On Animal Welfare and the New Culture of Cruelty
Posted on | June 30, 2009 | 11 Comments
Lately I’ve been struggling with the ethical concerns of farmed animals, because I’m of the increasing belief that our current regulations still allow for a significant amount of cruelty.
Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s in our nature to eat meat. I have no problem accepting that killing animals for consumption is a part of our human fabric. I don’t subscribe to the belief that all meat is murder and that death isn’t an inevitable part of life, be it through age, disease or the food chain.
In more primitive times, a man fought for his family’s meal. He took a branch and a stone to his potential meal and understood the hunter-hunted dynamic. Sometimes he may have even fallen prey to what he thought would be his capture. Cave drawings from this survival era show a bond between man and animals he hunted that exemplified our ancestors’ respect for this sacred rite. We’ve come a long way since then. Our technology allows for efficient mass-slaughter so that no family has to lose a member in the quest for a day’s meal.
But there is a consequence. Children are raised to consume animals and their byproducts for years before they understand where their meals come from. And by the time they’ve reached such cognizance, they are so well-adapted to the expectation that their meal isn’t a cow, but an unrecognizable red block, neatly wrapped and sold in quantity at their local market, that it hardly matters anyway. We’ve lost the earlier respect for our food that primitive man knew so well.
Of course we all eventually figure out that the red block is only the final part of a process, but it’s easier to ignore the more gruesome aspects of our carnivorous instinct through the guise that civilized society need not concern itself with such matters.
Hence my point: if we really want to consider ourselves civilized, we must recognize that with our technological advances comes the responsibility for a new kind of ethical concern for animal welfare.
I’m not suggesting that farmers blanket cows in down and leave chocolates on their pillows, just that we all recognize a simple fact: we farm our meals like vegetables without recognizing that they are capable of perceiving pain. We shave down our chickens’ bills to make them easier to ground, we suspend our calves in dark boxes to keep their meat tender, we crowd our fish in concrete vats rife with disease and pollution from their own excrement. In the transition from primitive to advanced, we’ve maintained the vestige of barbarity.
I’m no animal-lover; I’m a proud egalitarian. But in my exaltation of man above beast, I think its impossible to separate the two when our actions, in the face of our advanced understanding of an animal’s perception of pain, are so barbaric. When we know that we are causing prolonged and unnecessary suffering in the process of our normative predatory function, we are no longer hunting but instead consenting to a culture of cruelty.
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11 Responses to “On Animal Welfare and the New Culture of Cruelty”
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June 30th, 2009 @ 2:42 pm
Renee, I didn't mean to suggest that all farms treat livestock in such a manner. I know there are many farmers that respect their animals and I make an effort to seek out such businesses when buying my food. My main gripe in the above article is that government regulations allow unethical practices to thrive. I think there should be incentives to farms such as you describe who place the value of their livestock above their bottom line so that they don't have to always just "break even" to uphold standards in treatment as they do now.
June 30th, 2009 @ 5:16 pm
I agree. Wish I had more to say, but you said it pretty well yourself. This is something I struggle with almost on a daily basis.
June 30th, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
Seriously though, pretty good. Even though I am one who does not struggle with this everyday. In fact, I don't struggle with this at all really. But we can probably do better. Maybe once we solve the economic crisis, healthcare, energy and education, we can tackle this issue. It's right around the corner I'm sure. How much does it cost? To be more humane to food that is?
June 30th, 2009 @ 6:15 pm
Impossible, Ethan. I brought this up about three weeks ago with you, remember? I was talking about different ways scientists found that animals perceived pain? I've been researching this for about a month trying to figure this out for myself. Still not quite there, but I thought writing through my thoughts would help.
June 30th, 2009 @ 6:52 pm
Chill, dude. Chill. Just a joke. Wait a minute! You deleted the comment? Gay, dude! So gay!
June 30th, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
Wait a minute! You deleted the comment? Gay, dude! So gay!
June 30th, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
Wait a minute! You deleted the comment? Sorry, I'm about to delete my own comment because I'm tired of all my notifications being that someone posted on your blog.
June 30th, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
You watched meet your meat didn't you?
July 1st, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
yeah, it's a pretty disturbing business out there. Even when organic farms put "free roam" on their packaging, the gov regulation to be considered free roam is something like 5 minutes a day. Have you ever hear of the book Skinny Bitch? It's kind of a chick dieting book, but they go on a huge tangent about animal cruelty.
July 1st, 2009 @ 11:51 pm
so i was watching reruns of south park and came across an episode called Fun with Veal…thought it was timely. Watch the full episode at http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/605/
July 3rd, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
I love the book "Skinny Bitch. It's the only book about dieting that is ever worth reading- but it is a little painful. I had to put it down a few times during the animal cruelty chapters. I actually cried. Animal cruelty is a sore subject for me- I try not to eat meat. I don't succeed though. The hardest part is loving lamb. Sweeeeeet baby lammmies. I won't research this issue thoroughly Karim because I'll never get the visions out of my head when eating meat. I'll comment though. One thing I think is real sad concerning this issue, is that we are one of the few countries in this world that wastes the animal. Most cultures use and eat every single part of the animal down to the blood. I remind my mom every time we watch Anthony Bourdain that we are the only people that find it gross to eat these parts. It is ingrained in us though. We don't respect the Animal. If it ain't a wing, breast, or filet- get it out of our faces. I just can't bring myself to eat intestines. I am ashamed.