If you're not willing to do LJ support...

[avram]

You’ve probably seen this argument: If you’re not willing to personally kill and butcher an animal, you shouldn’t eat meat.


If you’re not willing to personally do construction work, you shouldn’t live in a building.

If you’re not willing to personally tailor cloth, you shouldn’t wear clothing.

If you’re not willing to personally grind your own pigments, you shouldn’t paint.

If you’re not willing to personally write an OS kernel from scratch, you shouldn’t use a computer.

If you’re not willing to personally sing in public, you shouldn’t listen to songs.

If you’re not willing to personally bear/father a child, you shouldn’t adopt.

If you’re not willing to personally break CO₂ down into carbon and oxygen, you shouldn’t breathe.

Comments

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Aw, come on. There's a world of difference between factual awareness that "beef comes from cows" (but only by way of shrink-wrapped plastic trays in the supermarket refrigerator case), and grasping the corporeal presence of a Real Live Cow whose body is being turned to your sustenance.

[avram]

OK, let’s grant that such a difference exists. How to you tell, in real life, the difference between people who have the factual awareness and people who grasp the corporeal presence? Have you ever known people in real life who had the first and not the second, and how did you tell? Did you know them well, so that you could verify that this was a real difference, and not just a result of you happening to have a one-minute conversation with them on a day when they’d gotten no sleep the night before or were all stressed out from work and therefore not thinking clearly?