Abstaining doesn’t take energy. Quitting does, but it’s a very temporary energy demand. Non smokers don’t have to constantly ward off the temptation of a cigarette in the same way someone trying to quit does. It’s the same for meat (and it’s not even physically addictive, maybe weakly psychologically adductive but people already considering ethics should be able to overcome it very quickly). Once anything becomes habit, the unconscious part of your brain takes over most of the work of the conscious parts. If you’re pouring so much energy into work that you can’t even start the process, I get that, but that doesn’t apply to the majority of Westerners, and certainly not white collar office workers.
Also, the feeling of doing a good thing, no matter how small, should be motivation in itself to spend energy. If I’m tired after work but still put in the effort to make a positive impact, I’m now both more tired but more happy, and being more happy lets me sleep better.
Also, this is just a tangent, I’m not diagnosed as autistic but I strongly suspect I am for a lot of reasons, is the above basically what you mean by “autistic” sense of justice? I would really hope that’s an everyone thing.
Non smokers don’t have to constantly ward off the temptation of a cigarette in the same way someone trying to quit does. It’s the same for meat
Not that it’s relevant to your analogy, but unlike veganism, an ex-smoker has to be constantly vigilant, because you never overcome the addiction. It’s always latent, waiting for a chance to leap back to full strength in a moment of weakness.
It’s very common for some autistic people to have a stronger emotional reaction to seeing people do something known to be “wrong” or harmful (like litter, or a dog off leash, or just leaving the milk out or misspelling a word). I don’t think this is genuinely an enhanced sense of justice because I don’t think that would be an emotional response, but that’s quibbling.
Abstaining doesn’t take energy. Quitting does, but it’s a very temporary energy demand. Non smokers don’t have to constantly ward off the temptation of a cigarette in the same way someone trying to quit does. It’s the same for meat (and it’s not even physically addictive, maybe weakly psychologically adductive but people already considering ethics should be able to overcome it very quickly). Once anything becomes habit, the unconscious part of your brain takes over most of the work of the conscious parts. If you’re pouring so much energy into work that you can’t even start the process, I get that, but that doesn’t apply to the majority of Westerners, and certainly not white collar office workers.
Also, the feeling of doing a good thing, no matter how small, should be motivation in itself to spend energy. If I’m tired after work but still put in the effort to make a positive impact, I’m now both more tired but more happy, and being more happy lets me sleep better.
Also, this is just a tangent, I’m not diagnosed as autistic but I strongly suspect I am for a lot of reasons, is the above basically what you mean by “autistic” sense of justice? I would really hope that’s an everyone thing.
Not that it’s relevant to your analogy, but unlike veganism, an ex-smoker has to be constantly vigilant, because you never overcome the addiction. It’s always latent, waiting for a chance to leap back to full strength in a moment of weakness.
It’s very common for some autistic people to have a stronger emotional reaction to seeing people do something known to be “wrong” or harmful (like litter, or a dog off leash, or just leaving the milk out or misspelling a word). I don’t think this is genuinely an enhanced sense of justice because I don’t think that would be an emotional response, but that’s quibbling.