3 ms·

As an omnivore I don't really have a dog in the race so to speak, but I suspect an activist would argue that an animal that is killed without suffering is still

As an omnivore I don't really have a dog in the race so to speak, but I suspect an activist would argue that an animal that is killed without suffering is still 'murdered'. The lack of pain isn't really the point, is it?

pyre 17y ago
Depends on the activist. There are people that just think that the livestock industry mistreats the animals (sometimes the animals that are supposed to be knocked out make it down the 'assembly line' and are torn apart for meat while they are still alive; though one could argue they may be in shock and not feeling anything). In the same way, there are many reasons that people do things like eat 'organic' meat: * I don't want the animal to suffer * I don't want the animal to be 'hopped up' on antibiotics (i.e. having all their food 'laced' with antibiotics) * I don't want the animal to be 'bio-engineered.' (i.e. farms that 'engineer' their cattle to grow to maturity very -- unnaturally -- rapidly in order to increase profits) * I want the animal to have a 'good life.' (i.e. to spend 99% of their time from birth to death in a cage so small that they can't even turn around) [ Unfortunately terms like 'organic' don't always mean what people think that they mean. At least in Canada (and I think the US), if an animal on an 'organic' farm gets sick and needs antibiotics, they have to go to a non-organic farm after being treated because all 'organic' livestock can't have any antibiotics in them. In general, I don't think that this is what people mean when they think about 'organic' farming practices, but sometimes it can be beneficial to humans -- e.g. someone that is allergic to any trace of common animal antibiotics in the meat that they eat. ]
dejb 17y ago
Actually for a lot of people who chose not to eat meat the pain inflicted on animals is a significant part of the problem. I don't think there are too many people who are arguing that an animal life is the direct equivalent to a human life. I would actually argue that for animals, torture is worse than death but for adult humans the reverse is true. This is because the value of a human life is significantly greater but relative ability to feel pain is likely to be a lot more similar. It isn't really fun to logically delve too far into this which is why I guess a lot of people don't do it.
- thirdusername 17y ago
  There are actually a lot of people arguing that animal life is equivalent to human life. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_liberation_movement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_liberation_movement Richard Dawkins recently put up an interview he had with Peter Singer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYYNY2oKVWU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYYNY2oKVWU in 2008 about it which convinced me they are right but I still eat meat as I can't stand nearly all the vegan food I've tasted.
  - dejb 17y ago
    > There are actually a lot of people arguing that animal life is equivalent to human life. The reference you've provided doesn't really speak to the absolute or relative number of who hold this view. They certainly exist but I'd say they would be a small minority. Most people who cared about animals in a way that compelled them to act wouldn't see a direct 1:1 equivalence. Interesting video.

pyre 17y ago

Depends on the activist. There are people that just think that the livestock industry mistreats the animals (sometimes the animals that are supposed to be knocked out make it down the 'assembly line' and are torn apart for meat while they are still alive; though one could argue they may be in shock and not feeling anything). In the same way, there are many reasons that people do things like eat 'organic' meat: * I don't want the animal to suffer * I don't want the animal to be 'hopped up' on antibiotics (i.e. having all their food 'laced' with antibiotics) * I don't want the animal to be 'bio-engineered.' (i.e. farms that 'engineer' their cattle to grow to maturity very -- unnaturally -- rapidly in order to increase profits) * I want the animal to have a 'good life.' (i.e. to spend 99% of their time from birth to death in a cage so small that they can't even turn around) [ Unfortunately terms like 'organic' don't always mean what people think that they mean. At least in Canada (and I think the US), if an animal on an 'organic' farm gets sick and needs antibiotics, they have to go to a non-organic farm after being treated because all 'organic' livestock can't have any antibiotics in them. In general, I don't think that this is what people mean when they think about 'organic' farming practices, but sometimes it can be beneficial to humans -- e.g. someone that is allergic to any trace of common animal antibiotics in the meat that they eat. ]

dejb 17y ago

Actually for a lot of people who chose not to eat meat the pain inflicted on animals is a significant part of the problem. I don't think there are too many people who are arguing that an animal life is the direct equivalent to a human life. I would actually argue that for animals, torture is worse than death but for adult humans the reverse is true. This is because the value of a human life is significantly greater but relative ability to feel pain is likely to be a lot more similar. It isn't really fun to logically delve too far into this which is why I guess a lot of people don't do it.

thirdusername 17y ago
There are actually a lot of people arguing that animal life is equivalent to human life. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_liberation_movement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_liberation_movement Richard Dawkins recently put up an interview he had with Peter Singer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYYNY2oKVWU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYYNY2oKVWU in 2008 about it which convinced me they are right but I still eat meat as I can't stand nearly all the vegan food I've tasted.
- dejb 17y ago
  > There are actually a lot of people arguing that animal life is equivalent to human life. The reference you've provided doesn't really speak to the absolute or relative number of who hold this view. They certainly exist but I'd say they would be a small minority. Most people who cared about animals in a way that compelled them to act wouldn't see a direct 1:1 equivalence. Interesting video.