In the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, the author talks about, not only vegetarianism, but reveals to us what actually occurs in the factory farming system. The issue circulating in this book is whether to eat meat or not to eat meat. Foer, however, never tries to convert his reader to become vegetarians but rather to inform them with information so they can respond with better judgment. Eating meat has been a thing that majority of us engage in without question. Which is why among other reasons Foer feels compelled to share his findings about where our meat come from. Throughout the book, he gives vivid accounts of the dreadful conditions factory farmed animals endure on a daily basis. For this reason Foer urges us to take a stand against factory farming, and if we must eat meat then we must adapt humane agricultural methods for meat production.
Foer provides us with countless information regarding the cruelty animals face, a result of factory farming. The living conditions for animals in this industry can be very disturbing and inhumane, and the slaughtering process of these animals is just as bad. In the “Hiding / Seeking” chapter, Foer shares with his readers the degradation of the animals he encounters at factory farms he’s investigated. He uses imagery to colorfully recount his experiences on these farms “There are tens of thousands of turkey chicks. Fist-sized, with feathers the color of sawdust, they’re nearly invisible on the sawdust floor.” (Foer, pg. 88) Here Foer is giving us a visual that emphases the horror these animals face. As his investigation prolongs he stumbles upon a locked door, Foer says “nothing will unsettle me more than the locked doors. Nothing will better capture the whole sad business of...
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...h? Factory farming holds no regards to animal welfare and it is why it must be stopped; shut down. Though things are easier said than done an effort should be taken to disclaim this notion. There is power in numbers the more people campaigning for animal rights and or welfare will bring about some change even if it’s small, but it’s a change nonetheless. Ending factory farming is not an overnight success it’s a process that will require every able bodied human who cares enough about this matter to take a stand. As we’ve seen you could be a vegan advocating for animal welfare in the meat industry. Humane animal agricultural is very possible such as family farms and vegetarian ranchers we just need to make that shift. A task in deed but not an impossible one to achieve.
Works Cited
Foer, Jonathan S. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009. Print
The argumentative article “More Pros than Cons in a Meat-Free Life” authored by Marjorie Lee Garretson was published in the student newspaper of the University of Mississippi in April 2010. In Garretson’s article, she said that a vegetarian lifestyle is the healthy life choice and how many people don’t know how the environment is affected by their eating habits. She argues how the animal factory farms mistreat the animals in an inhumane way in order to be sources of food. Although, she did not really achieve the aim she wants it for this article, she did not do a good job in trying to convince most of the readers to become vegetarian because of her writing style and the lack of information of vegetarian
...oss’ paper. Therefore, this objection is not sound because the number of naïve people are rapidly dwindling. The second objection stated that one person has no effect on the factory farming industry, so giving up meat is pointless because the industry is too large to feel the effects of someone converting to vegetarianism. I refuted this objection by saying that, yes, one person alone will not make a difference, but when more and more people become vegetarians, the industry will be forced to respond by producing less animals, therefore, preventing more animal suffering. Although these two objections were strong and valid, I believe I was able to successfully defend Norcross’ argument that factory farming is wrong and cruel.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma In the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food and question themselves about the things they consume. Have we ever considered where our food comes from or stopped to think about the process that goes into the food that we purchase to eat every day? Do we know whether our meat and vegetables picked out were raised in our local farms or transported from another country? Michael pollen addresses the reality of what really goes beyond the food we intake and how our lives are affected.
Every year worldwide, over seventy billion animals are killed for food in factories without the inclusion aquatic animals (“Factory Farms Overview¨). The animal rights movement began in Europe during the nineteenth century to protect horses, dogs and cats (Recarte 1). However, now modern animal rights groups have switched their focus to factory farms, test animals and the removal of ag-gag laws. The fight to create less painful and stressful environments in factories and the altogether removal of animal testing and ag-gag laws has been taken on by animal rights groups like ASPCA (“Factory Farms”). The biggest issue currently facing animals is factory farming.
Food, especially meat is such a central part of human society that it cannot be ignored. Just as big minds came together in the 60’s to make a better chicken, they can come together to solve a crisis that harms every person living in this country. Jonathan Safran Foer’s book gives an important look into what goes on behind the scenes of factory farms, and offers logical solutions. However, it will take more than this, and more than just vegetarian encouragement to make any lasting changes. It will take the votes of consumers both in the supermarket and on ballots to evoke a better system. Take a look at what is on your plate next time you sit down for a meal. Did you vote well?
Four people sit kneeling around a small table in a small room laden with food. A room where a serious man in a black box holds out a can of something altered and edible, and a young girl perched near her mother clutches a bag of potato chips to her chest as if claiming it as solely her own. This is the scene depicted in a photograph of the Ukita family in Kodaira City, Japan as part of a series taken by Peter Menzel for the book “What the World Eats”. This series of photographs illustrates not only what people eat in different parts of the world, but also how their families, and lives as fellow humans can so closely resemble our own.
Pollan gives another well-addressed argument to his readers concerning the gap between humans and their prey. He portrays our society as far from nature and that meat in grocery stores is made to look “as little like parts of animals as possible” (Pollan 307). To back his ideas, Pollan quotes “Why Look at Animals” by John Berger which explains how when consumers make eye contact with their prey, this builds a relationship between the two causing the predator to consume their meat without looking away (Pollan 307). This causes that person to not want to know what they are eating because people are used to not knowing what they are eating. If a non-fiction book was only filled with facts, readers would quickly lose interest and not want to read it.
Animals trapped in factory farms are severely abused and tortured from birth to death. Chickens sometimes will be starved for up to 2 weeks and given no water to shock their bodies into moulting, chickens and hens will have their beaks removed to prevent fighting between other animals. Pigs will get their tails cut off to stop other pigs biting them off. These cruel procedures are done to minimise as few of animals dying as possible so more product can be created by the farmer. Within factory farms, animals are abused with overuse of antibiotics to prevent disease and maximise their body growth to create a higher yield of product. According to Animal Rights Action, 2 out of 3 farms are now factory farmed worldwide and factory farming is only increasing this is leading to more animals being raised for slaughter, abused and tortured, mentally and physically. This is not fair. How would you feel losing your child minutes after it's born? As within factory farms, female cows get their calves are taken away from them within minutes they are born never to be seen again. This leaves these poor female cows depressed which causes them to lose weight and because of this are slaughtered as farmers want to maximise their yield of
In McCarthy’s novel The Road, one of the main issues deals with cannibalism and the moral/ethic issues of survival. Though McCarthy depicts cannibalism negatively in this post-apocalyptic world, it is apparent that cannibalism is necessary for humans to survive when there is no real food to eat. Whether they know what’s actually good vs what is actually bad, they still have a reason to try and stay alive even though things are absolutely terrible around them. Staying alive, to carry the fire for the good of humanity. In a world where everything is just coming to an end, people resort to eating each other in order to stay alive. Where there are bad and good people, but what does it actually mean to be bad? Eating human beings or not helping those people in need of help?
Just picture cows, calves, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese cramped into spaces where they can’t even move or lie down, and are filthy. There are no windows, so the animals won't get fresh air or sunlight until the day they go to the slaughter house. However, when they are loaded up on the trucks they are packed in really tight and won't get any food or water, so most of them will not survive the journey. Factory farms believe that by cramming animals together they will make more money that way, even though most of the animals get sick and die (“Factory Farming” 1).
...event future water and air pollution. In addition, all animal cruelty practices such as 'debeaking' should be outlawed. Practices of keeping animals in confined spaces should be outlawed. Farm animals should be required to have enough space to accommodate all the farm animals at each farm. There should also be mandatory yearly inspection at each place that intends to sell their meat, dairy and egg products to buyers. If an inspection is denied, the farmer should be fined. Animal right groups such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) suggest boycotting meat and dairy products from factory farms to raise more awareness of the cruelty to farm animals. Boycotting these farms is an acceptable response to bring attention to this problem and to get states to pass laws to make animal cruelty not only illegal towards household pets, but also farm animals.
Like many other industries, the farming industry has evolved into big business, “Animals on factory farms are regarded as commodities to be exploited for profit.” In each industry from clothing to instruments, the bosses want to make a profit. The more they can supply with the least amount of waste, the more profit they make. The same goes for factory farming. However instead of humans being the ones directly affected by big bosses, the animals are. They don’t have a voice, and can’t stand up for what is right or wrong. These animals are manipulated in every way to make a better profit. Factory farms mass produce animals for ...
There are also environmental and economic reasons for becoming vegetarian. Some people are not aware of these reasons, but a lot of environmental destruction is linked to meat production, especially cattle farming. Huge areas of f...
As a human, we possess certain rights that protect us in society, however the animals we raise for food live under a much more complicated system that constantly changes. Americans have recently begun to protest animal treatment, especially in the meat industry. Many animal rights groups claim that animal farming is an inhuman practice that violates the rights of all living creatures. Farmers believe that animal right shouldn't change as any changes could cost them millions in new technology to safely care for the animals. The American farming industry poses several moral issues about animal rights which possess no easy solution, however new alternatives appear to have answers for this growing dilemma.
Factory farms have portrayed cruelty to animals in a way that is horrific; unfortunately the public often does not see what really goes on inside these “farms.” In order to understand the conditions present in these factory farms, it must first be examined what the animals in these factory farms are eating. Some of the ingredients commonly used in feeding the animals inside factory farms include the following: animal byproducts, plastic, drugs and chemicals, excessive grains, and meat from members of the same species. (Adams, 2007) These animals are tortured and used for purely slaughter in order to be fed on. Typically large numbers of animals are kept in closed and tight confinements, having only little room to move around, if even that. These confinements can lead to suffocation and death and is not rare. Evidence fr...