Draft Essay Assignment 3

Kadeshia Shirley

Human and animal life to a CAFO only means a chance on faster ways to develop ecologically because more money, obviously, equals more power.  The system organizes life by taking control of both the workers and the animals.  There is and was a better way to raise and kill these animals for the people who chose to eat meat the old-fashioned way.  The system controls the minds of the customers and workers to have a huge disconnection from the animals so that it feels like that is the way things should be, the true definition of a "species-ist".  The animals are controlled to grow faster beyond their nature or what they can handle physically just for the benefit of these corporations.  The way these CAFOs organize life is so that we have less regard for animal life to the point where we barely have any regard for own life, despite the damages it causes the ecosystem, we make happiness our number one priority.  It becomes as if it is OK to kill just as long as we're happy doing so. As a result, our culture is divided further and killed from heart disease or poisoned by poorly-produced or handled meat, animals are shackled for their entire lives being tortured and locked up without a glimpse of sunlight and pollution grows larger than ever.

Consequently, as humans, I believe we are mainly driven by illusions.  The CAFO system is the exact epitome of an illusion the American culture. The illusion that the method of husbandry is still currently in effect because of the casual depiction of the barn and the farmers create the perception that meat is made the old-fashioned way.  This way, when we see our food, we think quality, care, and healthy.  This is what our minds want to think, the American culture is a very sensitive culture when it comes to food, so getting a good feeling about a meat brand or any brand for that matter, extends the desire to continually shop for that brand.  This is the CAFO’s way of leading Americans to believe that we are the only species that matter or overpower the others because they are supposedly less intelligent than we are. This fact surely conflicts with the ethical judgment of all mankind, who deem it illegal for the less intelligent infant to be slaughtered and eaten for breakfast, but yet it matters not what kind of pain the upside down pic had to endure without anesthesia or any medication, it’s life stripped from it to be turned into a bacon strip for our children’s pleasure. “The question is not can they reason? Nor can they talk?  But, can they suffer?” (p.5, The CAFO Reader, Daniel Imhoff).  We are led to believe the entire time that the basis of our Human Rights is the ability to feel pain, yet we cancel out the cries and writhing of a mother sow, as just simple reflexes.  What makes their pain different from ours?  CAFOs manage to create this mindset in a lot of Americans that, "Without a cheap and abundant food supply, many would go hungry.  Why should we care about the welfare of an animal that is going to be slaughtered regardless?" (p.3, The CAFO Reader, Daniel Imhoff) Our essential relationship with the animals we eat is not one similar to predator and prey, meaning, we don't need to eat meat to survive, so this is a false justification for the ill treatment of these animals.    We have deteriated ethically