September 21, 2018
Alivia Shattuck
September 14, 2018
English 122
As Michael Pollan sits in a restaurant eating a rib-eye steak, he reads Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation. Animal Liberation exposed the realities of today’s factory farms and product-testing. He advocates his readers to make a movement to transform their attitudes towards animals and climate the cruelty we inflict on them. As Pollan reads the book, he contradicts himself. He thinks of the ways that he knows animals are killed and tested but in reality he does not know the truth. In the book, Singer Argues that people should stop eating meat because of the way that the animals are killed. He used many allies inorder to find the truth behind the cruelty of animals.
One aspect that drew my attention was, “animals on factory farms”. As singer claims, “Animals feel the need to exercise, stretch their limbs or wings, groom themselves and turn around, whether or not they have ever lived in conditions that permit this.” I agree with this quote because animals are naturally built to be able to run in a field or fly in the sky. As I know from my prior knowledge, animal farm factories are places where animals are kept in tight corridors, fed non-natural foods, and not healthy. By keeping them under a roof and lack of room they become very sick and unhappy. They are then eventually killed by torture in order to provide customers with meat supply.
Pollan says “The measure of their suffering is not prior experiences but the unremitting daily frustration of their instincts”. This supports to what I said about the animals not being able to run around in a field or fly in the sky. Pollen next goes on to talking about how animals are getting used to have lotions, creams, washes etc. tested on them. He writes “In the case of animals testing, all but the most radical animal rightists are willing to balance the human benefit against the cost to the animals”. This sentence made me very frustrated because companies are using harmful substances on animals just to see how they will react to human skin. Which is hurting the animal.
One other thing that caught my interest was when pollen met with Joel Salatin, owner of Polyfacefarm. He went on to tell Pollan how he only eats meat that he kills himself. Before Saltatin kills his animals they are treated with respect and then had a peaceful death. Many farm animals live a “characteristic form of life” before they are killed. For example, animal are able to express their natural instincts without being locked up in a concrete building not being able to move. One thing that Pollan has influenced me on is by saying “For my own part, I’ve discovered that if you’re willing to make the effort, it’s entirely possible to limit the meat you eat to nonindustrial animals.” I agree with this idea because it lets the animals be able to live life “normally”. Myself as a meat eater will be able to eat meat and still know the animal was able to live a “normal” life. If you do not want to give up eating meat, then you have to think about if the animal had lived a “lifetime of suffering” or a “normal” life. When it comes down to eating meat many people are very skeptical on what meat they should or shouldn’t eat. In my opinion, you should get meat from a local farm to ensure that the animal had lived a life of non-suffering. When it comes to the way animals are killed, you really need to think to yourself. “Is this worth eating?” or “how was this animal killed?”. As of today, the way animals are killed is cruel and evil to do to an animal. We may think that they are just an animal and they have no feelings but in reality, they are still treated in a bad way.
Alivia Shattuck
September 14, 2018
English 122
Michael Pollan makes very good points in his article “An Animal’s Place”. As he sits in a restaurant eating a rib-eye steak he reads Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation. Animal Liberation is a book describing how eating, wearing, experimenting and killing animals is cruel. The book tries to persuade you into changing your ways of eating meat. As Pollan reads the story, he thinks of many aspects on why eating animals is bad. One aspect that drew my attention was “animals on factory farms”. As singer states, “Animals feel the need to exercise, stretch their limbs or wings, groom themselves and turn around, whether or not they have ever lived in conditions that permit this.” As I know from my prior knowledge, animal farm factories are places where animals are kept in tight corridors, fed non-natural foods, and not healthy. Animals are meant to be able to run around in an open field or be able to express themselves. By keeping them under a roof and lack of room they become very sick and unhappy. They are then eventually killed by torture in order to provide customers with meat supply. Pollan says “The measure of their suffering is not prior experiences but the unremitting daily frustration of their instincts”. This goes back to what I said about the animals not being able to run around in a field or fly in the sky. Pollen then goes on to talking about how animals are getting used to have lotions, creams, washes etc. tested on them. He writes “In the case of animals testing, all but the most radical animal rightists are willing to balance the human benefit against the cost to the animals”. This sentence made me very frustrated because companies are using harmful substances on animals just to see how they will react to human skin. Which is hurting the animal. One thing that really drew my attention was when pollen emet with Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface farm. He went on to tell Pollan how he only eats meat that he kills himself. Before the animals are killed they are treated with respect and had a peaceful death. Many farm animals live a “characteristic form of life” before they are killed. This lets the animal be able to express their natural instincts without being locked up in an concrete building not being able to move. One thing Pollan has influenced me by is saying “For my own part, i’ve discovered that if you’re willing to make the effort, it’s entirely possible to limit the meat you eat to nonindustrial animals.” I liked this idea because it lets the animal be able to live life like an animal and myself as a meat eater will be able to eat meat and still know the animal was able to live a normal life. If you do not want to give up meat then you have to think able if the animal has lived a “lifetime of suffering” or a nice natural life. When it comes down to eating meat many people are very sceptical on what meat they should or shouldn’t eat. In my opinion, you should get meat from a local farm to ensure that the animal has lived a life of not suffering.
