For eating at people’s houses: usually people will have enough side-dishes that if one does not make a big deal of it, one can fill up on non-meat dishes. At worst, there’s always bread.
For going to steakhouse—yes, but at every other place, there’s usually a vegetarian option, if one tries hard enough.
It does make a good case for being an unannoying vegetarian...but being a strict-vegetarian is a useful Schelling point.
These lines of thinking seem to be a pretty big rationalization risk. Does human political behavior really act like cooling atoms? Sure, if thinking that way makes me feel good about my political choices!
These lines of thinking seem to be a pretty big rationalization risk.
I agree with this, but am confused by your criticism of the evaporative cooling metaphor. Rationalization and mechanisms for a group to become more extreme are not the same topic.
And maybe it should, at least if you’re a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you’d probably also value signalling to your social circle that they are, in your opinion, supporting sentient suffering. If the minimizing of which is the reason for you (in the impersonal sense) being a vegetarian.
It does make it more difficult to go to the steakhouse with them, or eat over at their house.
For eating at people’s houses: usually people will have enough side-dishes that if one does not make a big deal of it, one can fill up on non-meat dishes. At worst, there’s always bread.
For going to steakhouse—yes, but at every other place, there’s usually a vegetarian option, if one tries hard enough.
It does make a good case for being an unannoying vegetarian...but being a strict-vegetarian is a useful Schelling point.
These lines of thinking seem to be a pretty big rationalization risk. Does human political behavior really act like cooling atoms? Sure, if thinking that way makes me feel good about my political choices!
I agree with this, but am confused by your criticism of the evaporative cooling metaphor. Rationalization and mechanisms for a group to become more extreme are not the same topic.
I wasn’t responding to the evaporative-cooling metaphor.
And maybe it should, at least if you’re a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you’d probably also value signalling to your social circle that they are, in your opinion, supporting sentient suffering. If the minimizing of which is the reason for you (in the impersonal sense) being a vegetarian.
As a strict vegetarian, that’s never been a problem for me. I’m pretty sure fubarisco is right.