Throughout American history, propaganda pieces have been used to sway the public opinion on one matter or another. The famous Federalist Papers were used to sway the early American public to ratify the Constitution. The Civil War also heavily relied on propaganda to recruit soldiers and boost morale. At the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was written as a propaganda piece on socialism, however, it was remembered for its cometary on the ethics of the meat packing industry.
The consumption of animal meat is highly accepted in today’s society, however, the methods, in which the animals are killed are sometimes questioned for their cruelty. David Wallace, in considering the Lobster, takes the readers to the Maine Lobster Festival, where the consumption of lobsters is exploited, and the festival's attendees celebrate these acts. However, the essay goes furthermore than narrating the lobster’s festival, because through sensory details, and different techniques, he makes the readers question society’s morality. By stressing the cruelty it takes boiling lobsters alive, Wallace is capable of creating a sense of awareness in society decisions that demonstrate their corrupted morality, and how it affects directly others (like lobsters)
In the articles “An Animals Place,” by Michael Pollan, and “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals,” by Blake Hurst, the controversial methods of farming in today’s society are examined. Modern farming methods are a relevant topic of discussion because the foods that people consume have a direct impact on their health, therefore they should be aware of the procedures that farming methods employ. Pollan and Hurst have differing beliefs on farming methods, but similar interests in the environment, people, and animals. In the article “An Animals Place,” the author, Michael Pollan sheds light on the barbaric institution of American meat-packing.
Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals is a book about persuasion. Foer seeks to convince his readers to take any step in reducing what he believes is the injustice of harming animals. To achieve this, Foer employs many persuasion techniques and often changes his approach when he targets specific groups. His strategies include establishing himself as an ethical authority and appealing to his readers’ emotions, morals, and reason.
Alastair Norcross takes the position in the animal rights argument that torturing animals for their use is unacceptable. He asks to consider a case where a man, Fred, lost his ability to enjoy chocolate because he lost the ability to produce Cocoamone. Fred’s doctor tells him that a recent study shows that, when puppies are tortured and then brutally killed, they produce cocoamone that Fred can then harvest. So Fred sets up his basement where he can torture puppies and then slaughter them in order to taste chocolate again. Norcross claims that this is obviously wrong and draws a correlation between Fred’s case and the situation where we cause chickens to suffer in order to mass produce their meat.
The book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, was written by Michael Pollan and describes a man’s interest in discovering where certain foods truly come from and explain why the humans of today struggle to find something to eat compared to the humans of the past. Pollan embarks on four separate quests having each serve a purpose to give him insight on America’s dynamic and complexed reception of food. In his first quest, Pollan watches a cow and sees its development up until it gets slaughtered. This experience reflects on commercial farming and tries to show animal development in relation to their feed.
In conclusion, the omnivore’s dilemma is a problem considered when omnivores ingest food. Our food used to come from open farms, filled with animals, and different types of plants and vegetables. Now, our farms only grow one or two crops -corn and soybean. When hybrid corn was invented, it was used by farmers around the country. An even newer invention is the GMO, genetically modified organism, prevalent in foods today,is when humans add desirable traits to a plant, by adding certain types of DNA.
“A Question of Ethics” by Jane Goodall and “Animal Research Saves Lives” by Heloisa Sabin presents two sides of the same coin in regards to Animal testing. Thereby, questioning the validity or necessity of animal research and testing today. In “A Question of Ethics” by Goodall she presents a scenery of the living conditions of the animals which are often isolated; posing the ultimate questions of, whether animal research is essential to medical research? Or How many tests are performed only to conform to laws and not out of scientific merit? The Suggestion was made that scientists should explore alternative options, such as testing on cell and tissue cultures.
Psychologists and Pseudo-Scientists have long sought to explain the inborn human desire for self destruction. Selfishness against one’s own benefit, the urge to harm or take on harm for the sake of one’s own security, drinking, smoking, these clearly injurious thoughts and actions seduce individuals by an instinct Freud coins the “Death Drive” (Beyond the Pleasure Principle 30). Moreover, as advances in genetic engineering tear the veil between science fiction and fact, modern critics have questioned how this suicidal drive may push into uncharted frontiers. Such concerns have fostered a fear of unadulterated scientific progress captured within the works of Margaret Atwood. Oryx and Crake, especially, utilizes almost hyperbolic predictions of scientific innovation as evidence of a deeper self-destructive nature, and as justification for fear.
Embryos for Sale In Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake, Atwood argues that genetic modifications end up hurting society, instead of helping it in order to demonstrate what can happen if science changes everything society has ever known. Atwood communicates this by describing all of the disasters that have taken place due to all the genetically modified animals and later, children. When the modifications were taking place in the animals, there were a lot of people that knew about it, and did not try to stop what was going on. Once the modifications started to take place in the human population, the people that knew about it became few and far between, so nothing could be done to stop the people behind the modifications.
But let me tell you a story. When asking experimenters why they experiment on animals, the answer is “because the animals are like us”. But when asking experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, the answer is “because the animals are not like us”. (relate to audience) II. So whether animals are like humans or not?
Since the value of animal life as a living being should be recognized and to a certain extent equated to the value of human life, the animal experiments raise a range of ethical questions (Armstrong & Botzler,
The meat packing industry disregards animal’s emotions and their rights all together by the malicious treatment of animals. The way animals are being treated is highly unfair. Being slaughtered for their body parts and suffering just to be used for protein or an asset to humans is unbearable. An animal’s life is at equal values to a human and deserve the same rights as
Documentary Reflection #1 – Food, Inc. Food, Inc. is an incredible account of what really occurs in our food system in the United States. This documentary takes a closer look at the farming industry and unveils a very dark side. It is amazing to think that chickens have been re-engineered to produce more white meat and grow to their full size in 49 days compared to the usual three months. These chickens can barely stand since they cannot hold their own weight and are pumped with antibiotics due to their horrendous living conditions. It just doesn’t seem right.
Throughout moral, humanistic, and social perspectives animal testing is beneficial for medical evolution. Animals ' rights are of less moral worth than human rights. Humans are complex beings with large well developed brains, which form sizeable social groups, have significant ability to communicate with one another, and possess desires, preferences and interests about the world. Humans have an awareness of their own existence and mortality, and as such are beings worthy of moral consideration. According to Pycroft (2011), “Without access to live organisms we would know far less bout the function of the cardiovascular, how digestion works…
