#think

I don't think there's much point in bemoaning the state of the world unless there's some way you can think of to improve it. Otherwise, don't bother writing a book; go and find a tropical island and lie in the sun. ↗

— Peter Singer

#bother #find #go #i #improve

I would like us to think about it more explicitly, and not take our intuitions as the given of ethics, but rather to reflect on it, and be more open about the fact that something is an ethical issues and think what we ought to do about it. ↗

— Peter Singer

#ethical #ethics #explicitly #fact #given

I'm not overly alarmist about it, but I do think there are some worrying signs, like the growing accumulation of wealth by a very small proportion of the population, plus elections in the US are much more dominated by money than anywhere else calling itself a democracy. ↗

— Peter Singer

#anywhere #calling #democracy #dominated #elections

But I think the majority of cows, and even more so chickens and pigs, are leading pretty miserable lives. ↗

— Peter Singer

#cows #even #i #i think #leading

I am not saying that factory farming is the same as the Holocaust or the slave trade, but it's clear that there is an immense amount of suffering in it, and just as we think that the Nazis were wrong to ignore the suffering of their victims, so we are wrong to ignore the sufferings of our victims. ↗

— Peter Singer

#amount #clear #factory #farming #holocaust

I believe that nationalism is a very strong force, but there are other forces operating; there are tendencies pushing towards a larger picture, especially in Europe, I think; but I still think nationalism is real. ↗

— Peter Singer

#especially #europe #force #forces #i

Knowledge is generally considered a good thing; so, presumably, knowing more about how the U.S. thinks and operates around the world is also good. ↗

— Peter Singer

#about #also #around #considered #generally

I don't think nationalism is alone holding the field; it's in contention with a lot of different things. ↗

— Peter Singer

#contention #different #different things #field #holding

I don't think there's anything in the compromise that means that there's a clash of ethics. ↗

— Peter Singer

#clash #compromise #ethics #i #means

I suppose what's happened recently has confirmed suspicions I voiced in the book, and I think made clearer some of those things that I point out. For instance I have a section of the book where I talk about the possibility of torture. ↗

— Peter Singer

#book #clearer #confirmed #happened #i