Fatty McFat! — Philosophical Question IX

Daily Meditation 1,067–2/5/2025

The previous iteration of Philosophical Questions can be found here.

The Philosophical Question Miniseries is intended to make one stop, check emotions “at the door,” and to spend time considering a point of view or difficult (sometimes impossible) scenario.

We’ve all seen the following two things online:

Someone posts a video of an absurdly fat cat or dog who are hardly able to walk. They cannot jump up to their master’s bed. They sit and stare, salivating over every morsel of food. They have terrible fur, usually, and a clearly in discomfort due to their size.

Some people laugh at such videos, sending them to their friends.
Many people flood the comment section with things such as “This is animal cruelty. Disgusting. How can you let your poor pet get so obese.”
The animal is brought to the vet and the vet tells the owners to put them on a diet and get them more exercise — not just so they live longer, but so their quality of life is more enjoyable, as well.

So, the fat, sickly, unhappy animal is taken on more walks, is played with more, gets a few fewer treats and is given less food (and of a higher quality) on a more strict timeline each day.

That’s a pet.

Now, the second thing we see: