WEBVTT 00:00:00.099 --> 00:00:04.620 Do you believe children under sixteen should watch slaughterhouse footage to see the truth 00:00:04.620 --> 00:00:06.040 or should we explain it to them instead? 00:00:10.500 --> 00:00:13.970 Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. 00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:19.680 Within the world of vegan activism and education, there exists ample, ample debate about which 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:24.150 methods, individuals, and tactics are the most effective, and which are ineffective 00:00:24.150 --> 00:00:25.980 or even damaging. 00:00:25.980 --> 00:00:31.160 One of the most divisive issues is the use of graphic footage imagery. 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:35.620 Arguments in opposition include: it reduces the reach of the message as most people avoid 00:00:35.620 --> 00:00:40.769 unpleasant content, it makes people less receptive to hearing about veganism, it’s a cheap 00:00:40.769 --> 00:00:45.109 shock tactic when a grounded approach would yield better results, it’s a further form 00:00:45.109 --> 00:00:48.409 of exploiting the animals themselves, et cetera. 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:52.929 Arguments in favor include: most people have to see to truly believe, there is power in 00:00:52.929 --> 00:00:57.389 exposing the truth, especially when it’s deliberately and systematically hidden, the 00:00:57.389 --> 00:01:01.959 animals deserve to have their stories told, consumers deserve to know the truth about 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 00:01:05.909 --> 00:01:07.979 to their children, et cetera. 00:01:07.979 --> 00:01:13.340 This already controversial debate is profoundly intensified when one adds in the question 00:01:13.340 --> 00:01:15.530 of showing graphic content to children. 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 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.229 live Q&A sessions on Facebook and YouTube. 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 00:01:27.180 --> 00:01:28.180 below. 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:31.280 So I thought I’d share my response from the live stream followed by some additional 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:32.320 thoughts on this subject. 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. 00:01:36.789 --> 00:01:42.189 I mean different children have different sensibilities and different sensitivities, and also different 00:01:42.189 --> 00:01:47.930 levels of maturity, just depending. 00:01:47.930 --> 00:01:51.840 So I mean, you're going to know your kid better than anyone else can. 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 00:01:57.619 --> 00:01:58.700 for them. 00:01:58.700 --> 00:02:02.579 For me, as a kid, I would have liked to have seen that. 00:02:02.579 --> 00:02:05.649 I always say I came out of the womb like 35. 00:02:05.649 --> 00:02:08.600 I've always been very serious child. 00:02:08.600 --> 00:02:11.970 I was never like a "woo, kid," y’know. 00:02:11.970 --> 00:02:14.460 I didn't have the carefree days of my youth. 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:17.190 Anyways, so I think it really, really depends on the child. 00:02:17.190 --> 00:02:20.330 I don't think it's something that should be done by default. 00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:25.510 I think there are ways to explain these things to kids without graphic imagery, which is 00:02:25.510 --> 00:02:28.550 what I do in my kids videos. 00:02:28.550 --> 00:02:33.320 However, I am definitely one who thinks graphic footage is important. 00:02:33.320 --> 00:02:36.590 It has incredible value and it has its place. 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:37.590 I still use it very discerningly. 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 00:02:44.050 --> 00:02:46.300 because it's a shock tactic type of thing. 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. 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:59.420 But it is important because of the fact that we work so hard—humanity— 00:02:59.420 --> 00:03:04.360 to hide the reality of what goes on with animals and what happens to them. 00:03:04.420 --> 00:03:06.550 So there is incredible value to seeing that. 00:03:06.550 --> 00:03:10.660 And to letting those animals have their stories told. 00:03:10.660 --> 00:03:12.720 Because they deserve that. 00:03:12.720 --> 00:03:14.600 They deserve someone to at least bear witness. 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 00:03:19.980 --> 00:03:22.850 to die by that, the very least I can do is bear witness to it. 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 00:03:27.590 --> 00:03:28.590 the truth. 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:31.220 I would never sugar coat for kids, and I say that in my videos for them. 00:03:31.220 --> 00:03:33.050 Y'know "I'm gonna tell you the truth. 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. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:37.560 I'm not going to lie to you." 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. 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 00:03:47.030 --> 00:03:49.450 had access to this information when I was younger. 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 00:03:53.870 --> 00:03:56.480 talking down to children and adolescents. 00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:01.570 Kids are incredibly intelligent and very often underestimated or even dismissed by us adults. 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 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:07.240 being discounted. 00:04:07.240 --> 00:04:11.650 This doesn’t mean my content for children is identical to videos crafted with a more 00:04:11.650 --> 00:04:18.000 adult demographic in mind—there is a very vital difference between pandering and delivering 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.250 a message suitable to ones intended audience. 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 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:27.800 you can see linked here in the sidebar and below. 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:32.140 Additionally, I plan on further exploring the graphic footage debate as a whole in another 00:04:32.140 --> 00:04:33.300 dedicated video. 00:04:33.300 --> 00:04:35.630 But for now I wanted to touch on a couple important points. 00:04:35.630 --> 00:04:40.650 As with many controversial topics, there exist far more grey areas than black 00:04:40.650 --> 00:04:42.130 and white absolutes. 00:04:42.130 --> 00:04:46.530 And while we humans have an affinity for labeling things one way or another, the effectiveness 00:04:46.530 --> 00:04:51.590 and appropriateness of graphic imagery depends on an endless array of variables. 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: 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:01.660 attempting to simplify very complex concepts and arguments without reducing them to a one-dimensional 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:02.940 all or nothing message. 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: 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. 00:05:17.540 --> 00:05:24.290 Nothing we can experience will ever equal what the animals are experiencing. 00:05:24.290 --> 00:05:27.630 They don’t have the convenience of insulation. 00:05:27.630 --> 00:05:31.490 And they deserve us to at the very least bear witness. 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 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 00:05:45.910 --> 00:05:46.930 it?” 00:05:46.930 --> 00:05:51.389 I’ve received feedback from a number of viewers who have interpreted this as meaning 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:56.960 that all vegans should subject themselves to traumatizing images and footage constantly. 00:05:56.960 --> 00:05:58.890 Of course the very next line was, 00:05:58.890 --> 00:06:02.660 “This isn’t about sitting and watching hours of brutal footage. 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:06.070 That too can be circular. 00:06:06.070 --> 00:06:10.710 Berating ourselves or lamenting the impossibility of it all is equally unproductive. 00:06:10.710 --> 00:06:17.280 But we make a grave error when we fail to ourselves stay connected to the truth.” 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 00:06:21.630 --> 00:06:24.350 footage despite considerable availability. 00:06:24.350 --> 00:06:28.790 At the same time, I have utilized graphic footage within a number of videos and speeches. 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 00:06:33.520 --> 00:06:34.520 States. 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. 00:06:38.100 --> 00:06:41.190 But I will never pretend to have all the answers. 00:06:41.190 --> 00:06:45.800 The only way to stop the misinformation and disinformation we pass down from generation 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:49.200 to generation is to be open and honest with our children. 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" 00:06:53.660 --> 00:06:55.910 We teach what we know which is what we were taught: 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:59.449 the biggest lie ever bought and our own greatest trick, 00:06:59.449 --> 00:07:04.820 is the sick conviction that we can kill in a way that is kind— 00:07:04.820 --> 00:07:09.600 A conscience-gnawing uncertain certainty we solidify and smooth over and 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:13.240 pass down the line, telling our kids it’s okay it’s fine 00:07:13.250 --> 00:07:16.300 From our generation to the next. 00:07:16.300 --> 00:07:17.140 Repetition 00:07:17.180 --> 00:07:18.120 breeds 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:18.820 truth. 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 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 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. 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 00:07:38.370 --> 00:07:43.180 spark discussion and subscribe to the channel and enable notifications for fresh vegan content 00:07:43.180 --> 00:07:44.180 every week. 00:07:44.180 --> 00:07:47.190 If you’d like to help support Bite Size Vegan’s educational efforts, please see 00:07:47.190 --> 00:07:49.910 the support links below or the link in the sidebar. 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:54.600 And a huge thank-you to my Nugget Army of patrons for making this resource possible. 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.830 Now go live vegan, share the truth, and I’ll see you soon. 00:07:58.830 --> 00:08:01.699 So we sing our own praises back and forth to each other 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:05.319 Teach our children about kindness, “now pass the turkey to your brother” 00:08:05.320 --> 00:08:07.400 Lessons in sharing 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:10.520 carried out over corpses. 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:16.340 Manners in the face of murder are key, gotta teach the kiddies not to question the 00:08:16.340 --> 00:08:20.840 grim reality of what’s on the very plate before them, please just ignore them, 00:08:20.840 --> 00:08:23.020 these bodies and secretions. 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— 00:08:27.940 --> 00:08:29.500 because we’re humane.