• 7bicycles [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    You know every time this sort of thing comes up everyone (outside hexbear, y'all cool) is like oohhhh noo how horrible how can these people treat animals like consumables or things and like motherfucker have you seen how people eat? Animals aren't actually living beings to most people, they're crops or stuff

    • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      There's also the possibility that many people lost their wfh jobs and now had a pet that they expected to be able to care for, but now couldn't because they were at work all day.

      There's definitely ways to see this phenomenon as less of a massive moral failing of people with pets, and maybe they just knew that they couldn't both work and take care of a pet because their circumstances have changed since the beginning of the pandemic.

      • 7bicycles [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        If you gambled pet ownership on the idea that you would never lose your job or wfh in or after the pandemic that's entirely on you.

        I'm not saying it makes you an irredeemable monster or whatever, but either you didn't think this through one bit or you figured "eh, could always give it away" and I find neither things particularly good when it comes to owning a living being

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I understand, I'm just trying to re-interpret this narrative from "evil people" to "people forced into circumstances that upended their lives"

          I know a lot of people who can juggle a full-time job and a pet by themselves, and they had a pet before the pandemic. This is showing that many more people would be able to care for a pet if they had a more humane work schedule.

          I do see your side though, that a pet to many is seen not as a member of the family, but as a commodity or toy and that can also boil down to societal conditions.

          • 7bicycles [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I understand, I’m just trying to re-interpret this narrative from “evil people” to “people forced into circumstances that upended their lives”

            Never attribute to malice etc. etc.

            I don't think people returning pets are evil. The idea that they are is exactly what I'm critiquing, actually. Everyone getting their panties in a bunch over how evil these people are, meanwhile, no one gives two shits about animals otherwise. Ohhh nooo someone who figured they couldn't care for a dog gave them away to an institution for exactly this scenario, how terrible. I will tell my family this over our veal dinner.

            I do see your side though, that a pet to many is seen not as a member of the family, but as a commodity or toy and that can also boil down to societal conditions.

            I'd argue animal here more than pet since the distinction is arbitrary anyways but otherwise, spot on. I mean this shit is arguably no different than rescuing an animal you didn't want or can care for to me, it's just sort of a "two wrongs make a right" situation here as to what kind of animals it happens to.

            But I do believe that if you're one of these people you should take a look at how you got into the situation and think about the set of values you hold that led you there are all that great or consistent in itself.

            • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              Definitely agree, there's a much deeper discussion to be had here about how animals are treated and commodified by basically all developed societies. We have really moved past the need for meat (something that made more sense when the pastures were natural and smoking could preserve enough calories to last a winter before refrigeration).

              When animals are no longer a necessary source of calories to survive in less fertile climates due to massive increases in agricultural output, there's no conceivable reason to continue their exploitation. However, under the current mode of production, with the political power gained by the ranching class (in America, a direct result of Manifest Destiny and exploitation of native populations of humans and animals), the narrative can never be allowed to enter the realm of sanity.

              There must always be diversion from the systemic powers that create and perpetuate the massively inefficient and unethical meat industry because we can never question it. Only question the ethics of individual "consumers" who interact with that system for which no alternative has been allowed to be built.

              • 7bicycles [he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                Actually doing it to a person makes it a completely different thing because producing kids is an indiscussable human right under any circumstances (for obvious reasons) and getting a dog isnt

                • Ligma_Male [comrade/them]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  what a monstrous take.

                  no one has the right to subject me to what my life has been.

                  • 7bicycles [he/him]
                    ·
                    2 years ago

                    I'm sorry for whatever happened but I don't think whatever happened was intrinsically linked to you being born