Different types of cuteness
A Pokemon is designed to be considered the ultimate companion for a person, as they say “Every Pokemon is someone’s favorite” and the idea of eating that hits a nerve
Farm animals are taught to us to be sources of food, so even if they’re cute, they’re still seen as a food source first and foremost
That’s a good point. People have an aversion to eating dogs for the same reason - if your culture hasn’t gotten you used to the idea of seeing an animal as food, your empathy will naturally kick in at the thought of killing and eating it.
Are they really different types of cuteness? Maybe cows and pigs aren’t as cute as Pikachu, but rabbits exist… Not to mention Farfetch’d is pretty much just a duck, and the article is about Lechonk which isn’t much cuter than a real pig beyond perhaps the name. And then there’s the fact that many real animals killed for food are babies which tend to be viewed as more cute. I just don’t really get it.
And a lot of people have favorite animals too, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an animal nobody has eaten - and not rarely, some of these animals can be regularly eaten by humans without significant outrage from people who love those animals (rabbits, horses).
(I’m operating under the assumption that we’re not discussing the merits of veganism but simply whether or not it should be surprising that people view animals and Pokémon differently - I don’t think cuteness or indoctrination are relevant factors when it comes to justifying animal exploitation but they can explain mindsets for sure)
Many people simply hold contradictory positions on things for no other reason than “I’ve never really thought about them”. Chuds will fly a thin blue line flag in one hand and a Gadsen in the other and either don’t care or legitimately don’t see the contradiction. Many people can also think that cows are intelligent, cute, and also food
Sure. It’s pretty common. Still worth pointing out the contradictions, sometimes that’s all it takes for people to want to go vegan. Well that or they will go the opposite direction - “if Pokémon can be eaten, that means real animals can be eaten - there’s no longer any contradiction, yay”.
That’s what I thought when I was a kid. We had a rabbit at home, but I would occasionally eat rabbit too… Faced with this apparent contradiction and forced to resolve it, I decided that if I could eat cows, I could also eat rabbits… I guess it’s the much easier solution.
You can see a good example of this in play when it comes to veal
Lot of people who eat beef would never touch veal because it’s cruel and inhumane to eat the young calf
Completely bypassing the fact that the steers that are killed for beef aren’t that much older and definitely not treated much better
