April 20th, 2016

Joe Rigoroso
Are Humans Humane?

In popular culture, the word "savage" conjures up images of uncontrolled and uncivilized
land, inhabited by wild animals. The word "humane" is used to describe a being showing
compassion or benevolence. The former is associated with animals, the latter with humans. Yet
the widespread use of factory farming in food industries today shows how "savage" our
civilization is, and also proves how animals are oftentimes much more "humane" than actual
humans are. Factory farming has been an integral part of our economy since the industrial
revolution and will continue to exist as long as there is such a massive demand for meat. The
very act of factory farming highlights what is wrong with our collective mindset as a human
society and outlines flaws in our culture where we have placed barriers between us and our
fellow animals. No other species of animal has caused so much rapid harm to so much of the
environment and the animals inhabiting it. The destruction inflicted on the world by humans is
astounding. After becoming well educated on factory farming, it is questionable whether or not
the word humane should retain its current definition.
Factory farming is practiced throughout the world and is the biggest supplier of meat and
animal products to the consumers. Factory farming primarily began in the early 20th century. As
the human population began to skyrocket, more efficient methods of obtaining animal products
to feed the masses became necessary. Although there is currently a debate about whether or not
meat is a necessary part of the human diet, such a large public demand for meat led to the
creation of factory farming. Instead of having to utilize an enormous amount of land to let
animals graze, farmers built huge barns to keep livestock in. The creation of Vitamin D pills
allowed farmers to keep animals confined in close quarters indoors for their entire lives since

they no longer needed to absorb Vitamin D through the suns rays outside. The pharmaceutical
industry created strong antibiotics to keep animals healthy in such confined areas where diseases
once thrived and restraints and weapons such as cattle prods were developed to keep animals
subdued and easy to farm. Factory farming is based on profitability-selling the meat for more
money than it costs to raise the animals-so productivity became key. Jim Mason, an attorney
concerned with human and animal welfare, explains that Factory methods and equipment vary
from species to species, but the principles are the same: keep costs down and manipulate
animals productivity upward.(Mason) The factory farm industry views progress through
productivity and cares nothing for the animals taken advantage of by the system. The bottom line
has priority.
Factory farms that strive for progress through productivity have the wrong definition of
progress. America has always had a capitalistic view of progress, associating it with economic
growth and monetary profits above everything else. The reasons why this ideology was
considered moral are complex and date back thousands of years. The rise of Christianity had a
very strong impact on Western culture and most definitely led to the rise of capitalism and
domination. In his book Religion and Animals, Canisius College professor Paul Waldau supports
this idea by stating Christianity inherited the Hebrew vision that all humans are made in the
image of God and have been given dominion over the earth.(Waldau) This view of superiority
gave humans a justification to use the earth for personal gain. By this logic, the slaughter of
billions of livestock animals annually must be perfectly fine because God gave us farm animals
to exploit. Of course, no animals were meant to be exploited by Mother Nature and mankind is
the only creature on the planet to purposely cause massive amounts of environmental
degradation to the world for his own personal gain.

It is easy to draw parallels between the practice of factory farming today and other
historical travesties, primarily slavery and the Holocaust. These comparisons offend some
people, but if the core principles of all acts are examined, striking similarities are found. In her
article, Corinne Painter links factory farming to the Holocaust through the psychology of
contempt for inferior life. In both the Holocaust and in factory farming, one group of
individuals views another group as inferior, and deem it acceptable to exploit the inferior
individuals because of that inferiority. In The Dreaded Comparison, Marjorie Spiegel, author
and executive director for the Development of Earth Awareness, elaborates this comparison by
saying that human slavery and factory farming are both built around the same basic
relationship- that between oppressor and oppressed. In all three cases, we see one group being
oppressed based on their status as inferior individuals.
Extreme ignorance of others emotions allowed the Holocaust to happen, slavery to build
our economy, and the mass exploitation of animals to become an entire industry. One example of
this ignorance was the disconnect between a slave-owner and his slaves. When two slaves would
become romantically involved, slave-owners claimed that animal lust (was) responsible for
(the) intimate bonding between slaves (Spiegel). It was hard for slave-owners to envision their
slaves having any actual emotions. They were blind to the feelings of their slaves, and only saw
them as animals. Much of todays society along with the factory farming industry show a similar
level of ignorance in their doubts that animals have feelings. To many people, animals are just a
cog in the machine that generates revenue and feeds millions of people around the world. We
have abolished slavery and ended the Holocaust, but when will we put a stop to the manipulation
of animals as our slaves? When will we end the daily Holocausts that millions of animals go
through on their way through the meat grinder?

Human exceptionalism is one of the justifications of factory farming. Some advocates of

factory farming argue that since man has beaten nature, he can use nature for his personal gain,
and that our factory farms are justified because they are necessary to the advancement of our
species. More advocates argue that the animals wouldnt be alive without our bringing them into
the world in the first place. Both of these arguments are examples of human exceptionalism, the
idea that humans as a species are superior to all other species. While humans have developed
civilizations, advanced cultures and languages, and are the only species to dominate nature rather
than be dominated by her, human exceptionalism is inherently flawed. Our advancements that
set us apart from our animal brethren do not necessarily make us superior to them. For our
advancements have come at the expense of our environment and no other species has managed
to do much damage to other species and the natural world. Our greed-motivated actions have
clouded our judgement and our exploitation of the world has allowed us to dominate the world
a world where pollution is becoming a bigger issue every year and billions of animals are
exploited for our personal satisfaction. If humans truly were exceptional, we would live in a
utopia where humans and animals work with the environment for the betterment of all the
interrelated ecosystems. Instead, we live in a world where many humans disregard the poor
treatment of animals and hold beliefs of human exceptionalism that separate us from other
species rather than allow us to see our necessary connections to them.
Human exceptionalism is speciesist in nature. Unfortunately, the principle of human
exceptionalism is so engrained in our culture that many individuals have what Washtenaw
Community College professor Corinne Painter describes as a conditioned ethical blindness
(Painter). Painter describes speciesism as an ordinary attribute possessed by many people.
Many aspects of our day to day lives are inherently speciesist in nature. The association of the

word humane with the human species is an example of speciesism since other animals exhibit
traits of kindness and compassion yet we describe their actions with a word that conjures up
visualization of a human. The negative connotation associated with referring to someone as an
animal are also examples of speciesism. Painter explains that Holocaust victims were
mistreated because they were treated as mere animals. But why are animals justly treated as
mere animals? It is the ideology that animals are mere animals which led to the widespread
practice of factory farming.
To some extent, animals are mere animals. Animals cannot write essays or operate
heavy machinery. But nonetheless, animals do have feelings, affects, and emotions. They have
just as much desire to live as we do, and they certainly have the right to pursue their own best
interests. David Sztybel, a Canadian philosopher specializing in animal ethics, proclaims that no
one has the right routinely to override anyone elses rights, including those of animalsOne also
cannot dismiss animals concerns as unimportant. (Sztybel). An animal has a right to a balanced
life. Farm animals like cows and chickens naturally need to spend lots of time outside, with
ample room to grow and develop. All animals have basic needs, and it is important that an
animals good welfare is maintained. Colin Spedding, a British animal welfare expert who
worked for organizations such as the Farm Animal Welfare Council, describes good welfare as
meeting the animals needs for food, shelter, space, contact with others and providing the
opportunity to express natural behavior patterns. (Colin Spedding). It is not hard for farmers to
meet these basic needs of their animals, and on many small farms, farmers care for their animals
like they are family members. A farmer provides a good life to his animals and one day in return
they will provide him with meat. However, factory farms abuse this relationship with farm
animals in their emphasis on profitability over concern for welfare.

In the factory farming system, animal welfare does not exist. Animals are denied food
and water, crammed into filthy confined spaces, and forced to endure painful abuse through
mishandling before finally being slaughtered. Animals are beaten senseless and left to die on the
factory floors. Many workers believe that their animals do not have feelings and believe their
actions are normative, not criminal. The exploitation of animals in factory farms is similar to the
exploitation of animals in scientific research. Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp discusses animal use
in research as an action that thrives on the ruthlessly reductionistic principle that brain
mechanisms and behavior count but that mental activities in the brains of animals do not
(Panksepp). In factory farms and laboratories alike, humans believe that the noises and screams
animals make are simply neurological reactions and that animals cant actually process anything
or feel pain. This reasoning enables factory farm workers to injure their animals both physically
and mentally without thinking twice. At birth, calves are taken away from their mothers to be
sold to the veal industry as their mother produces milk for our consumption. Colorado State
University professor Temple Grandin explains that the major welfare issue involving the PANIC
system is abrupt weaning of calves. Both the mother and the offspring suffer traumatizing
amounts of panic as they are forcefully separated from each other, never to see each other again.
By separating the family so suddenly, lasting trauma is caused to each of the animals. Even as
the cows are raised, they are raised incorrectly. Electric prods are used to move cattle where they
are needed. Electric prods create a negative reinforcement loop (Grandin) and this negative
reinforcement loop could be prevented with better-designed stalls and better animal handling.
These are just two examples of injustices towards factory farm animals, and undercover
investigations continue to reveal that violence and abuse to farmed animals whether malicious
or institutionalized run rampant nationwide, explains activist Eddie Garza who exposed farm

animal brutality in an Ohio factory farm. Throughout the globalized world, many billions of
animals are victims of abuse and violent treatment, and the reasons for such terrible treatment do
not hold up to scrutiny.
The main reason why factory farms treat their animals so poorly is simply because they
can get away with it. A factory farms top priority is making the most money possible, and when
some animals get sick or need extra help, there is no money in helping them. If you refer to the
actions of a person as being savage, this means cruel and brutal. The factory farming
industry is incredibly savage in the way they treat their animals, especially because they only
care about the monetary gain they stand to make. Vegan advocate and author Erik Marcus
explains that theres no financial payback to taking all that time and trouble to save a prolapsed
hen or any other animal in need. Oftentimes these animals are just killed to save money. A
cheaper food source corn-based feed damages livers and causes other health problems
(Marcus) to cattle, but the factory farm industry does not care because this allows them to feed
more cattle at less of a cost. Interestingly enough, author and animal welfare activist N.G.
Gregory explains that in the fresh meat trade it (poor welfare) results in loss of yield and loss of
sales through rejection or downgrading of poor quality product (Gregory). One would think that
if a business could net more money and better quality meat by treating its animals better, it
would do so. This isnt the case for factory farms, however. Our factory farms wouldnt exist if
there wasnt such a demand for cheap meat.
This demand for cheap meat has been caused by our culture. According to CIA veteran
Paul Pillar, A nations culturepowerfully influences its citizens (Pillar). Our culture has
allowed huge corporations to practically run the world. McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, and
Burger King are just a few of the fast food giants that exploit the worlds land and animals to

provide cheap, low-quality meals for fast profits. It terrifies me that many citizens of our country
rely on fast food because it is so cheap and is the only meal they can afford. Many Americans
have been blinded by a culture sponsored by huge corporations who profit from the production
and distribution of meat into believing that meat makes the meal and that we should have meat
often. This falsity is hurting our ecosystems, our animals, and even our bodies. Duke University
professor Kathy Rudy explains that her idea that it wasnt dinner without meat shifted
dramatically once she realized the benefits that a semi-vegetarian diet had to offer. Of course, it
is natural to have some meat in our diets humans are designed omnivores. The PETA slogan
that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment is a little
extreme, and we should still include animals in our lives and even our diets, but the way we
acquire our meat is morally wrong by the definition that it is morally wrong to cause unnecessary
harm to another being while using them as a means to an end.
Now that the negative effects of factory farming have been described, it is important to
address what we as humans could be doing better. Rice University professor Cary Wolfe explains
that the biopolitical point is no longer human vs. animal; the biopolitical point is a newly
expanded community of all the living. Wolfe voices the need to work with animals towards a
better and brighter future, rather than exploiting them for our own betterment. If humans can
overcome their speciesist views, we can eliminate the suffering caused by so many animals while
also doing a lot of good for the world. Right now, there arent enough people concerned about
animals, and ultimately the solution to animal welfare problems must rest with our concern for
animals (Gregory). Many animal rights activists are very concerned for animals, but this group
of individuals is almost too concerned. On the spectrum between animal rights and animal
welfare, this group falls all the way at the animal rights side. They believe humans should never

eat animals and that killing an animal is always wrong. While some of the principles of animal
rights are very important to adhere to, many animal rights activists are too extreme. This paper is
not arguing for never eating meat again, but instead that all animals are given good, healthy lives
where their welfare is seen to before they are slaughtered painlessly for their meat. Kathy Rudy
argues that the world will be a much sadder place without farm animals and many people will
agree with this. Farm animals bring lots of happiness to each other and to humans in the right
environment, and humanity has thrived alongside its livestock. Many farmers who kill their own
animals for their meat are never happy to kill an animal. When I talk to my farmers about
slaughter, most of them do feel worried and unhappy about the killing (Rudy). However, these
farmers always attended to their animals welfare and never brought abuse or neglect to their
animals. Perhaps one day, our culture will become much more attentive to animal welfare, but
until then factory farms will continue to abuse and slaughter billions of animals.
Factory farming is destroying our world. The amount of pollution this one industry
causes to the environment is astounding. Countless animals have died and will die for continued
factory farm profits. The world of factory farming is truly savage in nature. After learning so
much about factory farming, why it happens, and what it does to the world and its animals, it is
evident that we should either change the definition of the word humane or we should change
our ways as a society. The word humane defines a compassionate or benevolent being, but
after learning about the atrocities that are committed every day in factory farms which our
society allows to happen, can we really say that humans are more civilized and humane than the
natural world? After seeing what we humans do to innocent animals just to reap profits, it seems
like we are the true savages, the less intelligent life forms. We as a collective unit need to change

our ways and start acting for the betterment of all the animals that inhabit this world. Humanity,
stop this factory farming and start acting humane before it is too late.

Bibliography
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Wolfe, Cary. Before the Law: Humans and Other Animals in a Biopolitical Frame. University
of Chicago, 2013.
Grandin, Temple. Animals Make Us Human. Temple Grandin, 2009.
Panksepp, Jaak. The Archaeology of Mind. Jaak Panksepp, 2012.
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