Wednesday, June 29, 2011

T,R 9:50am

15 comments:

eduardoduarte25 said...

First of all, I am a meat lover, but I do not condone the cruelty of any animal!! It saddens me to see people take such a blatant disregard to animals, treat them unfairly and abuse them. I frown on birds kept as pets and I get upset when I see hunters with money that go all around the world in order to kill an animal, I do believe that if you have to kill and animal, it should be for human consumption. I also believe that animals do feel pain and seeing an animal suffer, one realizes that particular fact very clearly! Though I am aware the human race would not have progressed in the advancement of medicine without using some animals for research, after all, who would volunteer themselves or their children for drug testing? Being a former hunter, I have managed to understand that taking a life, including an animal's life means taking everything that God has given to them and just for sport, people take it away, and they cannot be brought back once they're life has been taken. All we can do is to monitor farms where the animals are bred and make sure there are no inhumane conditions there, if it is healthier to live without red meat, it is going to take quite an undertaking in trying to re-educate Americans into this mentality.

Anonymous said...

Animals are living creatures, undoubtedly. They, in my opinion, simply do not partake in the same rights that we do and have, but nonetheless deserve their due respect. Though they are not human beings, they are still beings, and as such, do not deserve to be treated as a means to an end even if that is by nature what they are. It really all has to do with respect and intention—it is natural for animals to consume other animals in order to survive and thrive, ever since they first came into being. We as humans are animals, but animals specially evolved attributes like intention, intelligence, and rationality (even if we at times don’t act and behave as if we did). Yet as animals, for hundreds of years we have—like any other animal(s) in the wild—hunted and savagely devoured flesh, whether bloody, cooked, off carcass, or on plate. As animals of this nature we owe much regards to the animals that have respectively been vital to our survival and existence; not just for food, but fuel, clothing and shelter, too. Again, how we go about with what we do with these creatures, and why, is the underlying moral issue. Like our ancestors before us at one point or another—who may have worshipped animals as gods and sacred entities—I try to respect and be thankful to them and all living things before I take a bite out of some unholy burger. I further believe that our efforts should go into making sure that that they are healthy, happy and comfortable, not just for our sake and the animals’, but for life in general as it is so precious. Unfortunately, the inescapable fact that I myself eat meat dawns heavily upon me and I feel guilty at times. Being that we are animals with such powers, we have the equivalent responsibility for managing our fate and the fate of our world. This is the price to pay for our unique minds and the consciousness that distinguishes us from the more primitive species.

--Franklin Hernandez

Anonymous said...

It is so easy to become complacent in our sheltered world and to turn your back to the violence and misery that our every life decision can perpetrate, and that the majority of the country (mostly unknowingly) buys into. The fact is that what goes on in the meat industry is horrifying. Many are ignorant to the way animals are treated in slaughter houses, which massive corporations like McDonald’s, KFC, and many more are in charge of. Animals, like humans, feel pain but sadly their rights is basically inexistent. I only wonder if workers in this industry don’t feel remorse, compassion, or anything towards this living creatures. I understand that many of us are meat lover, but this situation should be handle adequately. Some need to get informed and stop animal cruelty just to satisfy themselves.

--Lydia Sanchez

David Perry said...

I think there are a lot of problems with this argument. First off, what animals should be given the rights? I understand the pigs, chicken and cows, but what about the not so friendly and/or insignificant animals? Snakes, spiders, cockroaches, do these animals have rights too? Most of us here in Florida kill at least one mosquito every day, what about that it’s right to live? If a cow or chicken get the rights then why shouldn’t the mosquito have rights? So where is the cutoff? At what point is an animal insignificant enough that it doesn’t get rights? It is because of this flawed argument that I typically steer clear of this subject. My feelings are simple and quite crude. I like meat, and I’m not going to change my ways so a cow I never met is going to live a better life before he becomes my cheeseburger. Now if the industry can give these animals rights but still manage to produce the massive amount of food it requires to sustain our population, then I’m all for it. But if animal rights mean shutting down about of places that produce the food we need to feed our huge population, then I don’t think it is a good idea. If we just shut down all the factory farms, which are pretty rough places, this country would not have enough food to feed everyone. If the whole country decided tomorrow to become vegetarian we’d be screwed, there would be a huge lack of food. There just aren’t enough farms to feed a whole country of vegetarians.

Stewart said...

In my opinion I believe animals don't deserve rights yes we do live along side them and need to co-exist with one another. It is true that animals do feel pain by exhibiting behavior but one behavior for the same animal might be different from another. All it is is a calculated guess on how the animal might behave if it was in pain. So you would never truly know if the animal was in pain or not.
Another problem is that of morality, whether or not the animal can distinguish between right and wrong. Lets say you have a dog and the dog pees on your sofa, now can you really blame the dog for doing what it does. Furthermore your dog doesn't know or fails to care who's sofa it is, it was simply relieving him/her self and didn't know that peeing on your sofa was wrong.
When I used to eat meat on a daily basis I never cared about how the animal was treated or how it got to my supermarket. But after watching films like Food, Inc. and Super size me I'm aware and more knowledgeable of where my food comes from.

Estefania... said...

I can’t lie, I’m not vegetarian, but I’m in totally opposition with the use of animals for men experiments, I don't think dogs or cats should be abused. I don't think animals commonly used for food should be brutalized even if it's cheaper or makes them taste better.

The battle for animal rights has just begun. It will finish once the human race realizes the true values of all animals. And these values should not be modeled upon man and his view of the world. Man should stop protecting only the animals that hold value for them and start protecting all living creatures.
Granting certain rights to animals would ask of man to use his creative and inventive powers to resolve living conditions free of animal exploitation. This could lead toward another revolution, more comprehensive and more fundamental than any industrial or political revolution in history.

When I eat meat I don’t thing about the animals, I cannot lie about that either. This issue would lead me to the fact that we humans have a very selective attention and we prefer to ignore half of our lives because otherwise we would be constantly stressed or tormented by these thoughts, which brings no solution to the problem anyway.

Anonymous said...

As a meat lover, I believe that animals deserve a better treatment. Part of our lives depends on the health and quality in which they are bred. Even though they are part of our food pyramid, it does not mean that they need to be grown in a hostile environment. I am against factory farming and legal and illegal hunting sports. The stress, crowding spaces and deplorable conditions in which animals are submitted at factory farming cause them to develop serious illnesses that can harm people’s health. Also, we should not kill animals just for hobby or pleasure but because of necessity. Even thought they are mean to an end, we can treat and care them with love as we do with our dogs and cats. Given animals the right to preserve their lives, it will mean that people will be deterred from a fundamental source of life (meat). Animals’ lives depend on our eating culture and habits. Only if all people become vegetarian, it will represent the end of our dependency on meat and with this the respect for animals’ lives.
Doris Flores

Steven said...

I must admit I am a meat lover and I always think about the issues behind what I'm eating no matter at what moment of the day. However, like the Indians do not eat meat because it's embedded in their culture, same for me but in the opposite direction. In the Hispanic culture, especially in Colombia where i was born, eating meat was embedded in our culture. I love eating anything with meat but when I take my first bite in the back of my mind i think about who was hurt during this process. Sometimes i get into a train of thought about it and actually feel bad for guilty pleasure I'm recieving. Honestly, I have tired becoming a vegetarian but since eating me meat is apart of my cultureI couldnt last a day, I've tired. I do have respect for the vegetarians out there and respect your purpose. It takes alot of will-power and headstrong abilities. I agrue with both agreements that the two authors were opposing. I feel like we could go ahead and come to a comprise. As Singer said, " We wouldn't understand animals in a certain emotion because we can't relate as we do for humans." however, i feel we should at least try and draw a boundry line for animals. That's where i agree with Regan because animals have feelings and they should have the same rights as humans.

Mario said...

I am a true believer that animals feel pain and that they also suffer. Language is not a necessary condition to express pain; I have had dogs pretty much all my life and I have always been able to tell when they were in pain or not feeling well. I get very upset when I hear of animal cruelty and abuse. Most animals cannot defend themselves from the abuse of humans or are too scared to do so. That would be like an adult beating an infant or a toddler who cannot defend him or herself or are just too scared to do so. The fact that we as humans eat meat is just the laws of nature, aren’t we just animals ourselves? The fact that we eat meat is not animal cruelty because we consume the meat so we can survive. Animals in the wild act in the same manner, they kill other animals to survive not for sport. But killing another creature as a sport or just to see it die is cruelty. In our society we are not allowed to torture or kill another human being, much less as a sport. So why should it be any different in the way we treat animals?

desiree gutierrez said...

Americans have learned to be really detached from the food we eat. I myself can admit that whenever I eat meat I don’t readily envision the environment the animal is raised in. The way Americans eat is becoming more and more scary! We are a country of big everything! BIG CARS! BIG HOUSES! BIG PEOPLE! We spend tons of money on expensive materials (clothing, shoes, haircuts) and then we go to McDonalds and buy a ninety-nine cent cheeseburger. Americans spend more money on their outside appearances than the food they consume.
We just don’t realize the impact of our actions by ignoring where our food comes from. If you take a closer look at our food production industry you will see not only are we being cruel to innocent creatures, we are damaging our very vital planet Earth. A report released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization stated more greenhouse gas emissions come from our livestock business than all forms transportation combined. If that doesn’t scare you from meat think about all the genetically modified, hormone pumped, and antibiotic filled creatures that end up on our dinner plate. This industry is causing many sicknesses not only to the animals we are consuming but also to us.
We are convinced that meat is the center of our meals when in fact this addiction is damaging our health and planet. The idea of not consuming meat may seem crazy but you can start slowly by not eating meat on a daily basis. I think that all animals have rights and we should respect them. People who don’t acknowledge the very vital role they play in managing our ecosystems are blind. Some people assume that because they can’t communicate in our language that animals have no emotions or value. We have chosen to become ignorant to the food we place in our mouths. People need to understand that the food we eat will eventually be nowhere near natural if we continue this way. Collectively, we need to focus on becoming aware of how are food is prepared and take a stand for natural food and clean environments!

Daniela said...

First of all, I also have to admit that I am not a vegetarian. I love meat. Sometimes I even dream that I am eating a good steak and when I am actually doing so the thought that is farthest away from my mind is the suffering of the animals whose meat I am eating. But I also need to admit that it should not be right that we humans mistreat animals just because we tend to consider them to be inferior. The problem is that in these cases, in order to reach to a conclusion on whether we should stop this or continue, we should first realize that in this matter, there is a huge conflict of interests and because of this, we should understand our priorities. The use of animals for experiments and for food benefits our society. There is no doubt about this. Science has advanced a lot because of the use of animals for experiments, but it is true that it has also caused a huge amount of animals to get sick, to suffer and even to die. The question is: what do we care about the most? For every animal that suffers or dies there are thousands of people who survive from many serious diseases. What do we think is better? Personally, I do not think that animals should suffer because of us, but if I am totally honest, the day my mother is cured because of a medicine found by experimenting with animals, that day I will thank that it was the animal who suffered and not my mom. I don’t want to sound harsh but I think that humans, at least most of us, are selfish in that sense, so this debate will continue and continue because we are also kind of hypocrite. So, as I said before, although we know both sides are right, we need to make sure of our priorities, and once again, my priority would be the health of my family. In addition to that I think that animals, if allowed to, would do the same with us. What’s the solution? I believe the solution would be to find other alternatives and that way everybody could be happy, but until then, the most we can do is to make it illegal to knowingly kill those animals or to make them suffer if we can avoid it.

Cherlune Louis said...

Well I believe that animals are just like human beings whether or not they have a language. The only difference between us humans and animals is that we are humans and they are animals. Of course we are smarter than them and more powerful than them. An animal may have more power than us physically but we run the world. They just live in it. When I eat meat I never stop to think about the many animals which were slaughtered. It's just a way of life for us humans. Yes, I do believe that we all need meat I guess just not as often as some people eat it. I think that animals were put on earth to help us survive...even those that we do not or cannot eat. An animals purpose is to help us. I am definitely against animal cruelty and feel as though some of the things that we decide to use animals for(besides food) is wrong. For example some people abuse and use animals for their fur...I don't think it is necessary to use animals for these things but at the same time it is. Animals feel pain just like we do. I don't think that an animal needs to have a language to be able to react the same way we react when in pain. Actions are all that matters.

Anonymous said...

I love meat and almost more than half the time I have some kind of meal dealing with meat. When I'm eating meat I personally don't think about animal's right. i don't want to sound like a mean person or anything but we humans are considered animals and in this world animals kill other animals to survive. I know there are other kinds of food other than meat to eat, but meat is the most common food to eat. Besides the fact of whether or not animals should have rights the matter should be focused on the way the animals are raised. In crammed houses with every little to none oxygen. Animals being given steroids and other kinds of performance enhancing drugs to bulk them up bigger and fast in shorter time to be sold for more money. Sure farmers are getting more money faster but what they are putting in these animals is just wrong and is harming anyone that eats it.

Kingfay said...

Although I do try to limit my meat on my meals, I’m still considering myself a meat lover. To be honest, meat is one of the most common ingredient in many dishes throughout the world and I cannot see it happen that someone (who is not a vegetarian)would sit, process all this ideas of animals having rights, feeling pain, and wondering if they know what’s right and wrong AND still be able to finish that plate.however, If there is someone like that, then there is something seriously wrong with them. I do understand that cows, chickens, and pigs serve us as means of consumption, but that does not mean that because they don’t have intelligence as we do, then they don’t have rights. In the contrary, I think that they deserve at least as much rights as we do because thanks to their existence, ours came to being.

Carol said...

Animal are important to humanity, so there for we shouldn’t miss treat them. I’m not an animal lover nor I’m a vegan, but I know that every living thing feels pain just as much as we do. Language isn’t needed to see or believe that something is in pain. I believe everything has a right to stead on its own. You think if we were animals you’ll do or think the same thing? We humans think we can do whatever we like at whatever cost. We are animals our self’s, we kill each for nothing; animals do it to survive. Humans are just stupidly oblivious.