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Speciesism and Animal Rights
“I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach,” Upton Sinclair stated after the success of his novel The Jungle, which exposed the terrible conditions of Chicago meat factories in the 1900’s. Even with the success of Sinclair’s novel and the amount of awareness many people hold in society today, most consumers are still blind to the conditions of the animals they eat. Many consumers see and treat animals as mere objects or lesser beings, and in that they experience fault. A single word can accurately sum up the terms and extent of animal suffering at human hands: speciesism. Speciesism defines the human abuse and repression of animals, from food to companionship, which shows no mercy.
Speciesism was defined by Peter Singer as a “prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one’s own species and against those of members of other species.” In this definition, it is important to see the connections between sexism, racism, and speciesism. All three involve the suppressing or belittling of one party for the benefit of another. The concepts of speciesism cannot be found in the definition of “earthling.” An earthling is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an inhabitant of the earth.” In no way does that definition place the needs of one race above another, the needs of one sex above another, or the needs of one species above the needs of another. Speciesism, in a less technical way, means respecting the rights of other species where they are due. We do not, for example, need to give cows or horses the right to vote; we do, however, need to recognize that they share the same basic desires as we as humans do. Every animal embodies a conscious spirit that feels the need for love, shelter, food, companionship, and safety just as we humans do. So why then, are animals so tremendously abused? We lock the animals we domesticate in cages, and the ones we eat in claustrophobic pens and factories. Animals are treated as mere objects by humans, just as slaves were by masters just 200 years ago. In the words of Isaac Bashevis Singer in his novel, Enemies, A Love Story, “in their behavior toward creatures, all men [are] Nazis... [exemplifying].. the principle that might is right.” Singer’s words are proven to be prophetic by the crimes committed against the animals that are designated as food.
The treatment of the creatures set aside for the food industry is the exact opposite of what the media proclaims it to be and the very epitome of speciesism itself. The simplest lie told to consumers is communicated through the package label. Many meat products are labeled with a picture of an innocuous and friendly looking farmhouse, when in fact the meat came from an animal that had rarely even felt sunlight in its lifetime. Many Americans are comforted when buying chicken when it is labeled “free range” or “cage free”, when in fact the birds are receiving very little freedom and comfort. A poultry factory that is not cage free stuffs up to 5 hens into one small cage, so there is very little room for them to move. A cage free factory crams just as many birds onto a shelf, there are simply no bars in front of their faces; there is still little room to move or breathe. Additionally, the requirements that a factory must meet to be considered free range by the FDA simply state that “producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed to access the outside.” This statement leaves loopholes such as the fact that the farmers get to determine how much or little time the birds actually get to spend out of their pens. Consumers feel just as comfortable buying “kosher” meat, which is a way of claiming the cow, pig, or animal felt no pain at the time of death. In order to be classified as a Kosher killing many standards must be met by the factory, however they rarely are. During a kosher killing, the cow or animal may not be inverted, or flipped on it’s back. This is because when the throat is cut, an inverted cow chokes on it’s own blood; which is considered inhumane. Workers who are tasked with the killing of kosher cattle are not allowed to strike the animal or use electric prods, both rules are violated consistently at a majority of kosher meat facilities. Simply because the public doesn’t hear about it, the industries get away with it. Factory animals are treated as objects, slaves even, by the human food consumption industry; and due to how it is presented to the public, humans don’t care what they are doing to other living, feeling creatures; just as they are unaware of what harm that treatment is doing to them.
It could be said that what goes around, comes around, and that it is that karma that is affecting the health of our society today. Not only are the animals in the food industry being abused, that abuse is leaking into the rest of the world and manifesting in people and the environment. Animal waste from the factories is being produced in mass quantities that cannot be stored at one time, causing it to run into waterways and the environment around the factory farms. Cattle are often fed grains, which they can’t digest, that are mixed with BST and GH, growth hormones, and antibiotics. This chemical combination causes illness and infections in it’s human consumers. Humane educator James Wildman emphasized in his speech, “101 Reasons to Go Vegan” that the countries that consume the most animal protein; the United States, England, and Sweden; also have the highest rates of Osteoporosis, a bone disease that has been linked with excessive animal protein consumption and exposure to the chemicals within it. The waste from the factories also endangers the health of natural inhabitants of the environment around them, such as birds and fish. The negative treatment of animals at human hands is reflected in the unhealthy effects that it has on humans themselves.
Why is speciesism such a large problem and what has been done to stop it? It is important to know of speciesism because it is important to understand the ramifications of human behavior. Racists used to keep slaves, now their views are immoral. Sexists walked all over women, who are now proving that they are capable of just about anything they put their mind to. So why should speciesism continue? There is no such thing as a safe and healthy factory farm for the animals who are captive in it or the humans who surround it. There is no such thing as kosher killing because there is no such concept as “humane murder”. Steps have already been taken in other parts of the world to end the abuse of fellow earthlings. India has declared dolphins to be “non-human” persons, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests has declared that “dolphins should have their own specific rights and [it] is morally unacceptable to keep them captive for entertainment purposes.” India has set the stage for a new progressive movement toward total equality on the planet. It is not hard for an ordinary citizen to aide in the stopping of animal abuse and the furthering of animals rights. The step can be as simple as going without meat or dairy one to two times a week, signing a petition, or simply spreading the word to neighbors and friends. There is no doubt that steps must be taken to end the abuse of those who cannot speak for themselves. In the words of Henry Beston, author of The Outermost House, “they are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of splendor and travail of the earth.”
Works Cited
"Earthlings Transcript (Intro)." Veganise Me RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.veganise.me/earthlings_transcript>.
"India Declares Dolphins To Be Non-Human Persons." The Mind Unleashed India Declares Dolphins To Be NonHuman Persons Dolphin Shows Banned Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://themindunleashed.org/2014/02/india-declares-dolphins-non-human-persons-dolphin-shows-banned.html>.
Freelee. "5 Reasons to Stop Drinking MILK [warning Graphic]." YouTube. YouTube, 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS9hh-Npc50>.
ARFF. "101 Reasons to Go Vegan - ARFF." YouTube. YouTube, 03 May 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-F8whzJfJY>.
"Food, Inc. (2008)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/quotes>.
"They Eat What?" Union of Concerned Scientists. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/industrial-agriculture/they-eat-what-the-reality-of.html>.
"The Facts on Free-range: What Does It Really Mean?" Living RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/808002/the-facts-on-freerange-what-does-it-really-mean>.
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