So many years have gone by, Footsoldier: you have known of my existence for approximately seven or eight years by now, correct?
I do not ascribe bad intentions to you: I would tend to assume that your intentions were —from the outset— to make the world a better place. Even when you were a clueless Durianrider worshipper, your reasons for worshipping him were not the pursuit of money, fame, sex or even a more impressive physique.
Many, many other vegans, I would indeed ascribe bad intentions to. I do believe your old nemesis Isaac (Ask Yourself) has bad intentions. Richard (Vegan Gains) even moreso.
When you disagreed with me about the metrics indicating that veganism was then in decline, I did not ascribe bad intentions to you: I know what it was that you wanted to believe, and I know that your reasons for that optimism are "pure", so to speak.
However, I was correct: veganism was in decline, and it still is in decline.
Wayne Hsiung is now in jail and astonishingly few people care (even though the story was carried in the mainstream press). Just four years ago, he was in a video (presenting him as a hero) that attracted 3.6 million views. From the last seven years you can find examples of videos with tens of thousands of views, occasionally over a hundred thousand, telling his story, "spreading his name".
His most recent uploads to his channel number as follows:
• 170 views
• 136 views
• 144 views
In the midst of the same storm of controversy, here are the numbers from "Direct Action Everywhere - DxE":
• 308 views
• 271 views
• 394 views
• 370 views (this one has Wayne's trial in it)
• 222 views
Now my own channel may be a dismal failure in many different respects, but I would hope that if I went to prison under dramatic circumstances, and if it were covered by the mainstream press, I'd pull a good two thousand views, minimum. I have videos with "the n-word" in the title that have pulled in more viewers than that, despite being (obviously) blacklisted (no pun intended) and I could say something similar for the videos containing my abhorrent opinions about autism and transgenderism, for example.
So this, now, is the world we're living in. The decline that I spoke to you about —years ago— in statistical abstractions has become less and less abstract.
On the supply side, talent is scarce. On the demand side, also, the audience is scarce.
Tragically, the vegan movement is more important than ever. It simply isn't important to vegans: they've given up on it —we've given up on it —even I've given up on it. And look around: most of the others have given up, too.
I'd like to invite you to read a book at (approximately) the same time I'm reading it myself: The Parrot and the Igloo by David Lipsky.
I have never understood why you showed so much good will toward such utterly despicable people (including Durianrider himself, etc.) and yet you could never reciprocate the good will I showed you. Of course, I also do not understand the lapses in your memory (this may be a real medical condition on your part, and I am not prying for an answer) but I have often wondered if a large part of the problem is —simply— the extent to which you do not remember what has actually happened, what has actually been said, etc., by all parties on all sides.
E.M.
