By Austin Webb
It’s well understood that when it comes to violence, the more vulnerable, trusting and gentle the victim, the more heinous the crime. To reinforce this ubiquitous perspective as law, in many countries the victimization of children and the elderly carries longer prison sentences and harsher punishments.
Pigs rescued from slaughter.
Image from FarmSanctuary.org
On a nearly instinctual level we recognize that harming those who are less able to defend themselves is more rather than less egregious, however, when it comes to the treatment of animals this notion is entirely disregarded. Over the last 10,000 years numerous species have been genetically manipulated via artificial (and typically forced) in-breeding to create subjects who are less capable of violence, more trusting and more docile-natured. The result of such now is the mass slaughter of billions of cows, pigs, chickens and sheep who are brought into existence within an inherently inefficient and cruel system of wasting land, fuel, water and other resources to convert their lives into palate pleasure for humans.
Neolithic rock paintings illustrating domesticated cows.
Image from Encyclopædia Britannica
Animals within their natural states have evolved various attributes and dispositions to avoid predation and survive the unforgiving wilderness, many of which such as heightened aggression have made them unruly and unfit for subjugation. Generations of selective breeding for dispositions and physiology that are advantageous for farming have rendered domesticated animals weakened via reduced environmental attentiveness, aggression and neotenic attributes (the retention of juvenile or “childlike” features): smaller brain size, smaller teeth, weaker jaws, shorter faces/snouts. In addition to neotenic attributes, domesticated animals are slaughtered at early stages of their lives relative to their expected potential lifespans. For example, pigs are typically slaughtered at 5-6 months of age and chickens typically around 6 weeks (mere babies despite being adult-sized due to selective breeding and high-calorie diets), well short of their respective 15 and 7-year lifespans.
The moral implication of such is that the perpetual predation of domesticated animals has an added layer of perverse cowardice to an already malevolent concept. This system of exploitation may not have been created with malicious thought, or rather any thoughts related to morality, but rather the result of our ancestors will to survive; we are now left with an antiquated and heinous mass injustice to countless beings in the time of the internet, jet travel and smartphone communication, as humanity clings to the worst actions of the past in an act of betrayal to our rationality and moral agency.
Pigs in gestation crates, a standard industry practice.
Image from Animal Activist, Karolin
This enslavement of vulnerable and gentle beings for humans’ pursuit of pleasure has strong parallels with other acts of abuse and bullying especially the predation of children, as perpetrators act on the belief that “might makes right” or in other words merely possessing the capacity for violence determines for it to be acceptable to prey on those weaker than oneself. The difference between a person buying a burger or pork chop and buying a hamster or bunny to personally torture and kill is purely illusory, as the actions are equally unjust and harmful from the perspective of each victim, regardless of their species or the excuse being rooted in a circular reasoning fallacy, as it’s often argued that it’s acceptable to slaughter these animals as that is what they were bred for. However, bringing a being into existence for the sole purpose of slaughtering and consuming their body is in itself an injustice, the ultimate injustice.
Fortunately, there is a way beyond and out of this injustice which is to consistently reject predatory behavior on both innocent animals and humans alike. As consumers in the 21st century we can readily adopt plant-based diets, refuse to buy leather or wool and reject acts of cruelty to animals such as rodeos. By doing such as a start, we can live without blood on our hands while doing our part to create a better future, or at least refrain from making Earth a hell and perpetual nightmare for our most vulnerable co-inhabitants.
Pigs awaiting slaughter.
Image from Jo-Anne McArthur
Wild Aurochs pictured (left) and domesticated cows (right).
Image sourced from T. Van Vuure
Comments