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Comment by allisdust | Hacker News Reader

It's because a vast majority of modern meat eaters don't ever get it into their heads (thanks to the neat packaging) that they are eating a once living being which has a similar body structure to theirs.

The grossing out is purely subconscious thought about this reality. Of course, for those that do enjoy even the cringy bits, this thought is pushed even further deep down. There is not much difference between closing the eyes and eating what ever is kept in the mouth purely relying on sense of taste and opening the eyes and eating a living thing when the sense of taste is dominating everything else.

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Eh, I dunno about that. If I, say, flip over a chicken thigh and eat the kidney that's nestled on the back side (which can be found there depending on butchering method), seeing that organ inevitably makes me think of where it was, and what its function was, in the living creature.

Without having done the butchering myself -- I've seen my meal walking around a couple hours before eating it, and thought about the living animal while I was eating its dead body. That's not really a thought that's "pushed down". I seriously doubt the farmers I'm eating with, who actually are killing the animal and taking it apart, have any difficulty at all with the facts of what they're doing. (Of course, on the other end, people who work in commercial-scale meat processing plants do sometimes have issues with it, but that's a very different environment.)

There is an argument that we should feel disgusted, that there should be a flinching away or buried horror to eating meat, but should does not always result in is or does.

Farming is a way for folks who work with their hands to achieve some degree of self-sovereignty and freedom — laudable goals. Unfortunately, this is often accomplished through gross ethical violations.

All we can do is educate consumers about the benefits of a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet.

I challenge anyone to watch both The Dominion [1] and Forks Over Knives [2], and not walk away from the experience at least semi-curious about WFPB.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQRAfJyEsko

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtnlwqEii2I

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