I’ve appreciated the Honey wars. We’ve seen the kind of earnest inquiry that makes EA pretty great.
I’m interested to see where the community stands here. I have so much uncertainty that I’m close to the neutral point, but I’ve been updated towards it maybe not being OK—I previously slurped the honey without a thought. What do you think[2]?
This is a non-specific question. “OK” could mean a number of things (you choose). It could mean you think eating net honey is “net positive” (My pleasure/health > small chance of bee suffering), or could mean “does no harm at all”, or even “Morally acceptable”—which might mean you think it does harm but you can offset it, or that the harm isn’t bad enough for you to stop or anything along those lines.
My best guess is that eating honey is pretty bad, because I buy that bees have non-negligible moral weight, and the arguments for bee-lives being net-negative seem plausible too.
I’m far less wedded to bee lives being net-negative, so it could be that I’ll be convinced that eating honey isn’t just good, but extremely good—that eating honey is one of the best things modern humans do, because it allows for the existence of many flourishing bees.
I am quite uncertain because I am unsure to what extend a consumption boycott affects production; however, I lean slightly on the disagree side because boycotting animal-based foods is important for:
Establishing pro-animal cultural norms
Incentivizing plant-based products (like Honee) that already face an uphill climb towards mass adoption
I try to avoid it, but it’s hard for me to believe it’s as bad or worse than most animal products. Especially in the quantities it’s usually consumed. Who eats a kg of honey per year? I do think the treatment of bees is very unclear. But I’ve also heard that some non-animal products involve a lot of insects, like avocados, so I’m curious how it compares.
I’m interested that your cluelessness places you heavily on the “It’s OK side”. I think if I felt “clueless” here my vote might be slightly on the “Not OK” side, because I would would worry that eating honey could still be really bad.
POLL: Is it OK to eat honey[1]?
I’ve appreciated the Honey wars. We’ve seen the kind of earnest inquiry that makes EA pretty great.
I’m interested to see where the community stands here. I have so much uncertainty that I’m close to the neutral point, but I’ve been updated towards it maybe not being OK—I previously slurped the honey without a thought. What do you think[2]?
This is a non-specific question. “OK” could mean a number of things (you choose). It could mean you think eating net honey is “net positive” (My pleasure/health > small chance of bee suffering), or could mean “does no harm at all”, or even “Morally acceptable”—which might mean you think it does harm but you can offset it, or that the harm isn’t bad enough for you to stop or anything along those lines.
@Toby Tremlett🔹 said it was inappropriate for a poll not to have 2 footnotes so here it is...
I’m reading “OK” as “morally permissible” rather than “not harmful”. E.g., I think it’s also “OK” to eat meat, even though I think it’s causing harm.
(Not saying you should clarify the poll, it’s clear enough and will probably produce interesting results either way!)
Nice one! Read it as you will sir :D—perhaps I should have been more specific, but there are trade-offs to specificity on polls like this too.
Personally, I think no poll is complete without at least two footnotes.
Apologies for breaching forum norms. Corrected and please don’t ban me.
My best guess is that eating honey is pretty bad, because I buy that bees have non-negligible moral weight, and the arguments for bee-lives being net-negative seem plausible too.
I’m far less wedded to bee lives being net-negative, so it could be that I’ll be convinced that eating honey isn’t just good, but extremely good—that eating honey is one of the best things modern humans do, because it allows for the existence of many flourishing bees.
I am quite uncertain because I am unsure to what extend a consumption boycott affects production; however, I lean slightly on the disagree side because boycotting animal-based foods is important for:
Establishing pro-animal cultural norms
Incentivizing plant-based products (like Honee) that already face an uphill climb towards mass adoption
I try to avoid it, but it’s hard for me to believe it’s as bad or worse than most animal products. Especially in the quantities it’s usually consumed. Who eats a kg of honey per year? I do think the treatment of bees is very unclear. But I’ve also heard that some non-animal products involve a lot of insects, like avocados, so I’m curious how it compares.
I plead clueless
Ha I love this!
I’m interested that your cluelessness places you heavily on the “It’s OK side”. I think if I felt “clueless” here my vote might be slightly on the “Not OK” side, because I would would worry that eating honey could still be really bad.