What if you were forced to do something you didn’t believe in?
Have you ever been met with a really difficult question on something in which you strongly believe? Here’s one that I got recently: So you don’t believe it’s justified that animals are kept as property? I was doing some work in Mexico a couple years back, and let me tell you; without animals, some of these small poor family farms just couldn’t survive. They just couldn’t. It’s their way of life. Do you think it’s wrong that these people use animals? What else can they do? Another variation might be: So you don’t eat animal products? What if you were on a desert island and all there was to eat was a pig. The pig survives on a plant (we’ll say) that you can’t consume. Or What if your son needed an animal product to save his life? What if his life-saving medication was made of animal products? Sometimes I just don’t answer these questions, at least not right away. It’s not to be hostile nor that I’m avoiding them. I don’t answer the questions because they’re entrapping to begin with. Essentially, these questions are asking, So you don’t believe x, what if you were in a situation where your only option would be to do x? My response is, Then I would do x. Apparently, I have to. While you’re giggling about taking ecstasy, realize the point is: if I am a hypocrite for doing x, something I don’t believe in by definition, it follows that no matter what the belief might be, any belief is hypocritical. This of course is not true. Most of us don’t believe in stabbing someone, but we might excuse this if we were defending ourselves, or a schoolbus full of children. What if we are forced to do something we didn’t believe in? Well who cares? We’re forced. What does this tell us about that belief in and of itself? Of course, holding a certain stance against doing something can provide difficulties now and then. However, what does this have to say about morality? So no, I have no trip planned in the future to shame poor farmers for using animals nor do I intend to let my child die so as to prevent using animal products. But is this really the conversation we should be having? What about the use of animal products outside of dire circumstances? What about every meal to which we sit down? What about clothing or occasional visits to the zoo? The question, in daily life circumstances, turns around: Forget deserted islands or life-saving medication. How can we possibly justify the enslavement of so many billions of animals every year? Can we really excuse this behavior because it provides us comfort, entertainment, or amusement at the extreme expense of other sentient beings?
