Yeah , I ' m sure most countries would consider this extreme animal cruelty . <| sep |> The fact that this , no shit , Sherlock article covers something that ' s been going on for years gives credence to your theory . <| sep |> First , what ' s important is that existence precedes essence . This means that human existence has no purpose or meaning prior to being . It ' s helpful to look at this from the opposite stand point essence precedes existence . Take a toaster for example . It would be odd to think that the inventor of the toaster made the device without knowing what it could be used for . Instead it was created for a certain purpose . It ' s essence to toast bread was prior to its existence . Sartre is saying that human existence is the opposite way . Because we have no ' objective ' essence , we are free to do whatever we want . Because our existence is freedom , we have to take responsibility for all of our actions . However , people are afraid of freedom and will want to pretend that they don ' t have choices . For example , you don ' t have to write any papers for class , you don ' t even have to show up to school at all , you can do or not do whatever you want . But with each of these decisions that you make , you must take responsibility for it because it is what you chose and no one else chose it for you .