Evil is best known through examples, and the production and consumption of crush videos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush_fetish are about as clear an example of grotesque wickedness as one can find. These videos involve people stomping on little animals for the sexual pleasure of their degenerate viewers. The animals suffer horrifyingly, getting literally stomped to death. I suspect few will disagree when I say that purchasing crush videos is severely morally wrong.
Suppose we want to explain why purchasing crush videos is wrong. Here is my thesis: it is wrong because you shouldn’t cause animals extreme suffering for comparatively minor personal benefit. You shouldn’t beat a dog because you find it funny. You shouldn’t set a cat on fire for minor convenience. You shouldn’t burn live cats for biofuel.
The other explanation one might give is that it’s wrong to derive sexual pleasure in sadistic ways. Yet this, I think, cannot be the whole story. If a person burns a live cat to illuminate a cave or for biofuel (imagining that live cats were a marginally more efficient energy source than alternatives) they would be acting wrongly. Similarly, it would be wrong to set a cat on fire because it released a pleasing odor—even though presumably the enjoyment of the odor would be non-sadistic.
Meat eating is like purchasing animal crush videos
