Marshalling yourself in this way, reflects poorly on your movement. If I imagine myself as a member of this family, I would react poorly to the behaviour displayed. And would be repulsed by this movement, which can make someone act in such a way.
Now, I don’t share your emotional reaction to animal cruelty, and plausibly I am less empathetic. But consider what your emotional reaction here is doing, compare it to abstract acknowledgement of the harms and kind, thoughtful but confident explanations of your veganism.
And as a matter of scope, your reaction here is incorrect. The terror you saw at that table is as nothing compared to the industrial farming conditions as a whole. Reacting to it as a synecdoche of the agricultural system does not seem useful. It seems paralyzing.
Also, promoting norms of disassociation among vegans makes veganism even more unappealing than it already is.
Once cruelty free meats are cheap, and veganism itself becomes a cheap signal, those looking back from the future at your pledge will admire this uncompromising stance. But in terms of actually doing the most good for animals, I suspect it is harmful.
And as a matter of scope, your reaction here is incorrect. [...] Reacting to it as a synecdoche of the agricultural system does not seem useful.
On my reading, the OP is legit saddened by that individual turkey. One could argue that scope demands she be a billion times sadder all the time about poultry farming in general, but that’s infeasible. And I don’t think that’s a reductio against feeling sad about an individual turkey.
Sometimes, sadness and crying are about integrating one’s beliefs. There’s an intuitive part of your mind that doesn’t understand your models of big, global problems. But, like a child, it understands the small tragedies you encounter up close. If it’s shocked and surprised, then it is still learning what the rest of you knows about the troubles of the world. If it’s angry and outraged, then there’s a sense in which those feelings are “about” the big, global problems too.
Marshalling yourself in this way, reflects poorly on your movement. If I imagine myself as a member of this family, I would react poorly to the behaviour displayed. And would be repulsed by this movement, which can make someone act in such a way.
Now, I don’t share your emotional reaction to animal cruelty, and plausibly I am less empathetic. But consider what your emotional reaction here is doing, compare it to abstract acknowledgement of the harms and kind, thoughtful but confident explanations of your veganism.
And as a matter of scope, your reaction here is incorrect. The terror you saw at that table is as nothing compared to the industrial farming conditions as a whole. Reacting to it as a synecdoche of the agricultural system does not seem useful. It seems paralyzing.
Also, promoting norms of disassociation among vegans makes veganism even more unappealing than it already is.
Once cruelty free meats are cheap, and veganism itself becomes a cheap signal, those looking back from the future at your pledge will admire this uncompromising stance. But in terms of actually doing the most good for animals, I suspect it is harmful.
On my reading, the OP is legit saddened by that individual turkey. One could argue that scope demands she be a billion times sadder all the time about poultry farming in general, but that’s infeasible. And I don’t think that’s a reductio against feeling sad about an individual turkey.
Sometimes, sadness and crying are about integrating one’s beliefs. There’s an intuitive part of your mind that doesn’t understand your models of big, global problems. But, like a child, it understands the small tragedies you encounter up close. If it’s shocked and surprised, then it is still learning what the rest of you knows about the troubles of the world. If it’s angry and outraged, then there’s a sense in which those feelings are “about” the big, global problems too.