When You Encounter The Gaze Of The Other, You Meet Not A Seeing Eye But A Blind One. The Gaze Is Not

When you encounter the gaze of the Other, you meet not a seeing eye but a blind one. The gaze is not clear or penetrating, not filled with knowledge or recognition; it is clouded over and turned back on itself, absorbed in its own enjoyment. The horrible truth … is that the gaze does not see you. … You are on your own; the gaze of the Other is not confirming, it will not validate you.

—Joan Copjec

I realise that this is a known thing, but trying to find good animal images really brings home the extent to which many non-human animals are commodified to the point where we seldom even think of them as living beings anymore.

I mean, try typing 'lobster' or 'chicken' into a stock images site and see how far down you actually have to scroll before you find a picture of a sentient animal rather than a corpse. I just wonder about the psychological impact of the ubiquitous objectification of animal bodies, and how that effects our ability to empathise with them.

Detachment from the external

Image found on Pinterest.