So walking to class today, I came across a few solicitors on campus handing out pamphlets about animal cruelty (for food). It was a 4-5 page brochure. I stopped when they handed it to me (as to not travel too far from the trash bin) looked at the pictures of chickens and pigs and other farm animals in distress, rolled my eyes, and handed it back to the guy that gave it to me. In capital letters it read, "Take the veg pledge". The significance of an animal is based on how we relate with it. Dogs and cats are smart, cuddly, and affectionate, and so animal cruelty to these animals is widely frowned upon. But a cricket, roach, ant; we can't relate with any of these creatures so we don't think twice about killing them. Chickens, pigs, and cows fit somewhere in the middle. Intelligence also plays a big role in the compassion for a particular animal. So the point of this thread: I eat meat, and looking at pictures of slaughtered cows, pigs, and chickens doesn't bother me whatsoever. Then again, if I were to see pictures of dogs and cats and monkeys being slaughtered for food, I would be quite shaken. Is it immoral to make this distinction or just human nature?

Quote: Original post by Chris Reynolds
So the point of this thread: I eat meat, and looking at pictures of slaughtered cows, pigs, and chickens doesn't bother me whatsoever. Then again, if I were to see pictures of dogs and cats and monkeys being slaughtered for food, I would be quite shaken. Is it immoral to make this distinction or just human nature?

Why can't it be immoral and just human nature?

Considering those small farms have to feed 300 million people ...

I don't think it's immoral to make the distinction. I eat meat. I make the distinction between the value of the lives of pigs and cows vs those of dogs and cats. Diet is an incredibly powerful part of human culture. Giving up meat, for a lot of people, myself included, would almost be giving up an aspect of one's cultural identity.

I would, however, be careful about trying to tie the value of certain animals' lives to some inherent trait, like intelligence. I don't think it really has anything to do with the animal's intelligence. It's more a function of how we are brought up as to why we value dogs and cats more than cows and other farm animals. Obviously, in other countries and societies these values are different than they are in the United States. For example, beef (and meat in general) is not something people eat very often in India, because of the value they assign to cows, specifically, and animal life in general.

After the bombing of Hiroshima some retaliation can be considered appropriate. [Source]

Its a cultural thing too. In certain countries they eat cat and dog, and in certain countries they would never eat a cow.

It also has to do with how close you are to it. The cow is killed in a factory somewhere by someone else. If you had to kill it yourself (like you kill the ant yourself), you might be a little more bothered.

The way chickens are treated is particularly horrific, I hear. However I still eat a lot of chicken...

Yes, I don't think intelligence really plays in to it. In general, pigs are more intelligent than dogs and cats, but as a culture, we eat pigs like crazy.

I eat meat. However, I don't like killing anything myself, not even bugs. Is it hypocritical? Maybe, but the difference is that someone else is killing my food for me, so that does not directly bother me.

Quote: Original post by jackolantern1
someone else is killing my food for me, so that does not directly bother me.

Yikes.

Quote: Original post by Chris Reynolds
Dogs and cats are smart, cuddly, and affectionate, not very meaty, and so animal cruelty to these animals is widely frowned upon.

There, fixed.

Quote: Original post by Sneftel

Quote: Original post by jackolantern1
someone else is killing my food for me, so that does not directly bother me.

Yikes.

What is wrong with that? Am I supposed to seek out the pictures of slaughter houses so that I can be scared-straight from meat? And besides, the idea that a picture and first-hand experience bother a person the same amount is ridiculous. It just doesn't work like that. I saw pictures of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and thought it looked terrible and reprehensible, but am I losing sleep at night and needing daily counseling like the survivors who were there? No. I am only worried about what I am doing. The only person's actions I can control are my own.