I'm not trying to virtue signal. I thought pet ownership was a weird fucking custom long before I saw RP.

It's not necessarily morally worse than keeping farm animals. It's just...weird. It serves no purpose other than entertainment and validation. All I hear people talk about when they want dogs is how happy they are to see you when you get home. I've never heard anyone say that they want a dog as part of their self-improvement plan, but if it's honestly part of yours then at least you're consistent. Then they walk down the street pulling their dog on a leash, restrain it from playing with other dogs, and generally restrict its freedom when it's obviously doing no harm. All while mixing with other dog owners and saying, "hey, check out my animal on a leash!"

Not to mention that this dog has been bred to be completely dependent on you, just so you can have something smile at you every day.

Again, no worse than farming in terms of the effect we have. But one is for food and the other is so we can cuddle. Most people disagree with me on this, but I find it strange that a community that's all about independence and rejecting neediness get's so offended when I say that maybe getting a dog is a bit strange.