 So I definitely think animal rights is hitting harder than health right now because there's been this movement online Activists have now been filming their activism putting it online for the world to see and People are not getting a watered-down version of veganism. They're getting the true ethical principles of veganism Non-exploitation, you know not directly enslaving and causing harm to animals. This is the core principle of veganism and What happens is we get people muddying the waters or watering down the message with you know health and you know all these other things which Really health is beside the point You can have an unhealthy vegan diet and not directly enslave and harm animals Okay, so the core principle Ethical veganism is coming to the forefront the mainstream media too are starting to publicize it Which is what happened in the UK publicizing the you know sexual exploitation that goes on in the dairy industry gas chambering of pigs, you know all of these Ethical issues that haven't been discussed in the media are being discussed this year. I think the vegan movement right now is growing exponentially and The only ones who are saying it isn't Those who have vested interest in animal agriculture, they're trying to sort of dampen the flame But I always say to other activists don't let the enemy Tell you what your movement is now I understand they're not truly the enemy that is human beings who are working in animal agriculture But it's like what I mean by that is don't let the opposition Tell you what your movement is because of course they're going to play it down Now our dairy industry is fine dairy sales are increasing that is just not true We can see it online the massive movement and you know what that there's more vegan products And why do people and businesses bring out vegan products because there's more of a demand Okay, and that's simply because there's more vegans Well, I think there are bad people who are farmers Do I think all farmers are bad people? No, no, and I think that it would be ridiculous to suggest they are I Think that they know some things go on that they're not proud of I think they have been conditioned by culture and If they are 10th generation farmer, they're not going to see anything wrong with it. You know what I mean? So I don't think they are bad people inherently I think they've been taught to do something that is very bad They've been taught to see animals in a certain way to view animals as products and resources They have been taught that they haven't just organically, you know naturally Inherently decided this it's been passed down and programmed into them So if you take someone and put them in a certain environment that environment shapes them now when a vegan comes along and goes Hey, what you're doing to that dairy cow with your fists inside of her anus and the pipette full of semen inside of her vagina Is immoral and they look at you like what it's just insemination. It's the process and we go no that's Sexual abuse they freak out. They go what are you talking about? I've been doing this my whole life So they don't they don't actually think what they're doing is wrong Now, yeah, I think there are people who work in slaughterhouses that are bad people I'm gonna say that Categorically there are but for the most part. I think people have been pushed into a bad situation and Society shouldn't even give them the option of working in such horrific Places they just shouldn't Well, when people say what about the farmers? What's the solution for them? What are they gonna do for a job? That really should take second After the suffering and exploitation of the victim a true victim now Yes farmers are victims in their own right, you know victims of society. They might be victims of financial struggle But would we keep human slavery? As a status quo If it was good for the financial state of the country, of course, we wouldn't we would say no They're victims. We shouldn't be looking at it from the Slavers point of view we should be looking at it from the enslaved point of view The animals the victims the ones who have to march on into a slaughterhouse and have their life stolen from them Okay, now farmers can find another job. Okay. Now. I know it might not be easy. It might not be easy for them I definitely my heart goes out to them but it shouldn't take precedent over the suffering of the victims and just shouldn't know what yeah Well, I guess we could establish a Compassionate communication between each other, but there's someone in between farmers and activists and That is the animals Now farmers will go what why activists being mean to me? Well, wait a second. Are you forgetting someone? Activists are only speaking up because their animals are being put in slaughterhouses used and exploited I mean if they were if they didn't have a victim direct victim from their practice. No one would say anything. Okay, so It really doesn't matter too much. I mean I prefer peaceful activism. I prefer we all got along But the idea is we want to destroy the industry that exploits animals We want to destroy it We want it to be that far in the past that we don't remember it and we can hang our heads in shame and start Rebuilding and making amends for the horrific things we did to the most innocent vulnerable beings on earth now Our relationship between each other doesn't all meet matter all that much between activists and farmers. We target demand The consumer. Okay, so it's irrelevant my relationship with the farmer whether the world goes vegan What is relevant is whether the message gets out there to the consumer the consumer stops paying the farmer to abuse animals And that's how the world goes vegan. We don't try to change the farmers to change the world into vegans We try to change demand Okay, farming is a symptom of the demand. Yeah, so in terms of me being in the limelight and how it's affected me Yeah, I really didn't imagine what has happened in the last year to happen But since I've been supported on patreon I've been able to target my activism full-time put all of my effort all of my mental focus into it And it's really taken me some to some amazing places now. I have been a little bit of a target for the media What happens is your message starts to get out there. I believe it starts to ruffle a few leaves and All of a sudden they're looking for a way to attack you now if the message is strong and they can't attack the message What their tactic is to attack what their tactic is is to attack the character of the one speaking the message and That's basically what they did to me. They found out I had a bit of a hectic past. I was in gangs I was on drugs They basically took a fine-tooth comb through my whole history and then presented that in newspapers as an argument against my message Which is called an ad hominem attack. It's really simple. It's like can't attack someone's character as an argument But in terms of stress like yeah put me under stress like I felt a little bit like attacked I felt like my you know, I had no privacy. I felt like I was you know really been ran through the ringer and It wasn't just the media. It was my own movement people in the movement not everyone agrees Not everyone thinks you're really good. Not everyone thinks that you're ways the right way but When you have perspective of what the animals are going through It really puts everything, you know on the table for you. You go. Okay. Well, I'm going through a bit of stress You know the media are attacking me, but I've got the message out there for the animals I've got to talk about gas chambers on TV I've got to talk about the horrors of the dairy industry on live TV in front of millions of people I spoke about you know pigs being butchered on Jeremy Vines radio station got seven million listeners listeners So yeah, I've been in every major newspaper in the UK and guess what people come to my page They find my message and my message is for the animals So there's been many benefits to it, too And I think the good outweighs the bad and if I have to be that sort of scapegoat in a way So be it I've been through worse in my path been through worse in my life And I'm glad it was me that it happened to because I don't know how many people would have been able to handle it. I think the person who has had the strongest sort of lessons in their past Have the strongest lessons to come in the future. It's almost like You get the harder lessons if you've been through the ringer in the past. I don't know. I guess that's what I mean like Yeah, so I can handle it, but I I Honestly can't believe it to be honest I Can't believe that it created such a stir like I had newspapers across the world writing stories about me you know trying to slander me a bit like basically You know, but at the same time People love controversy. Don't they they're like, oh, who's this controversial figure? Who is he like? What was he saying about dairy farmers? Wow, let's check him out People go and check you out and then they go. Well, what are you saying makes sense? Hey, you know, I kind of like this guy. They don't have to like me. I don't have you can hate me, but just Watch what I watch what's happening to animals. You know, I mean just tell me what that is Am I talking BS? Is that wrong? Is that what's happening to animals? Is do you think that's moral? I? Think the jump from being a vegan to being an advocate is not only an important step But an imperative it's I believe it's an obligation a moral obligation When you become vegan you just stop harming animals, okay? You've realized I've been causing an immense amount of harm to animals and you've stopped Okay, it doesn't take mother Teresa to realize you've been causing harm and stop Okay morally neutral Now in a world full of animal abuse and where people are contributing to you might think well That's a very noble thing to do. I still think it is a noble thing to do But now you know what happens to animals and the question is what are you going to do about it? No, I mean are you just going to rest on your laurels with being vegan? Because if it was any other form of injustice and you were witnessing it which we do we witness people buying burgers every day Day-to-day basis contributing to animal abuse if that was other animals being harmed Maybe a species of animals you really like like dogs or cats or a small child you witnessed that and you didn't do anything to stop it How would you feel in your heart you would be thinking well? I could have done something to stop that and that's how I feel every single day when animals are being butchered and I haven't done anything for that day to raise awareness now no pressure Just incorporate your advocacy into your lifestyle You know so it's not what you don't have to be this full-time activist and go on to the newspapers and do all this crazy stuff out the front of slaughterhouses Advocate measure into your day-to-day activities Your work you might leave a card here and there you might drop a message here and there You might share a Facebook post here and there you might influence your family and your friends That's making an impact you can influence one person that person could go on to influence thousands just like the person who influenced me Okay, now I've influenced many literally millions of people now in some way. I've influenced them I might not have turned millions of people vegan But I've definitely influenced people I'm inside of their head the message is inside of their head So that's the power of planting a seed the person who influenced me wasn't even a vegan he was a raw foodist and Basically, he was talking about the power fruits and vegetables Juice fasting talking about the life-giving plants how they contain the nutrients and Vitochemicals of water the minerals and he said when you eat dead food You take on that energy when you eat the piece of an animal who suffered greatly You're taking on everything that animal went through and it was like karma for me. Oh wow Seed was planted six months later. I was vegan