Not to Be "That Vegan" But...

In Never Let Me GO, as more information about the clones and the carer/donor system arose, made me think about how the donor system is very similar to Animal Agriculture, and whether/why one is more ethically accepted than the other.

Not to be "that vegan" but as I was reading this story, and we were discussing it in class, many discussions occurred the expressed our individual opinions on the matter of the whole "donor system," and whether or not it was good. The fact that the clones were being raised for slaughter was brought into many of our debates about which treatment towards them would be more humane. Now, I am not going to go "full vegan," and go into the debate about whether or not animals have souls, so don't worry. I just thought it was interesting to compare the lives of the clones and the lives of animals in factory farms.

In both situations, the beings are being raised with the intent to kill them when they're young. Whether or not their quality of life that is leading up to their demise is good or bad, they are still dying for the purpose of nourishing other human bodies. However, people seem to question and be more distraught over the lives of the clones,  claiming that it was no way to live, and ideally the clones should be able to live normal lives. Why do these clones receive more empathy from us than the animals who are raised for slaughter every day?

I guess it's not really a question that can be answered, and many people will have different opinions and perspectives of the situation. The book just left me wondering why one soul can be raised for slaughter without a second thought, while another soul of a different species receives our empathy and support when trying to resist the system.