1 00:00:00,099 --> 00:00:04,620 Do you believe children under sixteen should watch slaughterhouse footage to see the truth 2 00:00:04,620 --> 00:00:06,040 or should we explain it to them instead? 3 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:13,970 Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. 4 00:00:13,970 --> 00:00:19,680 Within the world of vegan activism and education, there exists ample, ample debate about which 5 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:24,150 methods, individuals, and tactics are the most effective, and which are ineffective 6 00:00:24,150 --> 00:00:25,980 or even damaging. 7 00:00:25,980 --> 00:00:31,160 One of the most divisive issues is the use of graphic footage imagery. 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,620 Arguments in opposition include: it reduces the reach of the message as most people avoid 9 00:00:35,620 --> 00:00:40,769 unpleasant content, it makes people less receptive to hearing about veganism, it’s a cheap 10 00:00:40,769 --> 00:00:45,109 shock tactic when a grounded approach would yield better results, it’s a further form 11 00:00:45,109 --> 00:00:48,409 of exploiting the animals themselves, et cetera. 12 00:00:48,409 --> 00:00:52,929 Arguments in favor include: most people have to see to truly believe, there is power in 13 00:00:52,929 --> 00:00:57,389 exposing the truth, especially when it’s deliberately and systematically hidden, the 14 00:00:57,389 --> 00:01:01,959 animals deserve to have their stories told, consumers deserve to know the truth about 15 00:01:01,959 --> 00:01:05,909 what they are paying others to do and what they are putting in their bodies and feeding 16 00:01:05,909 --> 00:01:07,979 to their children, et cetera. 17 00:01:07,979 --> 00:01:13,340 This already controversial debate is profoundly intensified when one adds in the question 18 00:01:13,340 --> 00:01:15,530 of showing graphic content to children. 19 00:01:15,530 --> 00:01:20,560 This little powder keg of an inquiry was one of the questions I received during my back-to-back 20 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,229 live Q&A sessions on Facebook and YouTube. 21 00:01:23,229 --> 00:01:27,180 If you missed either of the Q&A sessions, the links to those videos are in the description 22 00:01:27,180 --> 00:01:28,180 below. 23 00:01:28,180 --> 00:01:31,280 So I thought I’d share my response from the live stream followed by some additional 24 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:32,320 thoughts on this subject. 25 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:36,789 Well, I think, honestly a lot of it depends on the child and the family, and the parent. 26 00:01:36,789 --> 00:01:42,189 I mean different children have different sensibilities and different sensitivities, and also different 27 00:01:42,189 --> 00:01:47,930 levels of maturity, just depending. 28 00:01:47,930 --> 00:01:51,840 So I mean, you're going to know your kid better than anyone else can. 29 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:57,619 So for some, it might be something that is important to them, or that would be helpful 30 00:01:57,619 --> 00:01:58,700 for them. 31 00:01:58,700 --> 00:02:02,579 For me, as a kid, I would have liked to have seen that. 32 00:02:02,579 --> 00:02:05,649 I always say I came out of the womb like 35. 33 00:02:05,649 --> 00:02:08,600 I've always been very serious child. 34 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,970 I was never like a "woo, kid," y’know. 35 00:02:11,970 --> 00:02:14,460 I didn't have the carefree days of my youth. 36 00:02:14,460 --> 00:02:17,190 Anyways, so I think it really, really depends on the child. 37 00:02:17,190 --> 00:02:20,330 I don't think it's something that should be done by default. 38 00:02:20,330 --> 00:02:25,510 I think there are ways to explain these things to kids without graphic imagery, which is 39 00:02:25,510 --> 00:02:28,550 what I do in my kids videos. 40 00:02:28,550 --> 00:02:33,320 However, I am definitely one who thinks graphic footage is important. 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,590 It has incredible value and it has its place. 42 00:02:36,590 --> 00:02:37,590 I still use it very discerningly. 43 00:02:37,590 --> 00:02:44,050 There are a lot of times I could use it and probably the videos would perform even better 44 00:02:44,050 --> 00:02:46,300 because it's a shock tactic type of thing. 45 00:02:46,300 --> 00:02:53,020 But I only do it if I think it's going to serve the content effectively and that it's purposeful. 46 00:02:53,020 --> 00:02:59,420 But it is important because of the fact that we work so hard—humanity— 47 00:02:59,420 --> 00:03:04,360 to hide the reality of what goes on with animals and what happens to them. 48 00:03:04,420 --> 00:03:06,550 So there is incredible value to seeing that. 49 00:03:06,550 --> 00:03:10,660 And to letting those animals have their stories told. 50 00:03:10,660 --> 00:03:12,720 Because they deserve that. 51 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,600 They deserve someone to at least bear witness. 52 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:19,980 And for me personally, I always think: if they have to live through that and they have 53 00:03:19,980 --> 00:03:22,850 to die by that, the very least I can do is bear witness to it. 54 00:03:22,850 --> 00:03:27,590 So I think it's incredibly important and I do think there is value to showing young people 55 00:03:27,590 --> 00:03:28,590 the truth. 56 00:03:28,590 --> 00:03:31,220 I would never sugar coat for kids, and I say that in my videos for them. 57 00:03:31,220 --> 00:03:33,050 Y'know "I'm gonna tell you the truth. 58 00:03:33,050 --> 00:03:36,560 I'm not going to show you anything scary, but I am going to tell you the truth. 59 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:37,560 I'm not going to lie to you." 60 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:42,240 So I think as far as the actual footage, that would probably be up to the parents. 61 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:47,030 One of the main reasons I started making vegan videos for kids was how much I wish I’d 62 00:03:47,030 --> 00:03:49,450 had access to this information when I was younger. 63 00:03:49,450 --> 00:03:53,870 And while I do not show anything graphic in those videos, I am very passionate about never 64 00:03:53,870 --> 00:03:56,480 talking down to children and adolescents. 65 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:01,570 Kids are incredibly intelligent and very often underestimated or even dismissed by us adults. 66 00:04:01,570 --> 00:04:06,240 I remember what that feels like, and I vowed as a kid to never forget what it was like 67 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:07,240 being discounted. 68 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,650 This doesn’t mean my content for children is identical to videos crafted with a more 69 00:04:11,650 --> 00:04:18,000 adult demographic in mind—there is a very vital difference between pandering and delivering 70 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,250 a message suitable to ones intended audience. 71 00:04:21,250 --> 00:04:25,120 This is a concept I covered in depth in my speech, “A Wake Up Call For Vegans” which 72 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:27,800 you can see linked here in the sidebar and below. 73 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,140 Additionally, I plan on further exploring the graphic footage debate as a whole in another 74 00:04:32,140 --> 00:04:33,300 dedicated video. 75 00:04:33,300 --> 00:04:35,630 But for now I wanted to touch on a couple important points. 76 00:04:35,630 --> 00:04:40,650 As with many controversial topics, there exist far more grey areas than black 77 00:04:40,650 --> 00:04:42,130 and white absolutes. 78 00:04:42,130 --> 00:04:46,530 And while we humans have an affinity for labeling things one way or another, the effectiveness 79 00:04:46,530 --> 00:04:51,590 and appropriateness of graphic imagery depends on an endless array of variables. 80 00:04:51,590 --> 00:04:55,800 This touches on one of the most difficult aspects of what I do with Bite Size Vegan: 81 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:01,660 attempting to simplify very complex concepts and arguments without reducing them to a one-dimensional 82 00:05:01,660 --> 00:05:02,940 all or nothing message. 83 00:05:02,940 --> 00:05:08,340 For example, in my “A Wake Up Call For Veganism,” speech, I stated well into the talk that: 84 00:05:08,340 --> 00:05:17,540 “If we want the world to confront the truth, we must do the same, no matter how daunting. 85 00:05:17,540 --> 00:05:24,290 Nothing we can experience will ever equal what the animals are experiencing. 86 00:05:24,290 --> 00:05:27,630 They don’t have the convenience of insulation. 87 00:05:27,630 --> 00:05:31,490 And they deserve us to at the very least bear witness. 88 00:05:31,490 --> 00:05:38,980 Yes, we already know—or at least we think we do—but if we, the ones to claim to feel 89 00:05:38,980 --> 00:05:45,910 their pain, if we too refuse to look, how can we expect the rest of the world to do 90 00:05:45,910 --> 00:05:46,930 it?” 91 00:05:46,930 --> 00:05:51,389 I’ve received feedback from a number of viewers who have interpreted this as meaning 92 00:05:51,389 --> 00:05:56,960 that all vegans should subject themselves to traumatizing images and footage constantly. 93 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:58,890 Of course the very next line was, 94 00:05:58,890 --> 00:06:02,660 “This isn’t about sitting and watching hours of brutal footage. 95 00:06:02,660 --> 00:06:06,070 That too can be circular. 96 00:06:06,070 --> 00:06:10,710 Berating ourselves or lamenting the impossibility of it all is equally unproductive. 97 00:06:10,710 --> 00:06:17,280 But we make a grave error when we fail to ourselves stay connected to the truth.” 98 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:21,630 I also went into great detail about one of the times in which I chose not to use graphic 99 00:06:21,630 --> 00:06:24,350 footage despite considerable availability. 100 00:06:24,350 --> 00:06:28,790 At the same time, I have utilized graphic footage within a number of videos and speeches. 101 00:06:28,790 --> 00:06:33,520 I’ve also streamed live video to my channel from slaughterhouses in the UK and the United 102 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:34,520 States. 103 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,100 I do the very best that I can to be as effective as possible with my activism. 104 00:06:38,100 --> 00:06:41,190 But I will never pretend to have all the answers. 105 00:06:41,190 --> 00:06:45,800 The only way to stop the misinformation and disinformation we pass down from generation 106 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:49,200 to generation is to be open and honest with our children. 107 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,640 This is one of the main themes in my spoken word piece "The Greatest Lie Ever Told" 108 00:06:53,660 --> 00:06:55,910 We teach what we know which is what we were taught: 109 00:06:55,910 --> 00:06:59,449 the biggest lie ever bought and our own greatest trick, 110 00:06:59,449 --> 00:07:04,820 is the sick conviction that we can kill in a way that is kind— 111 00:07:04,820 --> 00:07:09,600 A conscience-gnawing uncertain certainty we solidify and smooth over and 112 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,240 pass down the line, telling our kids it’s okay it’s fine 113 00:07:13,250 --> 00:07:16,300 From our generation to the next. 114 00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:17,140 Repetition 115 00:07:17,180 --> 00:07:18,120 breeds 116 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:18,820 truth. 117 00:07:19,820 --> 00:07:23,919 So while there are plenty of times when, after much forethought, I’ve chosen not to show 118 00:07:23,919 --> 00:07:28,880 overtly graphic imagery—and I never do in my content for kids—if there is one thing 119 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:34,810 I’m certain of, it’s that no matter your age, everyone deserves to know the truth. 120 00:07:34,810 --> 00:07:38,370 If you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs-up and share it with others to 121 00:07:38,370 --> 00:07:43,180 spark discussion and subscribe to the channel and enable notifications for fresh vegan content 122 00:07:43,180 --> 00:07:44,180 every week. 123 00:07:44,180 --> 00:07:47,190 If you’d like to help support Bite Size Vegan’s educational efforts, please see 124 00:07:47,190 --> 00:07:49,910 the support links below or the link in the sidebar. 125 00:07:49,910 --> 00:07:54,600 And a huge thank-you to my Nugget Army of patrons for making this resource possible. 126 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,830 Now go live vegan, share the truth, and I’ll see you soon. 127 00:07:58,830 --> 00:08:01,699 So we sing our own praises back and forth to each other 128 00:08:01,699 --> 00:08:05,319 Teach our children about kindness, “now pass the turkey to your brother” 129 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,400 Lessons in sharing 130 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,520 carried out over corpses. 131 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:16,340 Manners in the face of murder are key, gotta teach the kiddies not to question the 132 00:08:16,340 --> 00:08:20,840 grim reality of what’s on the very plate before them, please just ignore them, 133 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:23,020 these bodies and secretions. 134 00:08:23,020 --> 00:08:27,940 Call it meat and milk and ham and eggs Focus on free-range and cage-free and grass-fed— 135 00:08:27,940 --> 00:08:29,500 because we’re humane.