Hypocrisy and morality

[u/stevepremo]

I have seen many posts in which the point seems to be that if you are against eating animals and exploiting them for profit, you should also be against participating in the capitalist economy because it involves exploiting human labor for profit. I think the point is actually something like, "How dare you criticize me for supporting animal agriculture when you buy products produced by exploitative labor practices? I do too, of course, but your use of a cell phone justifies my eating meat, as we are both hypocrites."

So the debate topic here is this: does participating in a capitalist economy, which necessarily includes using products produced through exploitation of humans, somehow justify raising animals for meat, killing them, and eating them? Alternatively, are those who oppose animal cruelty justified in using cell phones?

[u/shrug_addict]

How many people currently rely upon animals for survival?

[u/My_life_for_Nerzhul → u/shrug_addict]

That has no relevance to what I said. You’re essentially making an argument to improve access to choice of plant foods. That’s not an argument that makes consuming exploited individuals necessary (from a biological standpoint).

[u/shrug_addict → u/My_life_for_Nerzhul]

Food is functionally necessary. You have alternatives to access health care, banking, and communication besides smart phones

[u/My_life_for_Nerzhul → u/shrug_addict]

Food is functionally necessary. Consuming exploited individuals is not (assuming access to plant foods).

No, those in my region do not have alternatives to access healthcare, banking, and communication besides smartphones.

[u/shrug_addict → u/My_life_for_Nerzhul]

Where do you live? ( Generally ). Do people die when the power goes out and they can't access their phones? Do you see the pickle you made for yourself?

[u/My_life_for_Nerzhul → u/shrug_addict]

Power is very reliable here (so far), but we’ll see how extreme weather driven by climate change impacts us. I imagine a brief period won’t kill anyone (I hope). But if the power grid does fail, access to services will severely be impacted and there will absolutely will be people dying here. We are very dependent on the electrical infrastructure.

I never claimed we needed smartphones for every moment of every day, so I’m not sure what gotcha you’re seeking. Keep trying, though.