So I recently read this interesting essay called "Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases" by Alastair Norcross. Norcross basically uses a thought experiment involving the very cruel treatment and killing of puppies, and then explains how it's relevant to modern industrial agriculture practices.
You can read the essay here: http://faculty.smu.edu/jkazez/animal%20 ... ross-4.pdf
So my questions are
Do you think this is a good comparison to factory farming?
Do you think many meat-eaters would find such a comparison at all persuasive?
Puppies, Pigs, and People
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Puppies, Pigs, and People
Bringing animals that humans empathize with in as a comparison can be helpful as a comparison. It can help them understand why something is wrong, and then question why pigs are different.
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Soycrates
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Re: Puppies, Pigs, and People
I think a lot of people are too instinctively quick to categorize the comparison as some sort of fallacious appeal to emotion - "Oh, you can't use puppies, you're only using them because we love them and we think they're so cute!" Basically, I've seen too many people write it off as "vegan propaganda" and feel satisfied, as if they've come up with a defensible argument for why the slaughter of dogs might be any different from the slaughter of pigs or other common Western farm animals.
In the course of the discussion, my least favourite factor is when someone brings in references to Chinese culture. Eventually one guy ends up saying "Oh, the Chinese are barbaric for killing dogs". They always imagine harsher practices for other cultures despite the reality that we have something strikingly similar in our own culture and community.
In the course of the discussion, my least favourite factor is when someone brings in references to Chinese culture. Eventually one guy ends up saying "Oh, the Chinese are barbaric for killing dogs". They always imagine harsher practices for other cultures despite the reality that we have something strikingly similar in our own culture and community.
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wfatheist
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Re: Puppies, Pigs, and People
I'm not a vegan, but I completely agree with using puppies to appeal to an American audience in an effort to explain your argument.
The first time I thought of going completely vegetarian was when I was stationed in Korea and just happened about a dog farm where they raised dogs in cages for meat. I was appalled with this and had to fight back my instinct to go all Jason Stathom on the farmers and free all the puppies.
The first time I thought of going completely vegetarian was when I was stationed in Korea and just happened about a dog farm where they raised dogs in cages for meat. I was appalled with this and had to fight back my instinct to go all Jason Stathom on the farmers and free all the puppies.