Quote:Choosing to not eat meat from factory farms is not even making an iota of a dent in the problem, of factory farm suffering. Do you honestly think that being a vegetarian makes a significant impact in factory farming? I assure you, it doesn't. You know why? Because most of the world doesn't care. Their numbers completely overwhelm you! They don't have that open heart you're referring to. So at the end of the day, the only way it is going to end is if the people doing the killing stop, and isn't realistic from my point of view. A Lot of vegetarian/vegan folk want to think that eating meat is synonymous with the killing of the animals. It's not from my perspective. And not eating the meat is no better than eating the meat. Not eating it is making their sacrifice truly meaningless, and is wasteful of their vessel. And also, again, doesn't significantly affect the problem of factory farming suffering (maybe if you got the whole world to do it -- good luck).
How can you say that nothing will change because no one cares, but that those who do care aren't making a dent in the problem? The more people who DO care, the more change will happen. Soon, the number of people who do care will overwhelm those who don't. That's 4D positive!
http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/how-much-me...-now-1792/
As far as the work mentioned by Icaro - the STO path requires sacrifice of energy to do any work. We can sacrifice our own energy or the energy of others. Gardening is hard, but is it as hard as the idea of having to kill the animals yourself for food? (let alone the work gone into raising the animals...)
Also, I do not equate eating meat with killing, but I do think paying for meat contributes to the problem of factory farms. I think abstaining from paying for meat and using alternative, ethical food sources helps alleviate the problem of factory farms. You can insert any other example of contribution/alleviation into those sentences that you'd like. I refuse to be nihilistic and say no one cares, so the problem is insurmountable, and no dent can be made by a single person.