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White Court: emotions

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Ananda:

--- Quote from: Arjan on October 13, 2018, 07:29:38 PM ---Sure but an intelligent creature that eats humans is usually seen as evil. An animal gets a pass because it is not intelligent enough to be considered truly evil.

--- End quote ---
Humans have entire industry setup where the unnecessarily cruel treatment of animals for food is done to save a few coins rather than making a little less profit but treating the animals ethically. Countries like america, germany, danmark are among the worst in the west (not that there aren’t exceptions in each place). One assumes the DF universe is the same as ours in that respect. This would make the categorisation of eating free ranged humans here and there as “evil” a bit rich. Of course, we’re not very logical animals and cognitive dissonance is a thing. :)

Fcrate:

--- Quote from: Ananda on October 14, 2018, 10:51:45 PM ---Humans have entire industry setup where the unnecessarily cruel treatment of animals for food is done to save a few coins rather than making a little less profit but treating the animals ethically. Countries like america, germany, danmark are among the worst in the west (not that there aren’t exceptions in each place). One assumes the DF universe is the same as ours in that respect. This would make the categorisation of eating free ranged humans here and there as “evil” a bit rich. Of course, we’re not very logical animals and cognitive dissonance is a thing. :)

--- End quote ---
You're absolutely right. They're not evil for feeding, they're evil for feeding on us, and we have to stomp the bastards to the ground on general principle.
I work on an animal farm here, and while we do the whole ethics thing (the owners are religious, gentle souls), I often thought in my earlier years that if the bulls ever realized they're going to be eaten, and decided to do something about it, we'd be royally fucked.

Arjan:

--- Quote from: Ananda on October 14, 2018, 10:51:45 PM ---Humans have entire industry setup where the unnecessarily cruel treatment of animals for food is done to save a few coins rather than making a little less profit but treating the animals ethically. Countries like america, germany, danmark are among the worst in the west (not that there aren’t exceptions in each place). One assumes the DF universe is the same as ours in that respect. This would make the categorisation of eating free ranged humans here and there as “evil” a bit rich. Of course, we’re not very logical animals and cognitive dissonance is a thing. :)

--- End quote ---
It is all very logical, it is about "Us" and "Them". To even consider cruelty to animals a thing you have to feel empathy for them, you have to include them in a group that includes you. Human history is partly about expanding the "Us" when civilization proceeds. We can hardly expect civilization to proceed if the humans in the next village are primarily seen as a good source of proteins.

That is why in war the first thing propaganda does is to dehumanize the enemy. Maybe in future they have to be deanimalized as well.

One of the ways to do so is to call them evil of course. And the enemy that hides between you and eats you is as evil as it can get. They might not see themselves as evil because after all we are just cattle and not included in the group they empathize with but for us it is quite clear. Unless you empathize with the guy who eats you and I am not going that far.

Though I can empathize with the guy who eats my neighbor at the moment.

Ananda:
I think you may have shifted the goal a bit. Your first statement seemed to be a sweeping characterisation of their objective place in that universe. Your follow up statement is now more a human endemic point of view.

Also, I’d point out that your supporting examples for your logic argument are direct appeals to emotion.

In my opinion, if examining the food chain logically, those higher on it eat those who are lower. There is no value judgement for choosing to live by eating. The value judgment only enters on how you do it and *that* is where empathy and sympathy live and only because we’ve evolved these systems likely as part of a species survival mechanism (as all mammals and many other species). The concept of “evil” itself is just a mirror back to these chemical reactions in our brains as our developed minds attempt to find patterns and meaning when these evolved mechanisms and our ability to interpret them exceeded the initial design. Hydrogen has no such hangups. :)

And, no judgement there. Personally, I think we’re captives to our chemical reactions and the emotions they cause combined with socialisation, circumstances, et cetera. I don’t even think we have free will as we think of it, but that’s another topic.

As for your neighbour, have you ever considered a pet tiger? I hear they have fearful symmetry. Our cat might help, too. She’s on an allergy diet for two months and her canned food’s main ingredient is potato peels so she’s craving meat. She now wakes me daily at 4.00, 4.30, 5.00 and so to loudly complain about the lack of chicken on her plate.

morriswalters:
Evil need never appear in this argument.  I love my dog but if she starts eating the neighbors I will put her down. It wouldn't make her evil, just dangerous.

To to OP, As long as they don't kill me, stand up comics can make me laugh all they want.

And JB(Harry)'s moral compass doesn't seem to have a true north.  He's gonna put down Lara, because she eats people, and yet his brother gets invited to all his birthday parties.  In a cheesy horror movie people would be yelling at the screen saying, "You'll be sorry."

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