Emily: Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today
I'm honored to be joined by my friend and mentor Gary Yourofsky who has graciously agreed
to be here and answers questions that you, the Bite Size Vegan audience, have sent to
me. I'm going to be releasing this interview in a series of videos so be sure to stay tuned
to the channel. Gary I just wanted to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy
schedule to be here and answer some of these questions.
Gary: Anything for you Emily. Emily: Thank you.
Alright so to start off, one of the questions that I got a lot
from people, and I think for someone who's just had their eyes kind of opened and is
considering going vegan, or has gone vegan, or perhaps they're a vegan who just watched
your speech and realized that they want to do more, and they've come to this point of
"what can I do, what action can I take?" What would you say to someone who wants to get
started with vegan animal activism?
Gary: It's got to be education based activism, whatever you're doing. This is not
my realm, this is not my bailiwick, I'm not graded in advising people how to be an activist.
But I do know that you have to teach people. You have to edify, you have to preach. So
somehow maybe set up class room lectures like I'm doing in high schools and colleges and
elementary schools, middle schools. Set it up at a church, at a synagogue, in a mosque,
at the YMCA, leaflet, do something like that. What I don't recommend any more is probably
the things that most people like to do, which is protesting. I just think protesting has
lost its luster over the years. Civil disobedience, I don't think you can win in a courtroom.
But you win in a classroom every single day. Direct action is always valuable too, if you
want to liberate animals. That would be an awesome thing to do. But focus on education
and make that your goal and things will fall into place. And don't beat yourself up too
much when you find somebody that isn't paying attention and isn't listening. Move on and
find somebody who does want to listen. They're out there, people are thirsting for knowledge.
It is your goal as an activist to find those people who are thirsting for knowledge, teach
them, convert them, and keep on doing it.
Emily: Some people argue that being vegan alone is not enough. What are your thoughts
on that? Do you think being vegan and in adopting a vegan diet, do you think that alone can
make an impact?
Gary: I think it's the only thing on this planet that can actually make a difference.
But is it enough from the victims point of view? Of course not. Billions of animals are
being tortured and killed. But I'm really tired of people turning on the news and getting
involved in all the world issues. The Darfur genocide, women in Afghanistan still don't
have equal rights, homosexuals in Uganda are being killed, I understand this is a major
injustice. But you can't do anything about it so stop talking about world issues that
you have no control over, and here's something you could stand up three times, four times,
five times a day and say "I'm opposed to discrimination, I'm opposed to injustice, and that's why I'm
eating vegan meals." This is something you can actually do. But from there, yeah sure
get out there. Get more active, teach people, talk to people. Again back to the education.
Emily: Something that I've heard from a lot of people and that I know I personally
can struggle with as a vegan activist, is when you're faced with all of the suffering
in the world, and all of the people who don't seem to care. How do you keep going and keep
your head up and not get lost in just the overwhelming suffering that's going on?
Gary: It's tough. I'm forever frustrated, forever stressed, forever saddened. I was
telling you before, I died inside a long time ago. But I'm going through the motions for
the animals, because whatever I'm going through and whatever you as an activist are going
through, is nothing compared to what the animals are going through. In the slaughterhouse,
in the vivisection lab, at the circus, at the zoo, at the rodeo. That stuff is purely
evil. You have to keep on going for them, I don't know how else to say it. I don't have
a magical formula, a magical solution, to make you not become frustrated, not become
stressed out, it goes with the territory. Enlightenment is bitter sweet, and I've told
this to a lot of people. It is bitter sweet. It's wonderful to know the truth, to see the
truth, to live the truth, but it's maddening to see how selfish and evil our species can
be. You have to keep on going for the animals, that's the only thing. Just think about them
and keep on going for them.
Emily: Gary I just want to thank you so much for giving us your time and I've been
asked on behalf of so many of my viewers to just thank you for everything that you do.
So thank you so much.
Gary: Thank you, keep on. Everybody pass her stuff around, it's tight stuff, honestly.
Bitesizevegan.com, share it.
Emily: Stay tuned to the Bite Size Vegan channel for more installations of Gary's interview.
I'll also be posting bonus footage of questions that don't make it to the channel, into the
VIV section of Bitesizevegan.com, which you can access for free by signing up for the
nugget newsletter. Give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it, and be sure to subscribe
so that you never miss a nugget. Now go live vegan and I'll see you soon.