{"id":5387,"date":"2022-03-23T16:54:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T15:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/?p=5387"},"modified":"2022-03-25T16:32:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T15:32:43","slug":"blind-folded-to-be-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svjmedia.nl\/internationaljournalism\/5387\/blind-folded-to-be-seen\/","title":{"rendered":"Blindfolded to be seen"},"content":{"rendered":"
On March 12, in the small square between Hoog Catharijne and Utrecht Central Station, amid the chaotic mess of fancy-dressed people, political parties\u2019 personnel campaigning for the coming election, families enjoying the blessings of capitalism, and all other kinds of passerby, this group of animal rights activists stood still, blindfolded, oblivious to everything else.<\/strong><\/p>\n In their hands, screens; on their screens, footage of animal abuse in the food industry. Though the activists were ignored by most people, busier with their own businesses, some intrigued folks would stop by and watch the horrendous images shown on the screens.<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Chris Tiaan, organiser of the demonstration and one of the leaders of Animal Save Nederland in Utrecht, their goal there was to \u201craise awareness on animal suffering and introduce people to veganism \u2013 and ideally, encourage people to become activists themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n But, is this rather graphic form of protesting an effective way to convince people?<\/p>\n Chris Tiaan couldn\u2019t give a conclusive answer. However, he does think that, due to the frequency with which they organise this kind of demonstration, it does its job: \u201cIf you\u2019d show this footage to people daily, they wouldn\u2019t empathise with it anymore. But if they see it here once a month, it won\u2019t get desensitised.\u201d<\/p>\n He explains that the kind of footage used also helps, as the animals \u201care shown in a more individual level, instead of seeing a thousand chickens in a barn, which easily leads to desensitisation\u201d, the person will see \u201can individual chicken looking back at you, almost interacting with you\u201d.<\/p>\n