High marks to Joe Moran for the additional restrictions he suggests for honoring and protecting the sacredness of life.Background before I continue. Mr. Moran's letter, titled "Women's rights," appeared this morning, on p. A6. He was writing about state legislators who "were said to have 'wrestled with deep philosophical and political differences before coming up with new restrictions on women seeking abortions' (New abortion rules for N.C., June 9)."
You know, restrictions like having the women view a film of an abortion, listen to the heartbeat of their fetus, that sort of thing.
Mr. Moran continued:
If the issue is truly the sacredness of life, I suggest that similar restrictions...should also apply...in the following instances:My own letter continued:
1) For judges and law enforcement officers, prior to executing a person
2) For intelligence and military officers prior to dropping guided missiles or bombs from Air Force drones [sic] on homes where there are also innocent people....
But Mr. Moran could and should have gone further. Appropriate information would also be useful in the following instances:There, I feel better already. Or is it worse, for having thought about the suffering of other animals one more time?
1) For people hired to work at Chik-fil-A, McDonald's, KFC, Smithfield's, etc., tell them how intelligent (and capable of suffering) are the animals whose flesh they'll be required to cook and serve, and show them how those animals are inhumanely raised and slaughtered, some of them still conscious when they're being skinned and dismembered.
2) For diners before they're served their hamburger, steak, barbecue, or fried chicken, the same.
That is, Mr. Moran might have given a nod to the rights of animals as well. Or, to be more accurate, the rights of animals other than human ones.
Suggested reading: Jonathan Safran Foer's 2009 book, Eating Animals, which is this summer's assigned reading for entering freshmen at Carolina and Duke.*
_______________
* June 14: My letter, under the title "Consider animal rights, too" (and above the signature, Morris Dean, Mebane), was published in this morning's Herald-Sun, though without the editor's identifying when Mr. Moran's letter was published or which article he was commenting on.
You stated, “For people hired to work at Chik-fil-A, McDonald's, KFC, Smithfield's, etc., tell them how intelligent (and capable of suffering) are the animals whose flesh they'll be required to cook and serve, and show them how those animals are inhumanely raised and slaughtered, some of them still conscious when they're being skinned and dismembered.”
ReplyDeleteI understand where you are coming from, but I would like to add something. The majority of the folks you are talking about are working there because they can’t find a better job. Their concerns are paying rent, feeding a family, and scraping by. I imagine if they were finically comfortable they wouldn’t be working there and would probably share the same concerns as you. Unfortunately that’s not the case.
Steve, a very good point. I probably should have focused only on #2. The workers in the sorts of establishments I exemplified (perhaps in most restaurants), if required to be "educated" before being allowed to cook and serve, would only have a burden of guilt added to the economic burden they already shoulder (guilt if they didn't just reject as propaganda what they had been told and shown).
ReplyDeleteAt least the diners have the relative economic freedom to be able to afford to eat out and, if persuaded by what they had been told and shown, would be able to choose a vegetarian dish, if available there, or leave the eatery and go find one that did serve vegetarian meals.
On second thought, maybe #1 should have been for people who were considering buying a franchise in one of the exemplified restaurants?
ReplyDeleteI like the last one.
ReplyDeleteMy letter, under the title "Consider animal rights, too" (and above the signature, Morris Dean, Mebane), was published in this morning's Herald-Sun, though without the editor's identifying when Mr. Moran's letter was published or which article he was commenting on.
ReplyDelete