Three cases: (1) a farmer takes good care of his beef animals, except that he tags and castrates them, and eventually slaughters them. His reasoning: being raised for slaughter is the only way these animals would exist at all, and my having any relationship with them at all requires that I relate to them partly as executioner. (2) An Auschwitz guard is as kind to inmates as the rules of his job permit, but he intimidates inmates when other guards are watching and helps to herd inmates into the gas chambers. His reasoning: being in a concentration camp is the only way these people could continue to live, my having any relationship with them at all requires that I relate to them in ways that are sometimes brutal, and that I help to kill them. (3) An elementary teacher in a poor neighborhood treats the children in his class kindly. He knows that they go home to horrific families and neighborhoods, while he goes home to a pleasant suburb. His reasoning: the families they go home to are the only families they have or can have, their best hope for remaining alive. The only way I can have any relationship with these children at all is by having this bordered, professional, 9 to 5 relationship.
To what extent is love compatible with participating in the abuse of the creatures we love, or in tolerating and condoning that abuse?
Posted by shea0017 at August 19, 2004 9:06 PM