Yet another nail in the coffin of human exceptionalism. Consider not what you are eating, but who.
To those who would downvote, I encourage you to read the following:
https://aeon.co/essays/human-exceptionalism-is-a-danger-to-a...
To those who would downvote, I encourage you to read the following:
https://aeon.co/essays/human-exceptionalism-is-a-danger-to-a...
The argument isn't convincing. It relies on a tired rethorical trick: invent some syndrome, claim it is the basis for something you don't like, then taint the syndrome. It doesn't convince. And in this case, the outcome will be negative: once everyone fully realizes we're just normal animals, why not behave like them? Meat's back on the menu.
I see no problem with hunter-gatherers’ predation of wildlife, provided they act in ecological balance with their environment (and they do tend to, out of self-preservation).
That’s not the world the vast majority of us live in though. We kill on the order of 1 trillion animals every year. We’re devastating Earth’s biosphere for the sake of an unnecessary dietary choice.
We’ll reap what we sow, sooner or later.
Lions hunt and eat pretty, they also regularly kill cubs when taking over a pride. Does that make infanticide acceptable?
This argument is at least as silly as the parent's.
This is an interesting take. If we refactor meat out of our diets out of empathy, wouldn't that imply human exceptionalism considering non-human carnivores and omnivores haven't been observed doing the same?
Opting out of meat is only really possible for us because of farming. Other species lack the physical capabilities to farm as we do. Nor can they communicate to us the depth of their cognitive capabilities.
Rejecting human exceptionalism is not the same as saying we are indistinguishable from non-human animals (which would be absurd to argue), rather that our distinctions do not make us inherently more worthy.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210405113606.h...
Wild pollinators are being assaulted by pesticides and by honey bees outcompeting them. This matters because honey bees do not pollinate all the plants we care about.
Whole regions of China have managed to exterminate their pollinator species, such that fruit trees must be pollinated by hand.