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ZorbaTHut  2yr ago (text post)   45539 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 5, 2022

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I don't agree it's a controversial axiom. It's controversial when phrased so bluntly, but blunt phrasing is my nature. All moral systems, with only one eccentric exception I can think of, boil down to it.

"I support good things and oppose evil things. Good things are , where X is whatever my personal moral system supports. This might be God, it might be Secular Humanism, it might be Progressivism. These things provide a framework for judging the world, a framework which I embrace because I personally believe it to be conducive to human flourishing. I like this framework because it enables me to impose my personal biases on the people around me while appealing to a seemingly neutral platform."

The exception is sincere anti-humanist sentiment, ala "we should all die and go extinct", but even that ultimately derives from personal misanthropy and an aesthetic preference for nature (or non-existence, in the case of severe nihilistic depression).

But in the end, it's all just people asserting X is good. And that's fine. I assert meat is tasty and that makes it good, and most of humanity agrees with me. Some don't, but I don't worry about them.

I agree with your moral framework as far as I can tell. I suppose I would say I think extending our moral circle to non-human animals would be good for flourishing. The more mercy we show in general, the better I think our society can become. Not just in terms of physical violence, but more importantly mercy in interactions with others. The principle of charity and all that.

Essentially, I think if we choose to be better to animals, we will be better to ourselves.

I get along far better with hunters than members of PETA, so I don't think your notion is very sound. I have much more kinship with people who kill animals and are personally acquainted with their rearing and slaughter than I do the people who breathlessly advocate for them. As far as I can tell, if the world embraced a serious conception of animal rights, I would find that world more toxic, not less.

I have no problem with hunters, several of my family members hunt and I love them dearly. I also have problems with PETA vegans, and in my experience most vegans I know also hate PETA for a variety of reasons.

My problem is with factory farming specifically, and the cold, machine-like processing of billions of beings that are genetically pretty close to us. I care nothing for insects, for example.

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