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fubarobfusco comments on The Level Above Mine - Less Wrong
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There have always been those who would pull the wings off flies, stomp on mice, or torture kittens. Setting roosters, fish, or dogs to fight each other to death remains a well-known spectacle in many rural parts of the world. In Shakespeare's day, Londoners enjoyed watching dogs slowly kill bulls or bears, or be killed by them; in France they set bushels of cats on fire to watch them burn. Public executions and tortures, gladiatorial combat among slaves, and other nonconsensual "blood sports" have been common in human history.
What's the difference?
Scale.
The average individual could not hold private gladiatorial contests, on a whim, at negligible cost. Killing a few innocents by torture, as public spectacle, is significantly less than repeatedly torturing large groups, as private entertainment, for as little as the average individual would have paid for their ticket to the cockfight.
Also, some people reckon the suffering of animals doesn't matter. They're wrong, but they wouldn't care about most of your examples (or at least they would claim it's because they increase the risk you'll do the same to humans, which is a whole different kettle of fish.)
Not to mention the sizeable fraction of car drives who will swerve in order to hit turtles. What the hell is wrong with my species?
Link is broken.
... seriously? Poor turtles >:-(
It was mentioned recently on Yvain's blog and a few months ago on LW (can't find it right now).
Previous discussion of this on LW