The Salad Bowl Inc.

All vegans have their own reasons for becoming vegan. What they have in common is that they all choose to be vegan, presumably because they think it is better to be vegan than not. For the same reason they themselves become vegan, many vegans want to encourage other people to become vegan.

For example, if a person becomes vegan as to reduce animal suffering, then the person can reduce animal suffering even more by convincing other people to become vegan.

The question is how to get others to become vegan. Most people are stuck in their ways and do not want to go through the trouble of making drastic changes, such as becoming vegan.

Worse yet, many ways vegans try to convert others are counterproductive. For example, yelling at, insulting, or otherwise belligerently attacking non-vegans will not convert them to veganism. Such methods only make vegans seem crazy and make non-vegans angry. For the same reason, aggressive or violent animal rights activism usually causes more harm than good.

The way to convert people to veganism is by inspiring them to take veganism seriously and consider the tenets of veganism with respect. Accordingly, vegans can best convert others by being nice and respectable. Additionally, it’s important to be respectful of other people, because if you respect them, they are more likely to respect you. Vegans need to be great people all-around, not just when it comes to veganism. By doing this, other people will like the vegan, will respect the vegan, and thus will be more likely to genuinely consider veganism.

Vegans can gain respect by trying as hard as possible to not be rude, arrogant, immature or mean.

When people ask about veganism, vegans need to respond politely and reasonably. Do not insult the non-vegan or try to make them feel bad. If vegans make other people feel bad, then those other people will not want anything to do with veganism. In contrast, if vegans are nice, warm-hearted people, others will want to emulate them and join them.

This is all based on a simple principle that has nothing specifically to do with veganism. That principle is that people will consider the ideas of a person more if they generally like, respect, and admire the person. If you try, it is not that hard to be a well-liked, respected, and admired person. Simply be as likable, respectable, and admirable as possible by being friendly, polite, honest, modest, and attentive.

Instead of trying to force people to be like us, we need to inspire people to want to be like us. That is how we can get people to become vegan.