Involvement

1644:

Most people today are involved in a live-now-pay-later culture, believing that debts incurred will never have to be paid back. As with money so with every other material advantages we pursue. We accumulate useful stuff and don’t care about wasting or disrespecting it. There is so much for the taking. The things we acquire define us to the extent that our possessions reflect our self-worth; we’re quick to admire ourselves for our cleverness in acquiring so much that gives us pleasure. And since it’s all relatively free - the air, the water, the soil, the flora, the fauna - we take it all for granted. We have no qualms if our systems are unsustainable.

Our wastefulness imprints on each succeeding generation, until we come to today, with our ‘smash and grab’ attitude getting quite out of control. We no longer pass on to the young a sense of responsibility and frugality, instead we show them that resources can be exploited, and life can be lived almost entirely for pleasure.

Probably the greatest 'pleasure' comes from exploiting animals. There are rich pickings here. The supply of animal products is endless. The brilliant human brain has devised systems that generate abundance. We are led to believe that there will always be a constant stream of benefits for those with the cleverest exploitation systems. But it’s only when these systems seem to be dancing nicely to the tune of science and economics that the sting in the tail appears. Eventually it becomes apparent there’s a hidden price to pay, in the form of competition.

Word gets around about 'easy gains', and it follows that the richer the pickings, the more competition there is to win market advantage. It seems, today, that animal farmers have had to inflict ever greater cruelty on animals, to keep costs down and to keep prices low.

And in response to fierce competition, each society lays-to-waste on a grand scale, in order to edge ahead, to stay in business. Throughout the animal-eating world, vast numbers of defenceless animals are massacred. We do terrible things to these animals because we can, and because they can’t fight back, and because the customer wants cheap food. It happens because there are always those unethical operators willing to undercut less-unethical operators. It’s a fact that all omnivores are caught up in this. And it’s also a fact that vegans aren’t caught up in this.