FFS if you want to commemorate something don't be a dick and release HELIUM flipping BALLOONS!

[flashbac]

No matter how sad the occasion is or how tragic the story. Releasing helium balloons into the atmosphere is a really dickish thing to do.

Oh and don’t forget your brand new animal tested perfumes this Christmas

Virtue signalling

No one is allowed to care about anything without this being chucked at them. Meaningless phrase intended to shut discussion down.

@user100579765

Go eat your chicken nuggets and stop virtue signalling on the internet as if you don’t harm animals. Have you seen videos of animals squirming because they don’t want to be slaughtered. Such privilege when you don’t have to find out how your meat is brought to your table and you have no responsibility in that lol.

Are you lecturing on virtue signalling?

Seems a little ironic considering that you're lecturing people you know nothing about, probably whilst stuffing your face with a bacon sandwich while you're playing keyboard warrior.

@user100579765

Go eat your chicken nuggets and stop virtue signalling on the internet as if you don’t harm animals. Have you seen videos of animals squirming because they don’t want to be slaughtered. Such privilege when you don’t have to find out how your meat is brought to your table and you have no responsibility in that lol.

Lol lol lol we kill the animals on the family farm we know exactly how they get to our table .

This is so sad. Happened near me.

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4206796389425936&id=100002868498359

Are you lecturing on virtue signalling?

nope not lecturing per se just pointing out the hypocrites (just as you were so offended by the balloons but can’t recognise your own part in the problem)

@user100579765

Are you lecturing on virtue signalling?

nope not lecturing per se just pointing out the hypocrites (just as you were so offended by the balloons but can’t recognise your own part in the problem)

So you protect animals by telling people concerned about the harm caused by balloons and lanterns to stop being concerned because you deem us hypocrites?

Don't do anything if you can't do everything - great message

Has there been a name change here?

There seems to be gang of really odd posters on here that turn up on every thread and basically say that no-one who eats animals is allowed to have an opinion on anything. That "logic" may work in their hatstand world but not for the rest of us.

@user100579765

It’s interesting how people will discuss all sorts of ways animals are abused and harmed (uselessness balloons and shitty paper lanterns) but never want to stop the one way animals are harmed the most because they don’t want to give up their tasty snacks. At least acknowledge that before virtue signalling to those of us who don’t do any of those lol.

I think it's because helium balloons are utterly pointless and cause harm for no benefit. When animals are killed for food, it's for a clear good reason - they taste good, provide nutrition and it is the natural way of things for some species to kill and eat others. Letting balloons off brings no tangible benefit yet risks killing. It's possible to see the sense in eating animals whilst also seeing the sense in not pointlessly torturing them - just as it's possible to enjoy a nice burger whilst disagreeing with bullfighting.

Also, helium is a finite resource that we need for legitimate purposes. As long as they are managed effectively through controlled levels of reproduction, animals are as limitless a food supply as we can get in the natural world. Obviously all species will die out eventually but there is good reason that animals we farm for food rarely seem to trouble the list of most endangered species, when the things we don't eat much are at risk (pandas, rhinos etc.). By eating meat, we are contributing to the continued survival of cows, pigs, chickens etc. as species.

nope not lecturing per se just pointing out the hypocrites (just as you were so offended by the balloons but can’t recognise your own part in the problem)

Everyone's a hypocrite, even the most devout vegan on the planet will have killed some animals in their lifetime, it's unavoidable. Take you for instance, you are posting on an internet forum, which clearly means you own or have access to a computer/laptop/smartphone/tablet. The production of that device will have resulted in the death of many animals, from the destruction of their habitats for the extraction of the raw materials, to pest management in production, to accidental road/air/sea kill in transportation, to the pollution of habitats through disposal. You could have avoided causing all that suffering by not buying/using the Internet, but you've decided your enjoyment of accessing the internet outweighs these deaths (or more likely just don't think about it). The same way some people have decided their enjoyment of eating meat outweighs the suffering of the animal (or just haven't thought about it). Arguing that people can only care about X if they also care about Y and do Z is idiotic. Many people struggle to move to a vegetarian/vegan diet for a number of reasons, no one will struggle not to release balloons. It's far better to get everyone making little improvements where they can than to have a few going to extremes from the get go and scaring people off. This is literally how veganism and vegetarianism has increased over the past decade or so.

I don't know if you are vegan or not but a quick tip for you. Calling out people's hypocrisies isn't the best way to get them on your side (I know I did just that when I first started and still sometimes struggle to keep it in) it just makes people defensive, less likely to listen to your point of view, and when you go on like you have makes you sound like an arse.

I can't believe some posters are defending littering of the sky because people drive cars or eat meat. Seriously?