as long as you don’t mistreat the animals
I find it interesting that you consider killing not a mistreatment.
You say that killing them for their resources is worth it, but worth it to who? Obviously not the victim. Most horrible things are worth it to the ones committing them.
All I’m saying is, while we might have different moral opinions, at the very least provide logical, consistent arguments.
Define needlessly?
You see, you probably define it as a subjective catch all for anything that you are used to having in your life.
But if you really inspect that idea you can reach all kinds of extremes, like do you really need a home? You can live on the street, do you really need a car? You could walk technically, do you really need meat? You could live perfectly healthy without it technically, do you need a towel after a shower? You can just let yourself dry, what about chocolate? Just a nice snack, is that a necessity? And marshmallows? Bread? Flavoured drinks?
So the line is individual and non linear. One might say they can live without cars but not without a home, one would say the opposite, one would claim that chocolate is more important than having towels, etc. Some can also say that the joy they get from turturing an animal is more significant for their own happiness than chocolate, or towels or eating meat, these people are 100% with the parameters of your logic, yet you lable it as unnecessary.
You could redefine necessity as things that would cause you serious harm if taken, which is still subjective but a little clearer. Most people can agree that never eating chocolate again would suck but not cause any serious harm. Most can also probably agree that not having a home would cause you serious harm. And while you might not like to admit it, scientifically going vegan won’t just not cause you harm, it would actually be healthy for you, and just like people who go on all kinds of diets, it sucks at first, but it does not cause any serious harm.
So ask yourself, what justification can you use to inflict serious harm on to others for the sake of simple pleasure to you?
That humanity overall gets better and more moral over time.
It’s really interesting if you get into the history of it, but There are plenty of historical records that actually show that the past wasn’t as horrific as we imagine it to be. Partially because people like to look at the past as terrible to make themselves feel better about the present.
I’m not convinced that there is any real evidence that shows that over time humanity gets morally better, but I like to believe in it, because otherwise it makes me think we should all die 🤷♂️
And just to clarify, I don’t mean just actions but also intent. For example, these days we have democracies that have more complex laws to protect people’s rights and therefore it’s harder to cause the same kind of harm that could have been happening under a kingdom. But at the same time, now we have stuff like factory farmings and wars that lead to millions and tens of millions of deaths and pandemics that are not stopped properly because of conspiracy theories, etc.
To be fair, I didn’t explain myself. I don’t think it is a lost cause. I think that we’re already at a point where it’s gonna become apocalyptic. I think if we don’t do anything about it, it will become an extinction event.
But, I will admit that the last few weeks have been super depressing and myi mnd ia probably not as objective as it can be about the future
Look, I gave a short explanation of my views, but yeah, there are some grey areas that are complicated, exterminators being one of them.
My views on exterminators and really any other form of harm to others to serve your own purposes, is that you have to truly appreciate the fact that these other living creatures deserve to live and only under extreme circumstances should extreme approaches be taken.
If you have termites eating your house, yeah, you’re gonna have to exterminate them. It’s either them or your house and it’s a form of self-defense in my opinion.
The problem is that people just go for the most extreme approach of extermination when there could be other solutions to pests.
Maybe consider that next time you have a pest problem. Are there other solutions that cause less harm that would still provide you with the resolution that you need?
A very simple example is when you find a bug at home, you can choose to try and capture it and release it outside safely instead of trying to kill it.
I know you think that it’s a real gotcha moment and that you totally destroyed my views, But you forgot the meaning of murder.
You see, to murder is to knowingly and purposefully kill someone.
If I saw you walking on the sidewalk and decided to go over and run you over and I killed you, that would be murder. But if I was driving and was in a car crash and ended up killing you, that is not murder.
Similarly, if I accidentally, without intent, killed an animal, it was not murder.
And yeah, even ants deserve to live. I wouldn’t kill ants purposely. Is it hard not to kill ants by accident because they’re so small and you can accidentally step on them without seeing them? Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that I would knowingly kill them.
Guess what, most if not all veggies and vegans are also doing something morally dubious at best.
Care to elaborate? Like are you saying that there is something inherently wrong about veganism or are you saying that vegans are not perfect people and also commit bad acts?
If it’s the first, you need some serious evidence and explanations since scientifically it is established that veganism is healthier, better for the environment, produces more calories per land, water and energy usage, and of course, the animals get to live free of torture.
If it’s the second option, well yeah, no one is perfect. We should all do our best to improve, I wasn’t born a vegan but once I understood what I was doing I stopped it, and it was hard and I had some fallbacks, but eventually I got used to it and had no issues. This is not just about veganism, there are many things in my life that at somepoint I came to understand that they were wrong, and I changed myself to be better. People can do both good and bad things, but if they are aware of the bad stuff and choose to ignore it, that’s when they become bad people.
A simple example from my past is that when I was younger (kid to teen) I thought “nig&er” was just a word for a black person, it was only when a black person explained it to me that I understood the historical and cultural significance of it. Does the fact that I said nig&er made me a bad person? I don’t think so, but if I ignored what I had learned and continued? Yeah, I think that would have been bad.
Jeez, this thread is scary, I forget how many crazy opinions people can have.
Mine is probably that non-human animal lives matter, maybe not exactly in the same way that human lives do, but in a comparable and important way. I believe that murder is murder no matter the animal killed.
And also a maybe close second (not really an opinion but you could argue that I’m too dark about it) is that climate change is far past the point of no return and that in 50 years we are all going to live extremely hard lives (if we even survive) that right now would seem like an apocalypse type fantasy movie.
yeah it’s the phone number. I remember when I made account after like a day they were like “You’re suspended unless you show us a phone number” so I just bought for a few dollars a burner SIM card in a different city so it’s not even associated with me too much, and put it in a phone and just received SMS confirmed that my account is legit and that’s it.
I used a fake name, no profile picture, no friends, and the email was from ProtonMail.
Once I was at the train station as a young college freshman (maybe 1000$ to my name) there was this old guy looked like a grandpa and he told me that he didn’t have any money he lost his wallet and he needs to get some money to take the train and then take a cab back home. He looked so genuine and he really looked like he needed help. But of course the amount he needed was a bit much for me, he asked for 50$. He said that he will pay me back so I gave him my information for a transfer and he promised that he’ll pay me back and he was so thankful and I gave him cash. And of course he never paid me back and later I realized that it’s like a common scam in train stations that some people say they really need money to get somewhere but it’s just a scam.
A few days later at the same train station some lady told me that she had no money and she needed to Take a train to go see her children and this time I was smarter and I told her “no problem Come with me, and I’ll buy you a ticket” and then she was like “no no I need money I need money” so I told her I can’t help her. And then I saw her again the next day and a few more times and apparently she’s like a very common scammer in that area.
50$ for an important life lesson is a good bargain I think.
Imagine being smarter than everyone around you, constantly speaking like you are explaining to a child. You can never truly be angry at people because how could they know any better?
That is how people who think they have a high IQ think, those who actually have it are probably mostly successful academics who are actually pushing humanity forward and are probably not assholes about it because for someone to truly and deeply understand a complex subject they must not only be smart, but also dedicate significant time and effort into learning.
I always found Tony Stark to be a funny character. He is basically the embodiment of what stupid people who they are smart want to be. Like that scene where he figures out time travel in a single night because he is so smart, but of course even an infinitely intelligent being would still need a few weeks of reading just to catch of on the knowledge needed to even understand quantum mechanics properly.