Life is full of the most horrible pain and suffering you can't imagine. We can't stop and shed a tear every time someone meets their fate, let alone every time some poor creature does.
So, yes, I can absolutely watch those videos without a shred of emotion. It's called compartmentalization.
That's certainly true and I do this with suffering I feel unable to do anything about. But in the case of factory farming, I decided that it is insane and I don't want anything to do with it.
However, it's not just that I feel bad about animals being killed or tortured. Factory farming is also simply disgusting and I don't want to eat the food it produces.
'Adorable' and 'little' have nothing to do with the ethics of it all. In any case, it's amusing to read urbanites' views on chickens. I'd encourage them to spend some time around chickens. We have the insults 'chicken-brained' or 'chicken-head' for a reason... domesticated chickens are perhaps the stupidest creatures you'll meet. The biggest question one ponders while watching chickens is NOT 'are they happy?' Rather, it's 'are these things even conscious?'
Be careful, if those urbanites perfect their solar-powered lab-grown meat, they might stop asking whether rural folk are happy, and wonder 'are these things even conscious?' as they leave them to die...
Sure, it's got nothing to do with ethics. I'm just curious how people feel about this. I'm definitely not ok with it, so I want to avoid supporting these practices.
I also don't think the fact that chickens are dumb makes it less insane and cruel to produce, torture and kill them on a massive scale.
If it were, how about pigs? They get a really shitty deal during production in animal farm as well. They are supposedly quite smart, definitely concious and able to feel pain and suffering.
The happiest moment of their lives is probably when (if) they realize they are about to be killed.
Sympathy towards animals is admirable. But, there is a certain naïveté that surrounds this issue with those unfamiliar with livestock.
You mention pigs. We raised pigs. Not cages... just typical barnyard animals with acres to wander around. When a sow gave birth, it was routine for her to step on or roll over onto a few piglets and kill them. And, of course the runt(s) would die within days; we'd hold them by the rear legs and slam them into the side of the barn. Killed fast. Never considered using nitrogen to suffocate then. Never worried much about how many milliseconds it took for pain to travel to their brain in the moment before they were knocked out. Seems sort of silly.
And don't get me started on chickens. Domesticated chickens are hideous... roosters more so. Try raising a group of roosters and chickens and see what happens. They aren't the most civilized creatures. In any case, I keep ssying 'domesticated' chickens... I'm sure Whatever wild poultry these thing came from are probably normal. But, damn... I'm telling you... We have bred the IQ out of chickens... they are the closest thing to automatons you will find in a barnyard. I have more sympathy and respect for cockroaches than chickens.
