This might sound weird, but why is vegetarianism invalid while "piracy" isn't? - eviltoast

I’ve had a certain debate a few times where you might say we argue over the “semantics” of the meat industry.

I am what you would call a vegetarian. While vegetarians won’t eat things that caused harm to produce, a vegan won’t eat anything having to do with an animal. A lot of those who would fall under the latter category hate us because they say anything that remotely resembles someone enjoying an animal product is supporting the meat industry which then kills animals, which means merely eating an animal product makes someone a murderer.

Meanwhile, there’s this concept many call piracy. It’s the idea that, as the meme proverbially puts it, “you can download a car”. The idea here, which I say in the way I do because there’s still an ongoing debate about it, is that it affects nobody. But then there’s the whole industry thing I mentioned. People on the other side of the debate often say “well what about the industry”. I’m not sure where on the scale in this topic you might put me, but I feel like there’s a glaring contradiction here. When it comes to animals, people think of the industry, but otherwise that’s not a factor.

My question is… why?

  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    Piracy is much more widespread than veganism. It’s also much more penalized, both legally and socially.

    And third, while there are definitely vegan software pirates, there’s really not much overlap between critics of veganism and critics of software piracy. It’s two different groups complaining.

    • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      That’s exactly my point. There is no overlap. That’s what I was asking the reasoning of. There’s not a huge analogous overlap, no, but that industry aspect sticks out to me.