| | | | conservatism become allied with an | | | | hog-rearing facility where anxious, |
| | | agriculture industry that treats food | | | | tightly-penned, unhealthy-looking sows |
| | | animals as so many production units | | | | give birth to hormone-enhanced litters. |
| | | whose growth and slaughter are to be | | | | It’s all unpalatable. But it’s the |
| | | maximized no matter what the cost? | | | | philosophical justifications for these |
| 4 | | The answer, Scully says, comes | | | | endeavors that occupy Scully most |
| | | down to simple anthropocentrism: Too | | | | fully. Challenging the daunting |
| | An animal rights activist protests | | | | much concern for animals is | | | | coalition of science, religion and |
| | European Union farm policy in | | | | threatening to a worldview that puts | | | | commerce, he skilfully refutes almost |
| | Brussels. | | | | humans at the apex of God’s creation. | | | | every argument that allows the misery |
| | | | | | Compassion is a slippery slope. Start | | | | and suffering of animals to be |
| | Dominion | | | | giving animals rights, according to the | | | | tolerated. |
| | The Power of Man, the Suffering of | | | | thinking, and soon humans won’t have | | 8 | | Scully has written what is surely |
| | Animals, and the Call to Mercy | | | | any. | | | | destined to be a classic defense of |
| | by Matthew Scully | | 5 | | Scully thinks this is nonsense, | | | | mercy. A master of language, he |
| | Reviewed by Nicols Fox | | | | nothing more than a selective reading | | | | leaves a memorable phrase on |
| | | | | | of Scripture that, in attempting to | | | | virtually every page. Yet our |
1 | | What are we to do about animals? | | | | justify our insatiable appetites and | | | | relationship to animals remains trickier |
| | There is no logic or consistency to the | | | | rapacious self-interest, conveniently | | | | than he acknowledges. Caring for |
| | way we act toward them now. The | | | | ignores the great tenderness to | | | | God’s creatures can go just so far |
| | person with the pampered Dalmatian | | | | animals expressed throughout the | | | | before it becomes fanaticism. |
| | may have no problem at all slicing into | | | | Bible. And yet science, industry and | | | | Members of India’s Hindu Jain sect |
| | veal from a calf that led a brief and | | | | religion have collaborated to create an | | | | sweep the street as they go along to |
| | miserable life. It’s not just the soulful- | | | | elaborate construct that allows us to | | | | avoid stepping on an insect. Surely |
| | eye standard. Veal calves, lambs and | | | | have our chicken tenders and baby- | | | | raising mice simply for experimentation |
| | even pigs have soulful eyes. | | | | back ribs without a shred of remorse | | | | is a perversion of stewardship, and yet |
2 | | Matthew Scully’s Dominion bravely | | | | for the thousands of creatures | | | | setting a trap for a mouse in the pantry |
| | takes on this complex and challenging | | | | subjected to unspeakable brutality | | | | is a reasonable thing to do. Scully |
| | question. Because it’s the soulful eye | | | | before their short lives end in the | | | | argues that there is a kind of natural |
| | we see, the one we’re forced to look | | | | bloody agony of slaughter. | | | | moral governor that tells us what is |
| | at, that seems to count the most, it is | | 6 | | Animals, according to the | | | | acceptable if we will only pay attention. |
| | no accident that the dreadful things | | | | behaviorist view, have no | | | | Reasonable lines must be drawn. But it |
| | done to animals by human hands are | | | | consciousness: They have no thoughts | | | | won’t be simple. |
| | carefully hidden from public view. | | | | or emotions, and thus cannot really | | 9 | | Scully seems to imply that every |
| | Scully is a vegetarian. Perhaps more | | | | suffer in any human sense of the word. | | | | bite of meat must be accompanied by |
| | to the point, he is a conservative, and | | | | More nonsense, says Scully, who finds | | | | guilt. In today’s world of factory |
| | as a special assistant and senior | | | | other science to support what any pet | | | | farming, he’s probably right. Humanely |
| | speech writer to former President | | | | owner or horse breeder knows without | | | | reared and slaughtered farm animals |
| | George W. Bush, one with solid | | | | question - that animals do indeed think | | | | are scarce. Yet the conservative Scully |
| | credentials. It is likely that only | | | | and feel. __35__, the Cartesian view of | | | | fails to acknowledge that the appalling |
| | someone so well-positioned could | | | | animals as nothing more than machines | | | | conditions on today’s industrialized |
| | confront the real puzzle, however, | | | | has led to the dehumanization of all | | | | farms are the inevitable result of a |
| | which is how the Bible-inspired belief | | | | life. It’s a mindset that allows | | | | national cheap-food policy, one |
| | in dominion over the creatures of the | | | | science to cheerfully anticipate | | | | abetted by a global marketplace that |
| | Earth has been perverted to support | | | | growing human replacement parts in | | | | insists on absolute efficiency in food |
| | the widespread and often needless | | | | animal “volunteers,” rearranging bits | | | | production. When the consumer is |
| | torture of animals in the name of | | | | and pieces of various species to create | | | | driven by the same economic |
| | science, agriculture and sport. | | | | whatever creatures can be envisioned, | | | | incentive, never questioning __38__, |
3 | | Why do so many otherwise kindly | | | | and cloning anything that moves. A | | | | factory farms thrive. A workable |
| | Christians and compassionate | | | | little closer reading of the Bible, Scully | | | | economic system that allows for the |
| | conservatives not only tolerate the | | | | suggests, might identify this as hubris | | | | incorporation of other values may be |
| | widespread abuse of farm, laboratory | | | | of the worst sort. | | | | as challenging to devise as it will be to |
| | and game animals but also routinely | | 7 | | In his reportorial mode, Scully | | | | implement – which means that more |
| | label those who attempt to defend | | | | takes the reader to a meeting of the | | | | remains to be written on this subject. |
| | these animals as dangerous, | | | | International Whaling Commission, | | | | Let’s hope that Scully will oblige. |
| | misguided radicals, dismissing every | | | | where Japan and Norway argue for the | | | | |
| | argument for mercy? And how | | | | right to go after what remains of these | | | | The Washington Post |
| | precisely did Christianity and | | | | massive sea mammals, then tours a | | |