4 ms·

The final paragraphs are really the most important, in my opinion. Why stop seal hunting and not mass slaughters of cows?

by chm 11y ago

gnoway 11y ago
This article - at least the last few paragraphs - understates what we're getting out of cows. Yes, the hides are important, but we also eat their flesh and use their bones for stuff. Cows are not typically skinned and then left in the field to be picked over. Also cow leather has a larger range of uses than I imagine seal skin/fur does: the latter is strictly a luxury item and I think that would be true even if there was unlimited sealing. In short, comparing seal hunting and cattle farming is maybe not as helpful as the article's author would like. I do think the outcry over sealing is because they are cute. As the article points out, they are not endangered. This also affects the comparison with whaling. The whales everyone was most concerned about in the 80s definitely were (are?) endangered, and with whale birth rates being much lower than seals (and cattle, and poultry), killing an individual whale would have a larger overall impact on the species.
- chm 11y ago
  You are completely right, and I should have mentioned that in my comment. It is obvious that the situation is different. However, I was concerned with the act of killing itself. And it seems more acceptable to kill cows than seals because the latter are cute.
- sitkack 11y ago
  Almost all animals are mistreated orders of magnitude more than seals are. So the amount of value we extract from a lifeform dictates how badly we can treat it? What a very Roman moral aesthetic.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - gnoway 11y ago
    The first statement is false, and the second mischaracterizes what I said. To me at least, clubbing, skinning and leaving a carcass on the ice is worse than clubbing, bleeding and then using all of the carcass; dead is dead. The personal attack doesn't help your cause unless you're just trying to aggravate people you disagree with.
    - sitkack 11y ago
      The majority of animals (by weight) on the planet are livestock. Most are mistreated. Everything dies, how it gets there is what matters. The utility of the end state doesn't justify the path taken. The path needs it own justification.

The final paragraphs are really the most important, in my opinion. Why stop seal hunting and not mass slaughters of cows?

by chm 11y ago

The final paragraphs are really the most important, in my opinion. Why stop seal hunting and not mass slaughters of cows?

gnoway 11y ago

This article - at least the last few paragraphs - understates what we're getting out of cows. Yes, the hides are important, but we also eat their flesh and use their bones for stuff. Cows are not typically skinned and then left in the field to be picked over. Also cow leather has a larger range of uses than I imagine seal skin/fur does: the latter is strictly a luxury item and I think that would be true even if there was unlimited sealing. In short, comparing seal hunting and cattle farming is maybe not as helpful as the article's author would like. I do think the outcry over sealing is because they are cute. As the article points out, they are not endangered. This also affects the comparison with whaling. The whales everyone was most concerned about in the 80s definitely were (are?) endangered, and with whale birth rates being much lower than seals (and cattle, and poultry), killing an individual whale would have a larger overall impact on the species.

chm 11y ago
You are completely right, and I should have mentioned that in my comment. It is obvious that the situation is different. However, I was concerned with the act of killing itself. And it seems more acceptable to kill cows than seals because the latter are cute.
sitkack 11y ago
Almost all animals are mistreated orders of magnitude more than seals are. So the amount of value we extract from a lifeform dictates how badly we can treat it? What a very Roman moral aesthetic.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- gnoway 11y ago
  The first statement is false, and the second mischaracterizes what I said. To me at least, clubbing, skinning and leaving a carcass on the ice is worse than clubbing, bleeding and then using all of the carcass; dead is dead. The personal attack doesn't help your cause unless you're just trying to aggravate people you disagree with.
  - sitkack 11y ago
    The majority of animals (by weight) on the planet are livestock. Most are mistreated. Everything dies, how it gets there is what matters. The utility of the end state doesn't justify the path taken. The path needs it own justification.