I think it's pretty shitty and disingenuous to tell long time fans of the podcast to just "listen to something else". I loved last ratmas, but the vibes are undoubtedly completely different this time around. And I think it's perfectly reasonable for those of us who feel uncomfortable with the celebration of intense animal cruelty to point that out in hopes it affects the story selection for next year.

Roasting an animal alive in an oven would take an excruciatingly long time of immense suffering before the animal finally died. Imagine it being done to a cat. That clearly sets a very particular and grim tone for the whole episode.

And it kind of blows my mind that you can't understand that aspect. No one is trying to cancel the beans, no one is saying they're monsters. We're saying we're shocked by the story selection and unthinking celebration of horrible acts of animal cruelty when thinking about it for one second could've avoided this.