Good point about animals sensing a loss when one is gone. Just imagine replacing all the pigs or chickens with dogs and you really begin to get a sense of the injustice.
More from his book and TCline, I'll gladly let you borrow my copy - I'm almost done.
As Foer points out, the most appalling aspect of the industrial meat industry is not the more sensational, flagrant animal abuse that's been captured on undercover videos, but rather the chronic, systematic disregard for the fact that animals are living, breathing creatures not intended to be stacked like pallets or made to steep in their own waste on concrete.
Industrial agriculture has done its best to bend these poor creatures to its will, modifying them to better tolerate this style of farming. In so doing, it has created genetic freaks like pigs who can't survive outdoors and turkeys who can't reproduce naturally and have to be artificially inseminated. Can anything truly healthy come from a system where disease, deformity, and environmental degradation are the default?
Foer's intent with Eating Animals is clearly to start a conversation about whether it's necessary, or justifiable, or ethical, to eat animals. He writes favorably of the farmers who rely on more humane and ecologically sound methods of meat production but concludes that, although these operations are infinitely preferable to their factory farm counterparts, some suffering is inevitably inflicted on the animals.
And the fact remains that this kind of pasture-based farming comprises such a tiny fraction of meat production in the U.S. that it's not a viable alternative for most folks. As Foer writes:
We shouldn't kid ourselves about the number of ethical eating options available to most of us. There isn't enough nonfactory chicken produced in America to feed the population of Staten Island and not enough nonfactory pork to serve New York City, let alone the country. Ethical meat is a promissory note, not a reality. Any ethical-meat advocate who is serious is going to be eating a lot of vegetarian fare.
Ellen Degeneres noted that some folks will surely feel overwhelmed by the suggestion that they should abandon the cheap meat, dairy, eggs and poultry they count on to feed their families. "How do we take one little step?" she asked Foer.
He answered:
"There is nothing more powerful than an informed conversation, so get informed..talk, talk, talk. Talk about it with your family, don't take these things for granted, don't let corporations lie to you, act on your values."
I sometimes worry about being a "carnibore," as the Ethicurean's ever witty Bonnie Powell describes those of us who are only too happy to hector our friends on the merits of pastured meats versus factory farmed.
On the other hand, a friend had us over for lunch the other day and served a roasted chicken from a local farm. Another couple invited us for dinner and made a stew with beef and lamb from a butcher who sells only local, grass-fed meats. These are all friends who formerly bought their meats at the supermarket; their choices were a direct result of the many conversations we've had about this subject.
This is how a sea change starts, with a few tiny ripples.
BTW, I wouldn't touch aspartame! ;-)
I am SOOOOO happy that people are willing to discuss this. And the animals thank you too.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU7_Ar9C_iI"]YouTube- Pet Star: Smart Pig[/ame]