A #dog #bakery in #Madrid today.
I have said with pride that I can’t be offended, that I’m immune to that.
I’m still not offended by the existence of “dog bakeries” — but it gets close to that.
I don’t blame specifically the shop owners (who detected a market need) or the clients (who are vulnerable to whims, curiosity and overindulgence, like anyone who cares for another creature). I blame us all, collectively, for creating a society and a moral code that enables this and doesn’t give a second thought to the logic (or lack thereof) behind this.
Our priorities are so skewed. Our allocation of resources, empathy and attention is zero-sum. We neglect unthinkable quantities of suffering afflicting billions of sentient beings every day but pay for a spoiled caniche to eat a cute cupcake.
@tripu It seems that there is an urgent need to be distracted from horrible things happening.
I think we should not strive to be distracted from calamities and suffering.
@tripu I agree, yet the preconditions for such thinking are not available to everyone, sadly.
@tripu @admitsWrongIfProven Nonsense. Nobody can bear the weight of the world on their shoulders 24/7. We all need distractions from time to time.
@LouisIngenthron @tripu I interpreted it as "we should not be distracted 24/7". Of course focussing on suffering every waking minute is not good or realistic.
@admitsWrongIfProven Well, sure, but you can replace the X in "we should not be X 24/7" with just about anything and that sentence still holds true.
Even objectively good things, like exercise or charitable giving, become bad without moderation.
Of course we need distractions. There are many distractions that are gratis, productive, generous, creative — or at least neutral. And there are distractions were we can justify real improvement in well-being for us or for others.
Choosing to spend your time visiting a “dog bakery” and to pay for a fake carrot cake to actually malnourish and spoil a poodle which couldn’t care less about the texture of the thing or the colours of its toppings (or about how well it shows on Instagram, or about the childish impulses of its owner) ticks none of the boxes above, and is so patiently decadent, pointless and wasteful that I wouldn’t put it in the same box as “doing the crossword”, “watching a TV programme” or “juggling”.
Just an opinion.
@tripu @LouisIngenthron While i agree in principle, there are other things that strike me as more of a problem. An example would be the ski olympics taking place despite having to destroy glaciers to do it. I guess the bakery is just more in your face, harder to ignore?
I don’t know much about that issue you mention, and I’m happy to be educated.
Can we agree both things are bad?
@tripu Of course.
Both are, the bakery you mentioned more in an “evidencing a general underlying problem with little direct effect”, the ski thing more wanton destruction of the environment in a very direct way.
I can only find german sources, as this takes place in Austria. To summarize, the glacier used for the event is not adequate for it and a lot of construction takes place to make it possible. Organizers say this was not a big deal, while environmental activists and athletes disagree and demand to either postpone or cancel the event.
@tripu @LouisIngenthron Oops, it’s not austria but on the border between switzerland and italy… only most of the news coverage was austrian. Sorry!
Found a source in english, here you go: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/ski-competition-steals-snow-from-vanishing-glacier-for-race-course/ar-AA1iI5IG
…billions of sentient beings, human and non-human.
…for a spoiled caniche to eat a cute cupcake in five seconds, deriving no special pleasure from it (it’s a treat for its owner), and being effectively worse nourished compared to unremarkable inexpensive regular feed for mascots.