Doing what we’re good at

Humans dealing with ‘underlings’, pushing them down at one moment and being friendly the next, using this confusion tactic to emphasise that there’s no actual regard for the individual, just a wish to get the most from them. If they are deemed essential to our survival, as are food animals, we enslave them and kill them too. What we do to animals is undoubtedly the ultimate in violence.!
I like to think that, at heart, humans are non-violent. We’re naturally friendly. We’re not natural tormentors, we’re much better at alleviating pain and appreciating beauty. And we do that a lot of the time. Many humans like making life smoother for others, like being good neighbours. We act usefully to help the vulnerable, not just out of kindness but because we are fascinated by the paradox, the contradictions and the empathy and challenge of it. Humans can be very caring for ‘the other’, whether it’s an ecosystem, a needy person or a companion animal. We get involved in ‘foreign causes’ and we do it, to some extent, out of kindness but mainly we do it because it’s interesting, it’s challenging and it’s about being on the repair end of a problem, somewhere. That’s the allure, the chance to observe something not immediately understandable. Number-one hobby for humans is exploring how close we can get, to experience ‘other fascinating consciousnesses’. Closeness is satisfying. That’s proved by the affection we feel for our companion animals at home. We like having company and we’re good at being companions ourselves. We’re great lookers-afters. It’s one of our greatest skills.
That’s what humans do and do well. But we don’t seem to appreciate that with talent comes both privilege and responsibility. And the balancing of these great forces is what the adult experience boils down to. And that should be enough for us. The source and subject of our complete satisfaction. But it isn’t.
And because it isn’t we engage in diversions, the worst of which is killing. When we lend our financial support to the animal industries in any form whatsoever we betray animals. We know we do it and yet we’re torn by the fact that the animals are our most reliable resource. They are vulnerable and available. It’s guaranteed that from animals we can satisfy many of our primary needs, be it food, shoe leather or wool. The animal industries meet our demand. And their raw product is alive before they kill it, reducing the animals they use to mere ‘foodstuffs’ and commodities. The consumer is torn between the need to be contemptuous of animals to access the product needed and the chance to be rid of it all and to enjoy a guiltless and beautiful relationship with them.
For most of us animals aren’t the means by which we make our living. That we eat them as food is an anomaly because we have no reason to. We kill them as food but not out of hatred nor really for any very convincing reason. Most often the whole abattoir-butcher-meat-eating thing is an unthought-out activity. But if one were to think about it, one would probably opt for the benign relationship with animals, if only to feel happier.
As a person moves towards becoming vegetarian they get acquainted with their own sensitivity, to see a need and then respond to it. The reward is in being closer to other living entities and addressing their problems (and farm animals sure have a lot of problems). And thus by doing what we’re best at we enjoy all the pleasure of a heightened sensitivity.