I’d say the balancing factor tends to be effort. We are, as living creatures, lazy. That’s how you survive. The level of empathy you need to acquire before the suffering of a chicken you will never meet is going to compete with your desire to eat easily available delicious food made from them is going to have to be very high.
And once you make your choice you’re not going to internalise the idea that you are knowingly operating from a moral code informed by an acceptance of laziness are you? That conflicts with the self identity of being a rational and good person.
I’d say the balancing factor tends to be effort. We are, as living creatures, lazy. That’s how you survive. The level of empathy you need to acquire before the suffering of a chicken you will never meet is going to compete with your desire to eat easily available delicious food made from them is going to have to be very high.
And once you make your choice you’re not going to internalise the idea that you are knowingly operating from a moral code informed by an acceptance of laziness are you? That conflicts with the self identity of being a rational and good person.