Written on January 5, 2024

When is it okay to kill a living being? When it's small? Is it okay to kill a fly that is bothering you in your house? Is it okay to kill a rat? What size does something have to have for it to be morally okay? What about a rabbit? What about chickens, pigs and cows?

Everything seems to have to be conquered. From forests — which are consistently cut down and kept under control so that roads can pass through them without the risk of falling branches — to the verges next to the asphalted roads — the consistent weed policy whereby as soon as a few natural flowers try to grow they must be destroyed immediately — and the multitude of farms where hundreds or even thousands of animals are raised and ultimately slaughtered.

Where do the privileges of the strong end and the rights of the weak begin?

Nowadays it seems as if the weak no longer have any rights and can only obey the powerful and hope that we do not decide to put a gruesome end to them. Animals are worth what we think they are worth and once we decide that they are worth no more than their meat, we are willing to torture and slaughter them generation after generation to achieve that goal. And that animal can do nothing but obey.

In the same way, forests and plants are only worth what we think they are worth and once it is decided that a forest no longer needs to exist so that we can sell some cheap wood, then so be it. Nothing has any intrinsic value anymore, it's only worth is what humanity can get from it.