Farm Animals and Slavery
A new series of regulations coming from the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and dealing with the comfort of farm animals, especially those raised in factory farms, has prompted a series of very amused reactions from the media and a good part of the population, who feel that it’s simply idiotic to think about the comfort of anything other than humans, plus some pretty angry reactions from certain other people, who are outraged that money are being spent on improving the standard of living of farm animals when people are poor and have so many of their needs unmet, especially since these measures are likely to result in price increases for certain animal products.
Granted that the regulations can give reason for a certain kind of angry or frustrated amusement, but that has nothing to do with the reasons mentioned by the media and everything to do with the fact that some of these measures seem to have little actual purpose and nearly all of them certainly do far more for those who raise such animals, allowing them to claim that they now do so much for their well-being, than for the animals themselves, as the major problems inherent to factory farming are not tackled.
There was a time when people were slaves simply because they were of a different race. Now there is still some actual slavery in certain areas and a lot of paycheck slavery everywhere, but things have greatly improved and hopefully will continue to do so. Yet, while we continue to try to prevent humans from treating other humans as slaves, other animals are treated like slaves simply because they are of a different species. I’m wondering why shouldn’t we make changing this state of affairs the next step, as an integral part of our development and evolution as a supposedly intelligent species?
Sure, other animals are not humans and can’t be treated the same way, but we are responsible for how an animal we raise lives and ultimately dies and should act accordingly! So, while such an animal is raised and perhaps used to provide other products, such as milk or eggs, it should be treated as something similar to a valued employee and offered genuine care and a decent quality of life in exchange for the services it provides. And, while I agree that we have the right to kill other animals for food, I firmly believe that, when such killing is done in a controlled environment and not, for example, by a starving person lost in the woods, the method used must cause no pain or stress to the animal in question. I also firmly believe that any such sacrifices must only be performed out of need and not simply to satisfy the whims of some who desire certain delicacies or luxuries and that, excepting self-defense, food is the only good reason for killing an otherwise at least reasonably healthy animal, though of course certain parts of it can and should be used for other purposes, because nothing should be wasted.
Yet what’s going on now is something very different… Those who haven’t done so already can set aside an hour and a half and then go ahead and click on the “Earthlings” banner in the sidebar for an idea of what I’m talking about. Though I think everyone already has at least some idea about how animals are treated anyway, the question being only whether or not they care and, unfortunately, very few seem to. Of course, the next question would be what would the ones who do care be willing to do about it. After all, the United States needed a war to get rid of slavery based on race, so who knows what it’d take for the whole world to get rid of slavery based on species…
Yes, I’m quite aware that such changes would make animal products a lot more expensive and would also significantly reduce their availability, but eliminating slavery made pretty much everything more expensive and likely also harder to come by in the areas where it was practiced, and offering employees better working conditions and wages has the same effect on the products of their labor. It’s not a question of what’s convenient for those of us who consume or otherwise use certain products, but a question of fairness towards those who produce them. I’m sure pretty much everyone who has a job would agree with that statement when thinking of themselves, so it only makes sense to extend that same reasoning to all other employees as well, regardless of race or species.
And besides, improving the animals’ living conditions tends to result in much healthier animal products and less environmental damage, which implies a lot of benefits for us humans as well, regardless of where we live or what we eat. So making such changes is in the long-term interest of everyone, meaning that all those who can manage to also think about what will happen to them and what world will they live in a few years or decades from now instead of focusing solely on today and tomorrow should fully support these measures that are currently only brought forward by a small number of animal rights activists, as if they’d do nothing but harm humans, or at best as if they wouldn’t affect humans at all.
Unfortunately, a very long time is likely to pass before other species will stop being treated as they currently are. But perhaps someday enough people will evolve to the level required to care for anyone or anything other than themselves and perhaps a few loved ones, and to think about the future at least as much as, and preferably way more than, about the present. Perhaps when there will be few enough people in the world and they’ll live much simpler lives than many of those who currently reside in developed countries do… That’d be a crucial moment in our evolution from a species with great mental potential to one that could truly be called intelligent.
