Dominant ideologies require sacrificial victims at their core to function.

Our notions of the rule of law are fueled by the sacrifice of black and brown lives at the hands of law enforcement. Our notions of national destiny are fueled by the sacrifice of native people at the hands of our history. Our notions of a pseudo-individualizing right to bear arms are fueled by the sacrifice of children at the hands of school shooters. Our notions of the right to life are fueled by the sacrifice of women at the hands of rapists. Our notions of human exceptionalism are fueled by the torture and killing of billions of animals every year.

Rather than cynical viewing these victims as a cost or as collateral damage, I view them as the structural heart of the ideologies built upon them.