Monday, May 18, 2015

Humans win the day

1368: 

By associating with the cage-building anti-altruists, by buying their products, consumers condone what they have done to animals. In other words, they show their acceptance of cruelty when it comes to the production of food and clothing from animals.  

Since we humans have corralled and kept animals captive for our own convenience, we have learnt the benefits of cruelty.  We know it is opposite to empathy, just as we know that it runs counter to the central tenet of altruism.  But nevertheless we do it, 'for the best' - our best.
         
Take eggs for instance.  Scarce during the hungry times of the second world war, but afterwards plentiful.  When we allowed the cage to be used as an emergency means of feeding hungry people, we neglected to write in a twilight clause, and so it has continued.  Now 'caged' eggs are mass produced, available everywhere, and cheap.  The food industry uses them liberally to make their products rich and attractive. People are hooked on them, and like so many other animal products, we buy them because we like the taste of them.
         
Perhaps people didn’t see the ethical dangers when factory farming started.  All those lovely cheap eggs, and who knew or cared where they came from?  Boycotting the battery cage would have proved very inconvenient for all concerned, so it continued.  The animal industries were proud to be supplying cheap food, and consumers were dazzled by the new food-aplenty improvements to their lifestyle.  Too bad if billions of animals had to suffer.
         
We thought we were going to get away with it - at last it was proven that humans can rule Nature, by perfecting the enslavement of animals.  Score to date: humans one: animals zero.


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