This guy’s opinion is totally valid, but I would not want him at my table. My favorite part of TTRPGs is the collaborative storytelling. It is a lot of work for everyone, but that’s what makes it so rewarding. Your GM is putting a lot of effort in no matter what anyway, so it’s nice to get that back from the players as well
If they’re not the ones to give us that data, who would? Polling experts in the field is different from asking fisherman if they think we should eat fish
Humanity’s strongest trait evolutionarily, except for maybe our intelligence, is our endurance and ability to shrug off injury. I think the mindset that caused, is the reason we’re so slow to address problems
Then teach the skills you learned to do it in a healthy way. That’s kind of how everything works with kids. They have to eat healthily, respect adults healthily, study healthily, etc. All of those things are bad if they aren’t taught how by the adults in their life
You’re right in this, and your other comment, but if OP isn’t ready for “sometimes animals eat each other in nature,” I don’t think they’re ready for the complexities of what it means to be human, and the fact that we are also animals, but have some unique behaviors
They can do those things because they’ve been beneficial. Cats domesticated themselves because living with humans makes them safer. Their meows are cute, because that makes us want to protect them. They are absolutely capable of love, but they’re still animals
Animals can’t be evil. They’re amoral. They don’t philosophize, they don’t feel guilt; they don’t comprehend life in the same way that we do. Both cruelty and mercy are human constructs. All animals can do is try to guarantee survival for themselves and their offspring. They’ve all evolved into a specific niche, and these behaviors you deride are just instincts that have successfully ensured the survival of their ancestors, and so were passed on. If you can’t handle the idea that animals in general sometimes kill to survive, get a plant