The Dichotomy of Being Vegan or Non-vegan
Many authors have different positions when it comes to whether or not animals should be used as meat to feed human beings. Various grounds have necessitated these arguments. And some of the reasons for the arguments include the moral values as well as the religious values that the authors have and value of the animal as God's creation. Business owners have branded animals as items, without putting into consideration the pain and terror that the cows, sheep, goat and all other animals in the farm undergo. The primary motive as to why the authors responded to the use of an animal for meat is to consider them as God's creation. Now, the study in context would take into reckoning as many as seven reliable sources to ascertain the issue of animal consumption or being vegan. All the perspective would be considered so as to have a holistic understanding of the matter in context. the various factors that influence the food choices of people would also be delved into so as to have a clear idea.
In the article, “Animal Response To Sonic Booms”, the author, Wilson Bell, shows how the people are apathetic toward the problems of animals. Humans are insensitive toward most of the issues, and their ignorance of the problems faced by animals due to exposure to sonic boom is a telltale sign of the shallowness of approach that the humans possess. The author pens, “Animal reactions to booms are similar to their reactions to low‐level subsonic airplane flights, helicopters, barking dogs, blown paper, and sudden noises.” (Bell 1) The brutality action that animals are facing is one of the things that the author wants to point out from the article that the reader should be aware of. On the other hand, Cheng, Jianjun and Alan P. Kizikowski state that meat industry portrays that farm animals are happy, yet they are terrorized and painted with a lot of suffering (Cheng & Kizikowski 123) From these articles, most of the authors would like the readers of the article to reconsider the use of animal meat. The two articles want the readers to consider that animals are not treated in a proper way, and humans are mostly apathetic toward the issues and problems associated with the lower living species. However, this is a very serious issue as it encompasses the attribute of humanity in itself.
As such, one needs to understand that this cruelty meted out to the animals of the world is totally unacceptable as per the opinion of Steiner as voiced in his seminal book. The author opines that cows and sheep among other farm animals as the God's creation that does not deserve such kind of cruelty that they are undergoing. (Steiner 43) While substantiating his claim, the author writes, “If veganism is to be considered a moral obligation, then it must be possible to derive it from a set of guiding convictions about the way things are and ought to be.” (Steiner 7) Another thing that the author intends to inform the reader is to use other alternatives such as the use of vegetables as the meals. Animals have been subjected to cruelty in the form of meat. Thus, Steiner discusses about the issue at hand as well as the possible solution to the matter. This book by Steiner substantiates the claims made in the two articles discussed above that too delve into the amount of insensivity meted out to the lower beings of the living world. Thus, there is commonality in the perspective of the sources, although they differ from one another in their domain of exploration of that insensitivity. Now, some people like eating meat without considering the source of the food. This is something that might seem to be normal since no one cares about the cruelty that is subjected to these animals. Because of this, the author is trying to pass the information to all those people who like meat as their best meals to consider other alternatives so that they do not cause suffering to the animals. In addition to those who eat meat, the author is also trying to reach out to those people who do meat business such as the authors of butchery to revolutionize their business and consider the lives of animals.
The major claims that the authors put across in their articles is that the cruelty that animals are facing diminish their value as god's creation. For instance, Lustig et al., in the article, argue that it is possible to produce chemical products through industrial synthesis. This makes them be against killing and using animal products such as meat and hide as well as skins for other purposes thus causing suffering to the animals (Lustig & Hill 1449). This is one of the major claims that the author is trying to put across. They write, “Some recent communications have appeared describing the formation of dioxophospholanes by reaction of hexafluoroacetone (HFA) with alkyl aryl phosphites and phospines.” (Lustig & Hill 1448) The authors say that several alternatives we humans can find to replace the use of animal products that would help reduce the animals' suffer. The authors are against killing and using the skins and animal fur in the industries. They opint to the fact that these products can be obtained inorganically via industrial manufacturing. The article opines that the products that the animals are slaughtered for can be manufactured inorganically as well. Hence, humans should stop mistreating animals for such products. Thus, by approaching the issue of treatment of animals from different domains of knowledge, one can find the commonality of thought that animals should be treated in a better manner by humans.
Celine Guivarch and Stephane Hallegatte discuss out how animals are wrongly treated by humans. They opine that animals are taken to be just like items. Without considering the pain and terror of the animals like cows, sheep, goats in the farm, humans use very cruel tools used brand farm animals. Obviously, this is not the correct manner of treating animals. The latent claim in this article is that people should reduce the consumption of meat. They give an alternative as being to consume vegetables as the best alternative. This will also save the animals from suffering and going through the kind of cruelty that they are undergoing. The authors write, “Published modeling experiments exploring low stabilization all reach the first conclusion that stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations at levels compatible with the 2°C target is feasible.” (Guivarch & Hallegatte 24) The central issues that the authors are addressing from various sources include the cruelty subjected to animals as they are being used as meat and to produce other products. This article’s claim has commonality with the claims made in the other articles have been discussed in the course of the paper. For instance, Bell in his article claims that animals have been subjected to terrifying acts and suffering as they are used for food and provision of other supplements.
Julie Smith and Robert Mitchell considers how people construe the feelings shown by animals. The difference between animal and human consciousness has been discussed in detail in their writings. They go on to argue that there is a link between human ethical behavior toward the animals and the belief about the thought process or emotions of the animals. Now, surely the perception of the humans plays a role in the way they treat the animals kept on the farm. The authours correctly opine, “Living with animals provides experiences with and knowledge of animals that are less likely to arise in other contexts where our relationship with animals may be less salient to us.” (Smith & Mitchell 2) Thus, the consensus that most of these sources share is the need to honor the animals and use other sources of goods that can be produced from other sources. The authors of these sources are advocating for the rights of animals (Lustig &William, p 1449). They perceive the use of the animal for food as a way that demeans the value of the animals. In addition to this, another common ground that is shared by the authors is the provision of an alternative source of animal products from other sources. Most of these authors provide options that will help to reduce suffering to the animals like going for vegan food habit, opting for products that do not require animal hide and so on. Some significant differences can be seen from these sources. One of the difference is the great use of animal products that each is advocating. Some of the authors advocates against the use of animal meat as food whereas others advocate against the use of other products such as skin and hide (Nihon 132). Nihon source also states that various supplements are being generated from animals that can as well be found in vegetative products. These makes it inappropriate to use an animal as the source of these products which can as well be generated from alternative products. For instance, the author talks of the supplements that are generated from animals which can as well be created from fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, Lustig and William in their article talk about the use of hides and skins as well as animal fur as industrial products.
Works cited
Bell, Wilson B. “Animal Response To Sonic Booms”. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 51.2C (2014). Web. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.1912908
Cheng, Jianjun and Alan P. Kizikowski. “We Need 2C But Not 2B: Developing Serotonin 2C (5-HT 2C) Receptor Agonists For The Treatment of CNS Disorders." ChemMedChem 10.12 (2015): 1963-1967. Web.
Guivarch, Celine and Stephane Hallegatte. “2C Or Not 2C?”. SSRN Electronic Journal n. pg. Web.<https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00750704/file/Guivarch_and_Hallegatte_2012_2C_or_not_2C_WP.pdf>
Lustig, Max and William Evan Hill. “The .Mu.-Oxo-Difluorophosphines (CF3)2C(OPF2)I,
(CF3)-2C(OPF2)Br, And (CF3)2C(OPF2)H”. Inorganic Chemistry 6.8 (2013): 1448-1450. Web. 2pg. <http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ic50054a003>
Nihon Kessho Gakkaishi 19.Supplement (2011): 2C-12-2C-12. Web.
Smith, Julie, and Robert Mitchell. Experiencing Animal Minds: An Anthology of Animal-Human Encounters. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Print.
Steiner, Gary. Animals and the Limits of Postmodernism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Print.
