I can see your point, Chris, and I tend to agree with it. When it comes to preserving freedom of choice versus having decisions dictated, I tend to fall on the side of choice.
But I think it’s also important to realize that what is currently “legal” or not, or considered “ethical” or not, is a continually shifting landscape and an ever-evolving collective process. Numerous things are now illegal that once were legal, because enough people in our society eventually came to the conclusion that it was unethical. And there are plenty of examples of the opposite being true as well – things that were once illegal, and aren’t anymore, because our culture no longer considers them to be unethical or immoral.
And I guess I would disagree that ethics are always an individual thing. Like it or not, we live in a society, and that means that in addition to individual ethics, there are also collective ethics, at least some of which are required to keep things cohesive and not a Mad Max free-for-all. Of course, some of these collective ethics can actually be a good thing too.
So yes, these sorts of fake, canned, ego-hunts are currently legal (in some places). But regardless of current legality, if enough people agree that they are unethical, that could change. Same with “wild” game farming. Particularly where these sorts of practices have the potential to negatively affect neighboring wild populations, I would certainly support them being made illegal, as they already are in some states.
