On Paul Solotaroff’s “In the Belly of the Beast”: A Not So Subtle Argument Against Factory Farming The dawn of civilization began with mankind mastering a constant source of food. From humble grains to the mighty cow, raising and harvesting food has been an unchanged profession for millennia. Ingrained into the fabric of society to the point of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, where Abel, being a Shepard, offered one of his flock to God as a sacrifice which was preferred over Cain’s grain offering. From biblical times, the progression of technology for herding and rearing animals had not changed up until the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution led to new mechanized ways of raising animals but, also losing touch with the natural way of things. This mechanized way of raising animals is talked about by Paul Solotaroff in his article, “In the Belly of The Beast” on how cruel and brutal the conditions are for the animals being raised today in factory farms and how people should act against them. Solotaroff opens the article with Sarah – which isn’t her real name and is made very clear that its important her real name isn’t known. Sarah then describes the scene of the farm she works on in a vivid sense, such as
“the sensory assault of 10,000 pigs in close quarters: the stench of their shit, piled three feet high in the slanted trenches below; the blood on sows’ snouts cut by cages so tight they can’t turn around or lie sideways; the racking cries of
Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End
Every year, an average American will consume approximately one hundred-twenty six pounds of meat. This meat can be traced back to factory farms where the animals are kept to be tortured to turn into a product for the appetite of humans. The terrible treatment these animals are forced to endure is the outcome of the greed and want for a faster production of their product. The industry of factory farming works to maximize the output of the meat while maintaining low costs,but will sadly always comes at the animals’ expense.
Most of the animals under this condition will develop illnesses, abnormalities, go insane, or die before they make it to the slaughterhouse (Alfie, 2010). In the U.S., over 10 billion animals are raised and killed each year for food about 9 billion chickens, 250 million turkeys, 100 million pigs, 35 million cows. The vast majority of these are not raised on small family farms but, rather, in the major agricultural facilities called?factory farms, also known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). The idea of factory farming originated in the 1920s with the discovery of vitamins A and D. When mixed with feed; farm animals were capable of growing without sunlight or exercise, which enabled them to be raised more efficiently in barns throughout the year (Fieser, 2015). Factory farming is a form of capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system that is privately controlled by owners for profit and self-interest (Fieser, 2015). Many philosophers have proposed the principle of equal consideration of interests, in some form or other, as a primary moral value; but, we shall see in more element shortly, not many of them have documented that this principle applies to members of other species as well as to our own. (Singer, 1989). In today society the consumer is much more interested in knowing how the chickens are raised, what they?ve been eating
To depict the extent to which humans have twisted nature in the food industry, Michael Pollan offers anecdotes detailing modern slaughterhouses and the industrialization of meat, one of which is written about his personal connection with a steer raised for slaughter. Similar to the meat industrialization system he describes, the manner in which Pollan writes is clear and methodical, each animal designated by a number and their histories described succinctly; steer 9534’s name, for example, “signifies she was the thirty fourth cow born in 1995” (Pollan 69). However, this system greatly differs from the original nature of the process which Pollan describes. Before the mechanization of the meat industry, cattle grazed in
In his 2009 article “Eating Meat,” Jonathan Safran Foer uncovers the cruel and gruesome truth about factory farms and how they violate animal rights. Foer believes changing food habits prevents the sufferings of animals. He explains that factory farmed animals are suffering due to their inhuman living conditions and style of killing. Foer explains that chickens are cramped with twisted legs and cows are skinned or dismembered while still conscious. In addition, Foer clarifies that after making an animal suffer and go through torture, it is just plain wrong to eat it. Foer would often acknowledge his grandmother’s story, emphasizing her famine during the War and how she had refused a piece of meat offered to her. Even though she had been starving for days, she refused the piece of meat.
Most people in America don’t know where their food comes from, including me. The documentary Food Inc sets out to expose how big businesses are creating a monopoly over the food industry by mistreating animals, decreasing federal regulations, and creating a veil between the consumer and manufacturers. Along with these concerns, Food Inc brings to mind valuable lessons on stewardshid and causes us to consider the Christians role in it. The first issue that is addressed is the mistreatment of animals.
Eating Animals, written by Jonathan Safran Foer, explores the topics of factory farming and commercial fisheries. Focusing on by-catch and slaughterhouses, Foer gives raw insight to conditions that animals live in at these farms. Using cultural meaning associated with food, humane agricultural methods, and health risks, which permeate factory farming, Jonathan Safran Foer analyzes the way society values the food they eat. Foer addresses crucial questions such as where the food comes from, how its produced, the environmental, and social and economical factors that eating animals produces. Written when Jonathan Safran Foer found out his wife was pregnant, his objective was to know as much information available regarding eating animals.
Humans have long used and hunted animals for food, weapons, and even clothing; but when did necessities turn into greed and fuel for consumerism? The purpose of this essay is to provide a brief history on the common use of animals and then delve into the current exploitation of animals and the problems that arise from it.
Throughout history many arguments have arose concerning the matter of Factory Farming and the way we obtain our meat. But it is now, in early times, that the well-being of the animals are being observed. People started to witness the inhumane treatment of the animals before they were slaughtered. In the novel, “Eating Animals” the author Jonathan Safran Foer discuss the different ways the animals are abused along with the living conditions of the animals. Make no mistake I’m not trying to convince anybody to stop eating meat because I wouldn’t be practicing what I preach
Consumers of factory-farmed meat support the mistreatment and suffering of animals on factory farms. It is not that humans and nonhumans should be treated identical, rather that animals ought to have the same basic principle of equality as humans. In “All Animals are Equal,” Peter Singer clarifies “the basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment; it requires equal consideration” (Singer, 29). This still begs the question, what makes farm animals worthy of moral consideration? One answer is that animals have the ability to suffer. The capacity for suffering, as Singer suggests, is a “prerequisite for having interests at all” (Singer, 34). Singer asserts “the capacity for suffering and enjoyment is, however, not only necessary, but also sufficient for us to say that a being has interests – at an absolute minimum, an interest is not suffering” (Singer, 34). This claim is entirely plausible, as it is clear that the animals in factory farms have the capacity to suffer. Even so, there is a common
Each year in Australia, over half a billion animals are raised, chemically modified and slaughtered for food and food production, simply for human benefit (REF). This seems a small portion compared to the Animal Equality Network’s statistic of fifty-six billion animals slaughtered each year globally, which include for the purposes of human consumption, entertainment, religious traditions and scientific research (REF). The chief supply of animal products for human use originates from the high yield method of factory farming. Factory farming is defined as a system of rearing livestock using highly intensive methods, in which poultry, pigs, or cattle are confined indoors under strictly controlled conditions (REF). In Australia, factory farming is the leading source of suffering to the largest
There is a reason people take their children to pick apples, but do not take them to the slaughterhouse. At factory farms, animals are seen as a product that is mass produced for profit, and not as beings with needs and emotions (“Factory”1). Animals on factory farms live in small soiled enclosures and have no social interaction, all of these factors lead to immense stress and unnatural aggression (“Factory”1). The goal of those who run factory farms is always more profit and more product. In order to create more product the needs of the animals are put aside.
There are many books that illustrate men being curesed and turned into beasts, but don't illustrate the struggles that are occurrent such as the non-fiction advernture book Beast by Donna Jo Napoli. The main character, Orasmyn, is curesed and turned into a lion due to his foolishness and has to now find the love of a woman for him to return back to the prince he once was. The book is complicated because he travels a lot and he also practices the routine of his normal life but as a
For many years humans have always used animals for anything. Billions of animals are being used in harmful ways every year, such as in foods, experiments and being held captive. Over the years, there have been many cases of animal abuse in the world. Some people do not pay any interest to what is going on in these animal attractions. In 2004, Sunstein suggested that animals must have their rights; therefore many people with factory farms were afraid that the administrations were going to embrace an animal protection. In the past years “many have come to view the struggle foranimal liberation as being on a par with other liberation struggles,” (Marcia Clemmitt). Scientists have noticed that animals do need freedom. For example farm animals are the ones who produce for our food. Cows, chickens, pigs, are the ones who humans kill for our appetite. Therefore farm animals are at risk, and people who eat them such as myself, do not realize the type of harm farmers put the animals through.
Did you know that sheep where the first known animals to have been domesticates as a source of food? This occurred in the Middle East and the proof lies in the high proportion of bones of one-year-old sheep discarded in what it now northern Iraq. Not long after, the goat followed and these two animals become the standard animals of the nomadic pastoralists, tribes that move all year long with their flocks that were guided by the availability of fresh grass. Soon, cattle and pigs are domesticated, in more settled communities. The purpose behind herding or keeping animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs is to provide needs of man. For example, they produce dung to manure the crops. Once the animals die, they provide leather and wool for garments, horn and bones for sharp points (like needles or arrows), fat for tallow candles, and hooves for glue. However, the first and main reason behind the keeping and herding of these animals is to secure a regular supply of fresh meat. Worldwide, there are about 100 different animal species kept by humans for multi-purpose use. The utilization and keeping of livestock has always been an important part of human activity, but there are still a few cultures that do not use the services and products of animals. Now, more so than ever, the discussion of whether animals should be kept for human consumption, and other uses, has been intense, and two of the strongest voices in this debate are animal