Why I am not a vegan

[Aion]

Hmm, I think I see here now more of where things are. That idea of violation is the key to the argument surrounding free will because it is the idea that free will can somehow be made 'less free' by the actions of another free will. This suggests that free will has a spectrum of sorts, from 'total' free will, to 'minimal' free will. The concept of violation I guess lies somewhere along the spectrum where free will becomes less than total. The difficulty I see now is the fact that it appears to me that many people place that point of violation along different points in the spectrum and so what may appear to be a violation to one may not appear so to another. The challenge then is reconciling a mean with extremes.

Suppose then that what we consider 'normal' free will is like 50/50, not total but not minimal, enough to get around but still being influenced. Creator would be absolute, total free will. What then would no free will be?

Interesting things to ponder.

That sounds like a good topic for its own thread.

In the context of this discussion, we know that directly causing suffering, and then killing a sentient entity who is obviously struggling to escape, is an obvious violation of free will.

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'We' don't know this apparently 'obvious' thing and while I understand you are generalizing for your own views I think it's important to keep in mind that it isn't the only way to describe the situation. I do accept that as your assessment of the situation and consider it valid.

However, this 'obvious' thing you are saying is clearly not so universally obvious or else everyone would just be agreeing already. I am exploring in to the nature of this disagreement. I, so far, have been unable to stand in a position on either side but I believe in my confusion I can't really tell why the argument exists. Again, it appears to come back to the fact that different people have different ideas regarding freedom of being and what the boundaries of that freedom are.