Comforts

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Those who control the Animal Industries probably do know the consequences for the creatures they abuse but do it all the same. For them, empathy and profits don’t mix, whereas most others do feel empathy for the animals and either suffer from guilt or succumb to a helplessness to change their food habits.
Those who profit from animals have to numb their sensibility - they’ll say “if it works, go for it, whatever it takes”. They don’t have a problem with using animals as a resource. For the rest of us it’s not that simple. There’s a ‘moral’ struggle between what is right for oneself and what is best for others. The struggle may not be conscious, but somewhere there’s probably some awkward feeling about the animals who produce our favourite food products.
Almost all people like the meats and pastries and rich creamy desserts, the cheeses and eggs and milk-made produce. Tucking into them relieves the monotony and stresses of life, and for that reason most people feel that they can’t afford to look too closely at their ‘comfort’ foods. These foods make us feel better, and stronger perhaps ... and so the ugly origins of these foods have to be ignored. If we allowed ourselves, even for a moment, to consider the truth behind our animal-food habits then our sense of morality would be badly shaken; if we dared to take one moment to look at the part we play in the ongoing animal massacre we’d feel ashamed.
It is a massacre whichever way you look at it, even though we have to pretend it isn’t. By pretending we’re NOT engaging in the act of ‘hurting’ (hurting ourselves, hurting animals, hurting the planet, etc) our inner eye is refusing to see what is see-able. It’s laughable to think that we can kid ourselves about this, when we’ve already thought it through in our own minds.
Whether we are an elite 1%’er or amongst the other 99%, we’d probably all be tempted to sell our soul for the chance of making big money. Money cushions fear ... and it isn’t just the wicked who believe this. All over the world humans fear poverty, or fear being forced to ‘live-without’ the things they’re accustomed to. So, we try to get hold of as much of ‘the good stuff’ as we can, to allay this fear. We indulge ourselves in ‘high’ living, rich food, powerful intoxicants. In fact we’ll use anything to relieve the fear of insecurity and the tedium of living as poor people have to.
And where are the animals in all this? Entirely exploited, entirely forgotten, entirely abandoned.