[upinsmoke1980]

> why is it okay to inflict pain and suffering only on the less intelligent animals?

I don't think anyone argues that it's okay to inflict pain and suffering on animals. We do inflict pain and suffering on factory-farmed animals, but most people oppose it (at least in a half-assed verbal manner; people say they don't like it but still buy products made in that way, in the same way people say they care about slavery and racism and inequality and exploitation of the third world but don't change their consumer behaviour to avoid supporting those things.)

[globular-toast]

That's because consumers don't have any power to stop it. I wish people would stop with the whole "if only people cared enough to vote with their wallet". We've got hundreds of years of evidence that it does not work. If you want change that doesn't benefit corporations, you've got to do it through the government.

[saiya-jin]

I agree government is the most efficient way (at least a non-corrupted one), but people do have a choice and they do vote with their wallet, I see it every time I do shopping.

Anytime they opt for cheap chicken meat instead of at least free range one, any time they buy cheap crappy farmed salmon instead of wild catched one, they say loud and clear they just couldn't care less. People that buy cheap fruits instead of BIO ones. And so on.

Stop acting like mankind is a bunch of saints oppressed by evil corporations, we are often lazy and oblivious when it suits us and can come up with endless stream of excuses for why so.

[nickserv]

When salaries haven't kept up with inflation for something like 30 years, it's perfectly understandable for people to buy the cheaper option. For many families it's not really about choice, but survival.

In fact buying everything bio/organic, free-range, artisanal, etc is sometimes just used for wealth-signalling.

[chmod775]

At the end of the day you could also just go vegan/vegetarian, which also happens to be way cheaper than meat.

[globular-toast]

Again with the "why don't you just..."

It doesn't work. A few people choosing to go vegetarian or vegan changes nothing. Something like 80% of people who try it revert to meat within a year. It's the same with people choosing to stop driving. If you try it you'll just notice nobody else gives a shit and you're making this huge sacrifice while they continue to have fun. Anything like this can only work if we all do it together.

[chmod775]

This wasn't about "why dont' you just", the entire thread you're replying to was about whether or not people have a choice and can vote with their wallets.

I argue they do.

> It's the same with people choosing to stop driving.

Depends on where you live. If there is good public transport infrastructure, more people may decide not to drive.

I don't even own a car, and not because of some environmental reasoning, but because it's more of a hassle than it's worth. I fully understand that this is not possible if ones lives in the US however.

So instead of prying people from their cars, the solution is probably to have good alternatives.

However not every indulgence has good alternatives.

And lastly, it's not the same. Your comparison is completely disingenuous. You may need a car. It is a utility. But you don't need meat.

> If you try it you'll just notice nobody else gives a shit and you're making this huge sacrifice while they continue to have fun.

If it is your stated belief that it is wrong to eat certain meat, and you do so anyways, you're just a massive hyprocrite. What others are doing doesn't even factor into it. Justifying your own behavior with what someone else is doing is just whataboutism.