Does being nice to something before you hack it apart for your own selfish appetite make it better?

I'd have to say "yes" - but reserve judgement as to whether "better" is enough to justify the slaughter itself. (And I also have to admit, my concern for an animal's suffering depends in part on what animal's we're talking about. In other words, rightly or wrongly, I care more about swine, for instance, than I do about cattle, simply because swine are more intelligent.)

I'm not convinced that we're not "taught" that wanton cruelty is wrong.

I think we *do* have to learn to empathize, at least to some extent. Certainly over the past few hundred years there has been a significant expansion in the range of beings that many of us consider to be "one of us". It wasn't all that long ago, in historical terms, that most of us lived in small tribal groups that figured the folks in the next valley were - at best - barely human.

A prediction: Presuming we survive the next century, Sidra's position will be a lot more mainstream than it is today.