The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.
— Thomas Babington Macaulay
REFLECTION
— Thomas Babington Macaulay
REFLECTION
A moral objection is sometimes aimed at the enjoyment rather than the harm. That distinction is worth being able to see, because the two feel identical from inside and lead to very different places: one wants the suffering stopped, the other mainly wants the pleasure stopped, and it will accept an outcome that leaves the harm untouched.
Test your own disapproval occasionally. Ask whether you would be satisfied if the damage were removed but the enjoyment continued. If the answer is no, the objection is about something other than what you have been saying, and it is better to know that before you act on it.
Which of your objections is really about other people’s pleasure?
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.