Utilitarianism- More painful then you think...

Eric Girton 
1330 Words

Utilitarianism- More painful then you think... 

     As Americans as well as human beings, we love our food. American cuisine is comprised of an increasing variety of different cultural cuisines infused with "sweet" and "savory" flavors of western culture and taste preference. And yes, we in America love our meat almost as much as we love our freedom. During our class discussions and activities this week we have brushed on a variety of interesting topics. One such topic is that idea of Utilitarianism and how this relates to the ongoing battle between the meat industry and animal rights.  

    So, all things considered here is my prompted question: Is Utilitarianism an attainable ideology for the American Meat-Lover? 

    Now, to unwrap this question a little more let's first look at some facts. According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) there are over 10 billion animals that are slaughtered every year for food in the U.S. Of these animals, over 9 billion chickens are slaughtered in comparison to around 33 million cattle. Turkeys and pigs make up the rest of this statistic. The majority of Americans are still very much unaware of these huge proportions or maybe they just don’t care. Even under the USDA's Legal Protection for Farmed Animals, if you look into the large scale meat industry, if closely examined, it appears that the majority of the animals that are slaughtered don’t get a lot of recognition on how they are treated. The USDA even claims that the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which is designed to decrease the suffering of livestock during slaughter doesn't apply to birds, rabbits, or fish. 

    In the regulation of the USDA (regulation is minimal) and under State Laws, many lawful common practices include the removal of many different parts from an animal without anesthesia, the starving of animals in processing and delivery. Also, within the regulations of state laws are the close confinement of animals while being forced fed sugary and unhealthy corn and feed. For chickens its even more horrifying, as under state laws, hundreds of millions are ground up alive or left to suffocate and then processed. Even laying hens and chicks will be used for meat after producing large amounts of eggs. Even in the dairy industry, the dairy cattle are still used for meat after they have done their time. This raises a huge concern in the areas of both Animal Welfare and Animal Rights. But then again, according to the Federal Laws in place, the Animal Welfare Act, doesn’t even apply to farm animals. 

     Now that we have that all cleared up, lets look at how Animal Welfare and Animal rights are tied into Utilitarianism. Lets first start off with defining what these terms are. According to the animal rights groups such as the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Animal Rights are the rights believed to belong to animals to live free from use in medical research, hunting, and other services to humans. Meanwhile, Animal Welfare looks at the treatment of animals by humans. It looks at quality of life if the animal has to die for food, then it uses the "One bad day" sentiment to ensure that the animal had a good life up to the point of slaughter. This ideology is more realistic to the demands of the United States as well as the world today.  

 

    Utilitarianism comes up in the moral arguments about using animals for food in our day and age. The aim of Utilitarianism, according to Dr. Karen S. Emmerman (who specializes in Animal Agriculture and Eco-feminism), is the ideology around the decrease of pain for the animal in its life and maximizing the pleasure and well-being. It examines these animals as being receptive to pain and therefore should not feel any by human free will. It encourages people to treat animals like they have the same value as a human who can feel pain. It is a Welfarist view and not an abolitionist view. It still recognizes the importance of animals to the human diet and the demands of meat but it believes that if it is a painless process for the animal then it is a good way to go.  

    Now, turning into pop culture, I want to relate this to the idea of being an omnivorous consumer as a opposed to a vegetarian or a vegan. It all starts with upbringing and culture. How you are raised and what you are taught when you are young can have a profound effect on what you choose to eat and what even tastes good to you. A large majority of children going to primary schools in the United States become very well aware of the food pyramid. We may have had a Nutrition, PE, or a Health class which highlighted the importance of eating healthy and eating a variety of foods in order to have a good nutritional balance to satisfy your body's needs. We are in fact, encouraged to eat lots of animal made products like meat and dairy, along with our other necessary choices. I think that Utilitarianism is the best compromise we can make with a society which glorifies expensive meat from different steakhouses and grills. If you look closely at our lineage as a species, there are several accounts and records that show or suggest that nomadic hunter-gatherers drove many species like the great Woolly Mammoth to extinction. As humans continued to spread out and forage for their food, they came into contact and killed many mammoths and other large Ice Age animals for their meat bones and skin to help them survive. While we don't have such grave survival in our modern world, meat that is eaten and clothing that is made from animals are still very much incorporated into our western society and societies around the world. Humans need animals to live, we don't have fur or a protective layer to combat the weather. To survive in nature you must eat. The cycle of life is still connected with humans as we continue to use nature to provide us with food, shelter (in some cases) and clothing. 

    This leads me to my conclusive piece on Utilitarianism Vs. Vegetarian and Vegan arguments about pain. It was brought up in class, but I raised more than one eyebrow when I heard about a possible breakthrough study on how some particular plants could feel pain. This discovery would make it almost impossible to argue that eating meat is unethical. After doing some research on this topic I once again, found Michael Pollan. According to Pollan, plants have all the same senses as humans, and then some. In addition to hearing and taste, for example, they can sense gravity, the presence of water, or even feel that an obstruction is in the way of its roots, before coming into contact with it. Plant roots will shift direction, he says, to avoid obstacles. This puts the idea of a complex chemical "Neuro biology" of plants on the field when many scientists argue that plants don't have a nervous system or a brain. But it all comes back to the Utilitarian view of "no pain" and "no suffering" If plants can in fact feel pain or sense when they get chopped down and harvested by humans, isn't that of a similar predicament to what billions of animals face every year? Sure, in the interest of environmental sustainability and in terms of longevity, maybe Vegan and Vegetarian diets are the way to go. But the morality of it all is on a similar level. I believe that it is unrealistic to look at any other option than Utilitarianism when speaking about the demands of American consumers. I don't think we can just all go out and forage for our food as well. Capitalism doesn't work like that. The world is changing and in the face of a growing population and economy, things will stay relatively the same in the big food industry. I believe that Utilitarianism can attainable to meat lovers as well as non-meat eaters. All things have their time and purpose, but if it is painless and the life is good, then that is something worth holding onto.