Draft 1
John Berger, an English critic, wrote an essay “Why Look at Animals” he considers that the loss of everyday contact between ourselves and animals– and specifically the loss of eye contact has left us deeply confused about the terms of our relationship to other species. I found it interesting that to be able to have emotions for someone or something, like an animal, we must build a relationship and have “specific” eye contact to have feelings. We as human would never think it is okay or humanly to eat a dog or a pet in general. It’s rather interesting because we have daily eye contact with the pets in our lives but because we don’t have daily eye contact with the pigs, cows and chickens we are eating it makes it alright. I enjoy the taste of meat and I’m thankful that it is so easy to buy but I never really thought of the aspects that came along with the animals side of the process until I read Pollan’s piece on “An Animal’s Place”. Descarte’s belief is that animals cannot feel pain because they lack a soul. Others say animals cannot saw their emotions and feelings to humans but does that mean they cannot show them to each other? As a human we understand what other people are going through and their feelings toward different things. Maybe animals can do the same. Maybe if insects were eating the pig to death, the pig could feel that and other pigs could understand the pain because they are also going through it.
Draft 2
John Berger, an English critic, wrote an essay “Why Look at Animals” he considers that the loss of everyday contact between ourselves and animals– and specifically the loss of eye contact has left us deeply confused about the terms of our relationship to other species. I found it interesting that to be able to have emotions for someone or something, like an animal, we must build a relationship and have “specific” eye contact to have feelings. We as human would never think it is okay or humanly to eat a dog or a pet in general. This is rather interesting because we have daily eye contact with the pets in our lives but because we don’t have daily eye contact with the pigs, cows and chickens we are eating it makes it alright. I enjoy the taste of meat and I’m thankful that it is so easy to buy but I never really thought of the aspects that came along with the animals side of the process until I read Pollan’s piece on “An Animal’s Place”.
Descartes belief is that animals cannot feel pain because they lack a soul. Others say animals cannot show their emotions and feelings to humans but does that mean they cannot show them to each other? As a human we understand what other people are going through and their feelings toward different things. Maybe animals can do the same. Maybe if insects were eating the pig to death, the pig could feel that and other pigs could understand the pain because they are also going through it. It’s unusual to think about animals having feeling but just because we do not understand that or deal with our pain differently does not mean animals can not feel them not living their best life. Animals like pigs, cows, chickens, etc should be able to roam around a farm and enjoy every moment they have. Yes there will come a time when they have lived their best life and it is slowly coming to an end because someone can not live forever. Why keep these animals cooped in a area without sunlight, food and a nature setting when they can live their best life? When that best life comes to an end that’s when we could “help” and kill the animal for food.
Not everyone raises their animals the wrong way though. Not everyone keeps their animals cooped up in an area without nature resources. Pollan observes that Joel Salatin and his family raise six different animals on his farm in Virginia. They raise cattle, pigs, chickens, rabbits, turkeys and sheep. In Salatin’s words, “to fully express its physiological distinctiveness.” In other words these animals get to live their best life and are able to live like a chicken should. Salatin explains that each animal played an important role in the farm. For example, “As in nature, where birds tend to follow herbivores, once Salatin’s cows have finished grazing a pasture, he moves them out and tows in his ‘eggmobile,’ a portable chicken coop that houses several hundred laying hens–roughly the natural size of flock. The hens fan out over the pasture, eating the short grass and picking insects larvae out of the cowpats…” This shows that not all animals are kept in close corners to be able to be eaten. Salatin took the smart way about raising his meat.
Draft 3
*Mostly editing*
John Berger, an English critic, wrote an essay “Why Look at Animals” he considers that the loss of everyday contact between ourselves and animals– and specifically the loss of eye contact has left us deeply confused about the terms of our relationship to other species. I found it interesting that to be able to have a connect for someone or something, like an animal, we must build a relationship and have “specific” eye contact to have feelings. With pets we have that eye contact that we do not have to the animals we are eating. We as human, would never think it is okay to eat a dog or a pet in general. This is rather interesting because we have daily eye contact with the pets in our lives but because we don’t have daily eye contact with the pigs, cows and chickens we are eating it makes it alright. I enjoy the taste of meat and I’m thankful that it is so easy to buy but I never thought of the opinions from a vegetarian or the animals side of the process until I read Pollan’s piece on “An Animal’s Place”.
Descartes belief is that animals cannot feel pain because they lack a soul. Others say animals cannot show their emotions and feelings to humans but does that mean they cannot show them to one another? As a human we can understand what other people are going through and their feelings toward individual things. Maybe animals can do the same. Maybe if insects were eating the pig to death, the pig could feel that and other pigs could understand the pain because they are also going through it. It’s unusual to think about animals having feeling but just because we do not understand that or deal with our pain differently does not mean animals can not. Maybe the animals understand they are not living their best life and become depressed. Animals like pigs, cows, chickens, etc should be able to roam around a farm and enjoy every moment they have. Yes there will come a time when they have lived their best life and it will slowly come to an end because we do not live forever. Why keep these animals cooped in a area without sunlight, food and a natural setting when they can live their best life? When that best life comes to an end that’s when we can “help” and kill the animal for food.
Not everyone raises their animals the wrong way though. Not everyone keeps their animals cooped up in an area without natural resources. Pollan observes that Joel Salatin and his family raise six different animals on his farm in Virginia. They raise cattle, pigs, chickens, rabbits, turkeys and sheep. In Salatin’s words, “to fully express its physiological distinctiveness.” In other words these animals get to live their best life and are able to live like a chicken should. Salatin explains that each animal plays an important role in the farm. For example, “As in nature, where birds tend to follow herbivores, once Salatin’s cows have finished grazing a pasture, he moves them out and tows in his ‘eggmobile,’ a portable chicken coop that houses several hundred laying hens–roughly the natural size of flock. The hens fan out over the pasture, eating the short grass and picking insects larvae out of the cowpats…” This shows that not all animals are kept in close corners to be able to be eaten. Salatin choose the smart way about raising his meat. I wonder how Salatin had no emotional connection with the animals he raised if he raised them for so long.
Final Draft
John Berger, an English critic, wrote an essay “Why Look at Animals” he considers that the loss of everyday contact between ourselves and animals– and specifically the loss of eye contact has left us deeply confused about the terms of our relationship to other species. I found it interesting that to be able to have a connection for someone or something, like an animal, we must build a relationship and have “specific” eye contact to have these feelings. With pets we have that constant eye contact that we do not have with the animals we are eating. We as human, would never think it is okay to eat a dog or a pet in general. This is rather interesting because we have daily eye contact with the pets in our lives but because we don’t have daily eye contact with the pigs, cows and chickens we are able to eat them and we consist it alright. I enjoy the taste of meat and I’m thankful that it is so easy to buy but I never thought of the opinions from a vegetarian or the animals side of the process until I read Pollan’s piece on “An Animal’s Place”.
Singer, an Australian philosopher and vegan, believes the only reason we can eat meat is because we look at the animals as less than us. Supporting Singer, Pollan explains that “we tolerate this disconnect because the life of a pig has moved out of view” (2). [Realize now that there needs to more of a connection for sentence to sentence] Throughout the conversation Singer compares the life of a pet to a animal living in nature, like a pig or chicken. While these two are both animals people have a different viewpoint on how they are treated because the less connection we have to them. From this conversation was why Pollan brought Beger into the conversation. Berger believes it’s all about eye contact which creates the attachment or emotional connection to the animal. While Singer also believes it’s how we as humans we raised and it’s a whole culture behind it. It was expressed that if we can see that the animal is in pain we owe it to them to put them out of their misery. This brings back up if looking at an animal everyday you start an emotional connection which is why pet owners can not eat their own pets.
Descartes belief is that animals cannot feel pain because they lack a soul. Others say animals cannot show their emotions and feelings to humans but does that mean they cannot show them to one another? As a human we can understand what other people are going through and their feelings toward individual things. Maybe animals can do the same. Maybe if insects were eating the pig to death, the pig could feel that and other pigs could understand the pain because they are also going through it. It’s unusual to think about animals having feeling but just because we do not understand that or deal with our pain differently does not mean animals can not. Maybe the animals understand they are not living their best life and become depressed. Animals like pigs, cows, chickens, etc should be able to roam around a farm and enjoy every moment they have. Yes there will come a time when they have lived their best life and it will slowly come to an end because we do not live forever. Why keep these animals cooped in a area without sunlight, food and a natural setting when they can live their best life? When that best life comes to an end that’s when we can “help” and kill the animal for food.
Not everyone raises their animals the wrong way though. “To many animal rightists, even Polyface Farm is a death camp”, Pollan stated. Polyface Farm, which is a factory farm is a farm that causes pain to animals and will never be the right way to raise an animal. Not everyone keeps their animals cooped up in an area without natural resources. Pollan observes that Joel Salatin and his family raise six different animals on his farm in Virginia. They raise cattle, pigs, chickens, rabbits, turkeys and sheep. In Salatin’s words, “to fully express its physiological distinctiveness.” In other words these animals get to live their best life and are able to live like a chicken should. Salatin explains that each animal plays an important role in the farm. For example, “As in nature, where birds tend to follow herbivores, once Salatin’s cows have finished grazing a pasture, he moves them out and tows in his ‘eggmobile,’ a portable chicken coop that houses several hundred laying hens–roughly the natural size of flock. The hens fan out over the pasture, eating the short grass and picking insects larvae out of the cowpats…” This shows that not all animals are kept in close corners to be able to be eaten. Salatin choose the smart way about raising his meat. I wonder how Salatin had no emotional connection with the animals he raised if he raised them for so long.
