Mason  🏃‍♂️ ✂️

Do you guys think that working as a butcher/farmer has always damaged empathy? Or is it only industrial methods that are the problem? Or is it because it’s less common for modern people to see (therefore more shocking)? Do you think hunters have damaged empathy too? (Real Qs)

I have a very hard time killing anything myself and I do think you probably have to sort of break a bit to do it easily, but broadly no. FWIW, a lot of traditional farmers contract out slaughter, which I think may be healthier for everyone involved

There was one instance where I really felt I had to kill a baby chicken that had been suffering and declining over ~24 hours, and not only was it very distressing for me but I suspect that someone who had no attachment to the poor thing would have done it slightly more quickly

In any case, I grew up in Texas & met some very animal welfare-oriented ranchers — they seem to see the premature death as necessary for the quite nice life that precedes it. Whether that's convincing or not, it's miles from "I torture animals so my employer can cut costs"

Thanks for replying! Awesome and interesting answer which I broadly agree with... ...except I wonder if it’s true that you have to break something in yourself to kill for food. (And I wonder about this as someone who also really struggles with this, like you described)

Essentially, to what extent do we naturally hate to see things suffer and die (which I think we naturally do), and what extent is it a post-processed-food era conceit that we might struggle emotionally with, for example, hunting for food?

How much of it is an extension of people who, for example, are revolted to think of chicken breast as muscle, or of a chicken laying an egg? A disconnect from the real world due to lack of knowledge, rather than the natural state of things which has to be forcibly interrupted?

I definitely agree that it’s not the same as industrial farming which I imagine must involve some suspension of empathy