Animal Rights - Research Paper Example

?It is hard to believe the sheer number of technological advances as the human race has made within the past few decades. However, like any type of advancement, the price of this technological advancement has been an explosion of comfort and consumption oriented industries; not the least of which is that of “fast food”. The evolution of fast food has effectively brought the carnage and industrial slaughter of animals to a scale that has never before been seen in the course of human history. In addition to mechanizing and industrializing animal slaughter, the advent of fast food has also removed animals from their native environment and placed them into sterile perennially lit confines that force them to eat an unnatural diet of that is saturated with growth hormones. This particular proposal pertains to a research paper; however, it is also meant to serve as a clarion call to humankind as a means to reignite the moral compass that has been lost and focus their attention on the moral harm that is being done to animals with respect to this industrialized slaughter and inhumane treatment. At the end of the day, the fact remains that we share a planet with these creatures and are ultimately related to them as life forms that share our planet Earth. As such, the two opposing views that people share with regards to this topic hinge upon the level of rights that the animals we consume should receive. Radicals on both side, as always, serve to make this a complex issue by advocating extreme views with relation to how animals should be treated. On the one side there are those individuals that see very little if nothing wrong with the current system and the way that animal rights are respected within it. In many ways, elements of this group wish that animal rights would be even further reduced due to the fact that animal rights are antithetical to their personal and/or political vantage point. Similarly, on the opposing side, there are those individuals that are deeply troubled by the way our current society disregards the worth and dignity of other life forms. In fairness, among this group as well exists zealots that would advocate for an extreme solution to such an issue such as all individuals becoming vegetarians to affect a positive change on animal rights worldwide. As such, as rationally and scientifically as possible, this analysis will work to lay out a moderate framework from which the author will attempt to explain and understand the relevant arguments that exist on both sides of this debate. The following provides a brief summary of some of the arguments that each side of this debate put forward: The individuals who campaign for a greater degree of protection and animal rights argue the following: Due to the fact that eating meat necessarily entails the slaughter of an animal, it also entails grief, anxiety, and a high degree of suffering on the part of the animal Raising animals for slaughter is an inherently callous practice due to the fact that those individuals that are involved in the process begin to become hardened to the hardships and suffering that these animals undergo during this process. Evidence from a number of physicians and studies have concluded that a meat-eating is not necessarily beneficial to the health of those who eat it. It is verifiable that if the entire planet became vegetarian, the amount of food that would be saved from feeding cattle stock and chickens plus swine and all the other meat that a great deal of our food supply goes towards would be more than sufficient to feed all of those that go without food. The other side of the debate urges multiple levels of justification and rationalization for the killing of animals for many reason: Animals are by nature stupid and incapable of understanding what their role in life is therefore it is not necessary to respect their rights to the same extent that we respect human rights. It is moral and acceptable to use the animal for the needs of the human being if such a use helps the human being(s) to continue to live and thrive on planet earth. Due to the fact that the use of animals for food, medicine, and clothing increases human utility, it is therefore ethical. Tradition as well as sport takes precedence over animal rights as a function of both hunting and ritual sacrifice Only humans have rights with respect to the way in which ethics are concerned. All other beings are beyond those rights. Due to the manner in which our current society is structured, combined with the fact that animal slaughter has been industrialized and hidden from our collective eyes, our culture has become more or less accepting of the horrors that are so thinly veiled from our eyes. If our culture continues to disrespect life to the extent that has been evidenced within the past few decades, it is highly likely that or very own culture will experience a cataclysmic reaction to such unethical behavior. Although the spiritual belief in karma would do well to be mentioned, the reader can appropriately understand the biological ramifications of our industrialized slaughter as each and every time a salmonella outbreak occurs, meat from around the nation is labeled as unsafe and necessarily thrown out. It would therefore not beggar belief to assume that such a situation could serve as a karmic reaction to the unethical and inhumane way we have treated the animals on our planet over our history. References Bristow, E. (2011). Global Climate Change and the Industrial Animal Agriculture Link: The Construction of Risk. Society & Animals, 19(3), 205-224. doi:10.1163/156853011X578893 Freeman, C. (2010). Framing Animal Rights in the "Go Veg" Campaigns of U.S. Animal Rights Organizations. Society & Animals, 18(2), 163-182. doi:10.1163/156853010X492015 Jerolmack, C. (2003). Tracing the Profile of Animal Rights Supporters: A Preliminary Investigation. Society & Animals, 11(3), 245-263. doi:10.1163/156853003322773041 Kistler, J. M. (2001). All Creatures Great and Small. Library Journal, 126(18), 57. Lerner, P., & Rabello, A. (2006). THE PROHIBITION OF RITUAL SLAUGHTERING (KOSHER SHECHITA AND HALAL) AND FREEDOM OF RELIGION OF MINORITIES. Journal Of Law & Religion, 22(1), 1-62. Rogers, R. A. (2008). Beasts, Burgers, and Hummers: Meat and the Crisis of Masculinity in Contemporary Television Advertisements. Environmental Communication, 2(3), 281-301. doi:10.1080/17524030802390250 Read More