Microblog Memes

It takes many more plants to raise a pound of meat to eat than it does to eat the plants directly, so we are still in agreement that the best way to minimize harm and respect the sanctity of all life is to eat a plant-based diet.

Don't forget that there's only like 2 real citrus fruits the rest are all genetically modified fruits.

Not to mention factory farmed in artificial orchards, not freely growing in the wild. Absolutely disgusting. Did you know they don't even pick fruits? They have a big machine that shakes the fuck out of the poor tree until everything falls off.

Right, this is a very common mindset to have. There are two things to think about that come to mind for me:

First is that (almost) everyone thinks factory farming is bad, but around 75% of all land animals in animal agriculture are factory farmed. In the US, it's around 99.7%. In particular it's a very safe bet that if you eat a random chicken, while they were alive they were in abject misery.

Second is I think animals have an inherent right to life that we shouldn't infringe upon. I wouldn't suddenly think it's ok if someone shot and instantly killed a dog, even if they were loved their entire life and only had "one bad day." It also wouldn't make it ok if someone ate the dog afterwards, because that doesn't really matter to the dog. All animals want to live, and killing them unnecessarily is wrong.

I recommend looking at my response to the reply about "the good place" and continuing the thread there, it's the same ideas.

I'm a big fan of the show. But we need to realize that we actually do have a responsibility to minimize the harm we cause when we're able to. I wouldn't accept "but you have a phone tho" or "no ethical consumption under capitalism" as justifications for buying a child-killing SUV, for example. It's just kinda defeatist.

And even if my choices make literally zero difference, and the world is exactly the same with or without my actions (which is just not the case), I still sleep better knowing I'm not contributing to the extreme and obvious harms of animal agriculture.