Angry Vegan Sock Puppet
From All-Creatures.org Animal Rights Activism Articles Archive

FROM

Kamal S. Prasad and Mandy Cimino,  AngryVeganSockPuppet.com
June 2018

Can A Sock Puppet Get People To Listen To Animal Rights Messages? Angry Vegan Sock Puppet will premiere on YouTube on June 21, 2018 and can be accessed quickly by visiting AngryVeganSockPuppet.com.

For many people, animal rights activists conjure up images of an angry vegan shouting, “meat is murder,” or throwing paint on fur coats. This is usually a turn off for people from the message of compassion the activists are trying to convey.

However, calm and rational presentations of the harms of exploiting animals for human use also tend to fall on deaf ears.

Angry Vegan Sock Puppet, a YouTube video series, hopes to present the hard truths of animal exploitation in an over-the-top, humorous way.

“By using the persona of an angry but clearly powerless sock puppet, we hope people will let their guards down to see the many different problems with the ways humans use and abuse animals,” says the show’s creator, Kamal S. Prasad.

The idea arose from Prasad’s several years of volunteer experience with organizations such as Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), Factory Farming Awareness Coalition, and Mercy for Animals, among others.

“Animal rights activists are typically seen as a serious bunch with no sense of humor. It is hard to present the facts of animal exploitation in a way that will make people want to listen,” says Prasad.

Indeed, people do not typically seek out the gruesome videos and pictures of animal abuse that is rampant in the breeding and processing of animals into products for human consumption.

Even environmental organizations, which could greatly benefit the environment by educating their membership of the harms that animal agriculture causes, and encourage reduced consumption of meat, dairy and eggs, or the complete elimination of them, shy away from tackling the issue.

The Angry Vegan Sock Puppet show emulates a Q&A format. Fictional, at least in the beginning, people write in to the show with questions like “Where do vegans get their protein?” or “What’s wrong with eating animal products that come from local farms where animals are treated well?”
Questions are answered in a satirical fashion with large dollops of sarcasm, sass, and humor. Citing inspiration from the likes of Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee and John Oliver, Angry Vegan Sock Puppet hopes to achieve for animal advocacy what those comedians have done for politics.

“I was drawn to the project because it is a refreshingly hilarious conduit for the truths about veganism,” says Mandy Cimino, the voice and operator of Angry Vegan Sock Puppet.

“The animal rights movement needs to be able to laugh at itself sometimes. Angry Vegan Sock Puppet will bring some comic relief to a very serious subject,” she continued.

As veganism continues to become more popular, themes related to it will start showing up in mainstream media and this trend may very well start with a sock puppet.

Angry Vegan Sock Puppet will premiere on YouTube on June 21, 2018 and can be accessed quickly by visiting AngryVeganSockPuppet.com. 

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About Kamal S. Prasad: Kamal is an activist, author, and filmmaker, using his skills to empower people with information about the power of their food choices. He has volunteered with various animal rights organizations and helped make the groundbreaking documentary, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret as a volunteer camera operator.

About Mandy Cimino: Mandy is a former veterinary technician who has been advocating for animals since 2007. She is currently a board member at Compassionate Living, a non-profit organization that educates people about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.

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