http://www.globalchangeblog.com/2009/11/most-people-just-dont-care-about-the-lives-and-fortunes-of-animals/ Intersection of Nature and Culture Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:00:24 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.globalchangeblog.com/2009/11/most-people-just-dont-care-about-the-lives-and-fortunes-of-animals/comment-page-1/#comment-146 Kim Smith Tue, 24 Nov 2009 14:25:01 +0000 http://www.globalchangeblog.com/?p=2617#comment-146 I'd like to talk back to Gary Steiner. A full defense of meat eating would take more space and time than I have here, but I would note first that most of the animals we raise for meat would cease to exist as species if we didn't eat them. They are sensitive and (in their own way) intelligent beings, and therefore deserve the highest level of care from us. But it's simple arrogance to assume that farmers who raise livestock humanely, as humans have done for thousands of years, are simply callous, unthinking and selfish. And I'm deeply suspicious of people who think that the way to deal with an ethically demanding and ethically problematic relationship (between humans and livestock) is simply to eliminate the creatures on the other end. We are called to live up to the responsibilities of that relationship, not to end it. I’d like to talk back to Gary Steiner. A full defense of meat eating would take more space and time than I have here, but I would note first that most of the animals we raise for meat would cease to exist as species if we didn’t eat them. They are sensitive and (in their own way) intelligent beings, and therefore deserve the highest level of care from us. But it’s simple arrogance to assume that farmers who raise livestock humanely, as humans have done for thousands of years, are simply callous, unthinking and selfish. And I’m deeply suspicious of people who think that the way to deal with an ethically demanding and ethically problematic relationship (between humans and livestock) is simply to eliminate the creatures on the other end. We are called to live up to the responsibilities of that relationship, not to end it.

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