I think it is a bit of a sliding scale, or ramp. I think there is a limit to how "prepared" some people are able to be at this moment in time (at any given moment). Given more time, they might be able to be more "prepared." Exposure and experience will move them along the path. And looking backwards at the people behind you on this path it can seem very puzzling as to why they don't just catch up. But some people even decide to step off this path entirely and go the vegetarian/vegan route.
People are variously squeamish about different things. There are people who will not eat Farm Fresh Eggs because they are perceived to be "dirty" compared to factory eggs. Lots of my Farm Fresh (chicken) Egg customers can't face the idea of eating a duck egg. Some people are really freaked out by the brown/green/blue eggs and ask me not to include them. Some people won't eat fertilized eggs. Some people can't eat eggs from certain breeds of chicken for religious reasons. And so on. Some of that seems silly to me, but maybe if I'd never seriously contemplated eating farm eggs I might need some time to warm up to the idea. And that's just eating eggs, which virtually everyone does, so is far easier to face than deliberately killing something.
I have an egg customer who raises lambs. She can't eat her own lambs (the rest of her family can), so we're going to trade turkey for lamb this year.
We get Agricultural Kill permits for hunting deer on our property, but after shooting one deer decades ago, my father never shot another. He and the neighbors work together ... he gets the permits and hauls the carcasses to the proper facility, they do the hunting (which they enjoy for the sport of it). If he didn't have the neighbors, he'd no doubt do the hunting himself.
I had a friend once who went so far as to say nobody should be allowed to eat meat unless they'd actually slaughtered an animal. I can kinda see where he was coming from -- at least from an education standpoint -- but I think he took it too far with the "ethics." I told him that I, as a farmer, had participated in the raising of many animals for food, but had never in my life knowingly killed one directly, not even by running over it in my car or catching a fish. I asked him if I was excluded from eating meat while he, a small animal veterinarian who put people's pets to sleep practically every day of his career, was more deserving of meat than I? Personally, I feel deserving enough.
It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't force myself to watch a poultry processing video, now I am quite able to participate in dressing a bird or the butchering process ... but so far I haven't faced the challenge of slaughter. Nelson can not stomach cutting a dressed bird into pieces, but he has been able to slaughter and eviscerate some. For me it is a Division of Labor issue ... I'm better suited for other things than the killing, and other people are available to do it.
I saw one of those inspiring Facebook messages today that read: "Trying to understand the behavior some people is like trying to smell the color 9," so I hope you don't stress over this issue. And I really don't think much good will come of anything perceived as "encouraging" people to move along their own path/ramp faster than they are comfortable moving. Discussion of how useful the slaughtering MeetUp workshops are for other people will be a great example and very motivating.
