous air.
"Unfortunately, the government has been putting
its weight behind big business. The Environmental Protection Agency
has issued basically toothless rules under which the states give
permits to any factory farm that comes up with a plan for handling
manure, mainly by building larger lagoons to hold it. The new farm
bill that President Bush signed in May adds further insult by paying
farmers up to $450,000 apiece to help them comply with regulations
that don't mean much to begin with.
"The regressive farm bill also continues the government's
policy of throwing its weight behind the already hefty industrial
farms and helping to drive smaller farmers out of business. In Iowa,
for instance, the number of hog farms has dropped from 64,500 in
1980 to 10,500 in 2000, though the number of hogs, about 15 million,
remains the same. The public's money, in this fight, is going in
the opposite direction of the public interest."
September 1, 2002, New York
Times
"When it comes to the family
business, Jack Osborne and his daughter, Cyd Szymanski, are putting
the chicken before the egg.
"Deploring what Ms. Szymanski
calls 'concentration camp'growing conditions on factory egg farms,
she, her father and her brother are marketing eggs gathered from
uncaged hens. 'It's inhumane to put a chicken in a cage this small,'
he said with a grimace. 'You can't even lift your wings.'
"Opening the door to the chicken house at his
ranch near Longmont, he proudly points to a flock of 14,000 egg-layers
milling about the barn. 'See? They got sunlight and natural air,
and they've still got their beaks,' he said, adding that many farmers
cut off the beaks to keep chickens from pecking one another. 'Have
you ever seen a chicken with its beak cut off? It's a darn awful
sight.'
"As it happens, that has
plunged her into a rivalry with her uncle, Hollis Osborne; he heads
Moark L.L.C., one of the nation's largest egg producers. Until recently,
though, the two businesses were not really rivals. 'Cage free'eggs,
at around $2.79 a dozen, typically cost more than twice as much as
other eggs; in the past, they were bought mostly by dedicated natural-foods
shoppers. But after a potent media campaign by animal-rights groups
about the growing conditions of farm animals, some buying habits
started to change.
"'Americans are becoming
more focused on issues that affect food quality, and the treatment
of farm animals is a big part of that,'said John Zogby, president
of Zogby International, a pollster in Utica, N.Y. In a May survey,
it found that nearly 65 percent of Americans support federal laws
to protect farm animals from inhumane procedures."
"Most Americans wouldn't be willing to go on a
super-strict diet just to live longer, a new poll said on Friday.
In fact, most Americans are not that interested in living to extreme
old age, said the survey
by ABC News. It said 65 percent of those who responded wouldn't
want to live to be 120 years old, even if they could. Seventy-three
percent of Americans polled said they would not be willing to eat
one-third fewer calories a day if it meant they would live longer."
Feedback
In June I
received a Why Vegan at an event in Minneapolis. I wish
I could thank the man who gave it to me! It was 97 degrees that
day, and he stood in the hot sun handing them out. I was so moved
by it that it has inspired me to turn the corner and become vegan.
The booklet cleared up a LOT of things for me, to say the least!
It's very powerful. So, I'm hoping to get my feet wet and make
my first attempts at doing outreach. The man who gave me that booklet
opened my eyes, and now I would like to help others have open eyes
and be more aware and compassionate and to join.
ES, Mankato, MN, 9/1/02
I recently subscribed to Vegan Spam and
am enjoying it immensely. It is so nice to hear your grounded,
carefully thought-out approach to veganism. I agree our greatest
impact lies in diminishing / extinguishing the horrors of agribusiness.
ML, Brooktondale, NY, 8/31/02
Since I went vegan, I have convinced my
father and brother to go vegan. Your pamphlet was central to this
– a very cogent argument for my case.
AY, New Cumberland, PA, 8/30/02
I am indeed thankful to U and the organisation
for sending me literature on Vegetarian diets. My daughter, Dr
Richa Sawant, and my son-in-law. Mr Sudhanshu Bhushan are so impressed
with the matter and method of its presentation that the former
has resolved to turn a vegetarian. U may kindly count it as your
achievement.
CS, India, 8/30/02
You friends are so "level-headed"
in your approach to veganism, and how we should spread the more
sane understanding to those who otherwise will think us ridiculous.
Thanks for all your efforts, and patience despite so many rude
responses!
G, 8/26/02
A Review of Linda Majzlik’s A Vegan Taste
of Italy
By Merry Orling
Everyone loves Italian food. I'm no exception. And I love it despite
the fact I've been eating it three times a day, every day, since
I moved from New York to Florence in 1966. The Italian, or Mediterranean,
diet is based on pasta, pizza, fresh-baked breads, legumes, and natural
variations of fresh, seasonal, locally grown produce. Italians eat
fresh tomatoes in summer and canned tomatoes in winter. Those who
live in the Campania region in the south eat long plum tomatoes;
those who live in Tuscany in Central Italy, eat round, deeply grooved
fiorentini. Italians don't expect – or demand – strawberries in
January or oranges in August. They choose persimmons in fall and
peaches in summer over imported pineapples available all year round.
Every region has its own bread and pasta specialties. Italy, as you
can see, is a virtual vegan paradise.
Unfortunately, not everybody can hop over here to experience vegan
heaven. But just as you can experience Italian art through photos
and slides, you can experience Italian cuisine by preparing Italian
style meals in your own home. A newly published British cookbook
shows you how.
A Vegan Taste of Italy by Linda Majzlik contains over 100
recipes for Italian dishes ranging from antipasti to desserts. In
addition to the classical pasta and pizza dishes, there is an entire
section devoted to creative main courses such as broccoli- and spinach-stuffed
pancakes, savory nut balls with tomato and pepper sauce, and vegetable
and chickpea stew with soft polenta.
The recipes are clear and easy to follow. A glossary of ingredients
commonly used in Italian cooking (The Vegan Italian Storecupboard)
is especially useful. Another handy feature is the double listing
for ingredients. By indicating both British units (ounces, pounds)
and SI units (grams, kilos) in each recipe, the author saves us the
trouble of setting up computers in our kitchens just so we can figure
out how much olive oil goes into the recipe. Americans are forewarned:
Like My Fair Lady, they'll have to brush up their English: The author,
being British, uses courgettes for zucchini, pine kernels for pinenuts,
aubergines for eggplants, storecupboard for pantry, and so on.
I have only one celery stick to pick: The author recommends adding
vegan cheese ("parmesan," "mozzarella," "blue
cheese") to many dishes, especially pastas and risottos. This
is not necessary. Even in nonvegan Italian cooking, whether or not
one puts cheese in tomato- or vegetable-based sauces is a matter
of taste. Even before I went vegan when I would normally eat cheese,
I would never think of ruining the taste of a fresh-tomato sauce
with parmigiano. In sauces such as pesto, where cheese is traditional,
I'd suggest using brewer's [or nutritional] yeast which has a cheesy
flavor and consistency and, in addition, is a healthy source of protein
and vitamins.
Admittedly, looking at a reproduction of Leonardo's Adoration of
the Magi isn't the same as standing in front of the painting in the
Uffizi Gallery. Nor is eating pesto made with imported basil the
same as eating pesto made with fresh-picked Ligurian basil. But try
a recipe from A Vegan Taste of Italy. It's as close as you
can get to the vero McCoyo.
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Vegan Outreach is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the suffering of farmed animals by promoting informed, ethical eating.
All donations are tax-deductible.
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