Self deception

339:

Even if we don’t actually take part in the grisly act of murdering animals ourselves, we give tacit support to those who do, despite feeling sad for the whole sorry business.
It seems that some humans are able to hurt animals without a second thought, whilst others can’t. However, most of us ‘kind-hearted people’ can stand-by and watch-yet-not-watch - it’s a little like seeing the school bully beat up a small kid in the playground and pretending we’re not looking in that direction. I see an ugly news item on TV and see it as if it’s a fiction. I can’t afford to empathise too closely or I’ll be depressed for the rest of the day just thinking about it. Is it disturbing because of the pain of my empathy or the feeling of guilt in my being passive about it?
I can easily imagine the pig as victim of bullying - the pig at the slaughter house being pushed into a chute, for its life to be terminated, and apart from disgust I feel the nastiest prick of conscience if I try to look away. When I decide to do nothing my mind is saying to me “Stop, don’t go there” - I weigh up the advantages of doing nothing and the disadvantages of intervening.
Eating meat. Who’d have thought it? Such an ordinary event. And now, with a greater consciousness of the immorality of doing just that (because it’s involving animal-cruelty) everything should change, but it doesn’t. The surprise is that we can still eat meat and all the associated products and justify it, to lessen the guilt. But once we’re aware it seems pointless to dumb ourselves down ... when we know it’s insupportable.
When there’s nowhere that’s honourable to go, we have to retreat into self-deception. I wouldn’t be surprised if some horrible mental condition weren’t lurking in the background, ready and waiting like a monster to leap out and crush our spirit.