We need another concept of animals—they are gifted with extensions
of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.
- Henry Beston
Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view),
consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals.
- Milan Kundera
of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.
- Henry Beston
Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view),
consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals.
- Milan Kundera
Vladimir Nabokov begins his memoir Speak, Memory by describing existence as “a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” This is true not only for humans, but for all living beings. Yet, over 50 billion land animals are killed each year by the food industry on account of the lies, myths, and fictions made up by our society—a worldview that weaponizes human uniqueness through prejudice and anthropocentrism.
The slaughter reveals far less about its victims than about the ones carrying out the slaughter. It says everything, in fact, about their relationship with the world, with nature, and with themselves, whether they choose to understand and respect life, or turn away from it in fear and denial, whether they strive to live in harmony with the natural world, or against it. Veganism and vegetarianism, neither of which should be reduced to a healthy diet or a mere act of kindness, represent profound ways of alignment with life and nature, the only true paths forward from the ongoing destruction. They are physical expressions of understanding, of valuing the intrinsic purpose in all living beings. Continuing to consume animal flesh in a time of unprecedented alternatives is more than mere cognitive dissonance, it exposes a fracture in our perception of reality. On one side lies the real: the sentient animal, the living ecosystem, the shared limbic spark that makes mammals, for example, feel pain and joy. On the other side lies the contrived: traditions, practices, cultural norms, social conventions, all powerful fictions that exist in our minds and societies, yet have no concrete reality outside of human belief. These stories are not true in any physical sense. They are mere agreements of culture, differing vastly across the world. An animal experiences the world through emotions and sensations very much like our own, and their capacity to suffer exists whether or not we acknowledge it. The idea that eating animals is acceptable exists only because we collectively imagine these rules and pass them down by means of a constructed narrative.
The slaughter reveals far less about its victims than about the ones carrying out the slaughter. It says everything, in fact, about their relationship with the world, with nature, and with themselves, whether they choose to understand and respect life, or turn away from it in fear and denial, whether they strive to live in harmony with the natural world, or against it. Veganism and vegetarianism, neither of which should be reduced to a healthy diet or a mere act of kindness, represent profound ways of alignment with life and nature, the only true paths forward from the ongoing destruction. They are physical expressions of understanding, of valuing the intrinsic purpose in all living beings. Continuing to consume animal flesh in a time of unprecedented alternatives is more than mere cognitive dissonance, it exposes a fracture in our perception of reality. On one side lies the real: the sentient animal, the living ecosystem, the shared limbic spark that makes mammals, for example, feel pain and joy. On the other side lies the contrived: traditions, practices, cultural norms, social conventions, all powerful fictions that exist in our minds and societies, yet have no concrete reality outside of human belief. These stories are not true in any physical sense. They are mere agreements of culture, differing vastly across the world. An animal experiences the world through emotions and sensations very much like our own, and their capacity to suffer exists whether or not we acknowledge it. The idea that eating animals is acceptable exists only because we collectively imagine these rules and pass them down by means of a constructed narrative.
Our culture has always involved turning raw nature into something governed by rules and meanings. French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, in examining mythologies, speaks of the transition from the “raw” to the “cooked” as symbolic of nature transformed by culture, something that, in the case of meat, is more than just metaphor: we literally take the raw reality of animal life and subject it to cooking, both culinary and cultural. A living creature is converted into a meal, but also into a meaning. Across the world, meat is entangled with notions of tradition, prosperity, celebration, masculinity, and even love—none of which have inherent reality outside human narratives (the feelings expressed by a family cooking a holiday turkey are real, but their association with meat is learned). Such traditions feel solid, as if they were natural law, but are relatively recent or only local customs. In India, millions hold cows as sacred and abstain from beef; in parts of China, a festival centers on eating dogs, which Westerners would regard as horrific. Each culture believes its pattern is “normal.” They can’t all be right, but they can all be wrong, in the sense that none of these customs is truly necessary. They are constructed preferences and not reflections of some universal truth.
Urges and appetites surrounding meat are similarly conditioned. Psychologist Paul Rozin notes how we use language and presentation to either emphasize or minimize an animal’s identity as food. In English, we differentiate the animal from the meat (deer vs. venison, pig vs. pork), a linguistic trick dating back to Norman times, but one that conveniently maintains psychological distance. To maintain the split reality, cultures also tend to develop elaborate justifications. Social psychologists have identified a common set of rationalizations that meat-eaters invoke, mostly unconsciously, to defend their habits, and these rationalizations have been dubbed the “4Ns”: the belief that eating meat is Normal, Natural, Necessary, and Nice, meaning tasty. A vast majority of people rely on some combination of the 4Ns to diffuse any guilt about eating animals. The claims feel like statements of fact, but are they? Is it Natural? Our closest primate relatives eat mostly plants, and our teeth and intestines are those of omnivores who thrived on flexible diets, rather than carnivores bound to flesh. Necessary? Modern nutritional science shows humans can live healthily on plant-based diets. Normal? No, normalized. Nice? One can acquire a taste for anything given the right conditioning, as the wide range of foods across cultures attests. The 4Ns are nothing but a convenient cultural script. Yet not a harmless one. Research indicates that people who strongly endorse the 4Ns feel less guilt and show more tolerance for social inequalities in general. As environmental history researcher Melanie Challenger writes, “Organisms, in pursuing their goals, make value-based choices. As such, they make our world a meaningful one. In undermining the value of organisms and their agency, we strip our own world of its value too.”
The term meat paradox captures the conflict. We care about animals, yet have them killed in order to consume them. How do we mentally resolve the disparity? The answer lies in what psychologist Albert Bandura calls moral disengagement, the process of disabling our moral alarm systems through self-deception. When faced with harm we cause, we deploy mental tactics to minimize guilt. With meat, one key tactic is denial of reality: specifically, denial of the animal’s mind. Studies have shown that people actively deny mind and feeling to animals they eat as a way to feel okay about eating them. In a classic experiment, researchers found that simply telling participants an animal was a food source made them rate that creature as less intelligent and less able to suffer. This is dissonance reduction in real time. As soon as the idea of eating meat enters the picture, our empathy reflex is throttled down. The act of eating triggers psychological circuits that suppress negative emotion like pity or remorse and even alter our beliefs about the animal’s inner life, and culture assists in the self-comforting lie by continually portraying food animals as mindless and soulless.
The dynamic at play is a neurocultural feedback loop. The brain’s attempt to avoid pain (both cognitive and emotional) teams up with cultural narratives to reinforce meat consumption, which in turn further numbs empathy. Think of empathy as a muscle, one that evolved to respond to the cries of a fellow creature. In the distant past, hearing a lamb bleat in distress might have triggered an urge to nurture or protect, but in a modern industrial context, that response is a liability if our way of life demands slaughter. And so, gradually, the empathy muscle atrophies. The more meat we eat without reflection, the easier it becomes to keep eating, because the mind adapts. Meanwhile, desire is reinforced, not just by the sensory pleasure of the food, but by cultural approval and addictive mechanisms that trigger reward pathways. Society amplifies it by rewarding conformity.
The dynamic at play is a neurocultural feedback loop. The brain’s attempt to avoid pain (both cognitive and emotional) teams up with cultural narratives to reinforce meat consumption, which in turn further numbs empathy. Think of empathy as a muscle, one that evolved to respond to the cries of a fellow creature. In the distant past, hearing a lamb bleat in distress might have triggered an urge to nurture or protect, but in a modern industrial context, that response is a liability if our way of life demands slaughter. And so, gradually, the empathy muscle atrophies. The more meat we eat without reflection, the easier it becomes to keep eating, because the mind adapts. Meanwhile, desire is reinforced, not just by the sensory pleasure of the food, but by cultural approval and addictive mechanisms that trigger reward pathways. Society amplifies it by rewarding conformity.
Science and philosophy alike, however, affirm that the boundary between human and animal sentience is far thinner than tradition admits. Primatologist Frans de Waal observes that many moral emotions long thought unique to humans, e.g. sympathy, empathy, reciprocity, even adherence to social rules, can be seen in other species, from chimpanzees and elephants down to rats. At the same time, neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, famed for his studies of animal emotions, has demonstrated mammals share deep brain structures that generate feelings like fear, joy, grief, and maternal love. As we can see, then, the limbic brain, the seat of emotion and attachment in mammals, is an evolutionary inheritance we share with the animals on our plates, it is biology, chemistry, electrical impulses in the brain triggering real distress or contentment. If pain receptors fire or stress hormones surge in an animal, it is as real as it is in a person.
Take a minute to let the enormity sink in. Each year, tens of billions of sentient beings are brought into life only to be killed, emitting collective cries that if audible would drown out every other sound on Earth. Their exhalations and waste products warm the climate; their grazing grounds expand at the expense of wild creatures who dwindle and vanish. All of it is propelled by a simple, made-up story. How many of us have really questioned that story? At what point does willful obliviousness turn into culpability? Uncomfortable questions press on the conscience once the veil is lifted, which is exactly why society encourages us not to ask them.
For this reason, addressing the emotional and psychological needs that meat-eating falsely fulfills is critical. Psychiatrists Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon in A General Theory of Love describe how our limbic resonance, the capacity for emotional attunement, can be retrained. If we provide alternatives like plant-based cuisine, we take an important step but, beyond that, we might need to create new rituals and foster a kind of moral emotion. Bandura’s work on moral disengagement suggests that reversing it requires moral re-engagement, getting people to take personal responsibility and to re-humanize (or re-animalize, in this case) the victims. As philosopher Tom Regan argues, if we encounter animals as individuals with their own desires, it becomes far harder to treat them as means to our ends. We should ask: What stories would those animals tell if they could speak?
This and the following questions serve as reminders that the brief flash of light between two eternities of darkness belongs not just to us, but to all creatures.
For this reason, addressing the emotional and psychological needs that meat-eating falsely fulfills is critical. Psychiatrists Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon in A General Theory of Love describe how our limbic resonance, the capacity for emotional attunement, can be retrained. If we provide alternatives like plant-based cuisine, we take an important step but, beyond that, we might need to create new rituals and foster a kind of moral emotion. Bandura’s work on moral disengagement suggests that reversing it requires moral re-engagement, getting people to take personal responsibility and to re-humanize (or re-animalize, in this case) the victims. As philosopher Tom Regan argues, if we encounter animals as individuals with their own desires, it becomes far harder to treat them as means to our ends. We should ask: What stories would those animals tell if they could speak?
This and the following questions serve as reminders that the brief flash of light between two eternities of darkness belongs not just to us, but to all creatures.
Did you know we are part of a long process of emerging life intrinsically connected to the natural world and not a unique creation?
Did you know the gradual metamorphic act of life we are part of also includes animals?
Did you know animals are sentient beings like ourselves?
Did you know scientific studies show animals demonstrate behaviors associated with consciousness, planning, and emotional response?
Did you know animals not only influence the living environments of the planet but also lead “complex lives that involve feelings and mental control?”1
Did you know there are “underlying commonalities in emotional perception and expression” in all mammals?2
Do you think other beings are inferior if they don’t share our way of feeling? Do you believe a different perspective is inferior to yours?
Do you think feeling may in fact mean inwardness, “an experience and a formative power that binds an organism together?”3
Did you know the senses provide a way into the deep knowledge of the ecosystem which both humans and animals are part of?
Did you know urges and preferences are almost always culturally conditioned?
Did you know the gradual metamorphic act of life we are part of also includes animals?
Did you know animals are sentient beings like ourselves?
Did you know scientific studies show animals demonstrate behaviors associated with consciousness, planning, and emotional response?
Did you know animals not only influence the living environments of the planet but also lead “complex lives that involve feelings and mental control?”1
Did you know there are “underlying commonalities in emotional perception and expression” in all mammals?2
Do you think other beings are inferior if they don’t share our way of feeling? Do you believe a different perspective is inferior to yours?
Do you think feeling may in fact mean inwardness, “an experience and a formative power that binds an organism together?”3
Did you know the senses provide a way into the deep knowledge of the ecosystem which both humans and animals are part of?
Did you know urges and preferences are almost always culturally conditioned?
Did you know that different animals perceive time differently—some in a continuous present, others with episodic memories like our own?(Clayton & Dickinson, 1998, Nature; Balsam et al., 2010)
Did you know that animals dream, and birds, dogs, cats, and rats all exhibit REM sleep patterns associated with imagined experience? (Rattenborg, 2006, Brain Research Bulletin; Wilson & McNaughton, 1994, Science)
Did you know birds were the first creatures to have dreams?4
Did you know that parrots not only mimic words but understand abstract relationships like “same” and “different”? (Pepperberg, 1999, The Alex Studies)
Did you know that crows remember human faces for years, teaching their young who to trust and who to fear? (Marzluff et al., 2010, Animal Behaviour)
Did you know that elephants pass the mirror test of self-recognition, mourning their dead and revisiting the bones of lost kin years later? (Plotnik et al., 2006, PNAS; McComb et al., 2006, Biology Letters)
Did you know that prairie dogs have a language so detailed they can describe the color, size, and speed of approaching predators? (Slobodchikoff et al., 2009, Animal Behavior)
Did you know that migratory animals use magnetic fields, polarized light, scent, and even the stars to navigate continents and oceans? (Wiltschko & Wiltschko, Magnetic Orientation and Magnetoreception in Birds and Other Animals, 2005)
Did you know “animals have highly developed neural systems for processing specific informational needs?”5
Did you know that communication in many species like bees and ants relies on multi-sensory codes we have only begun to decipher? (Frisch, 1967, The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees; Hölldobler & Wilson, The Ants, 1990)
Did you know the brain of a single honeybee contains nearly a million neurons?
Did you know the midbrain of honeybees “pulls on memory and perception to support behavioral choice?”6
Did you know bats and dolphins are equipped with sonar systems that help them ‘see’ using sound?
Did you know that dolphins have individual names—whistle signatures used to call to one another across vast distances? (Janik & Sayigh, 2013, Proceedings of the Royal Society B)
Did you know that octopuses can use tools, solve puzzles, and express moods through rapid color changes of their skin? (Finn et al., 2009, Current Biology; Godfrey-Smith, Other Minds, 2016)
Did you know that whales compose songs that travel hundreds of miles underwater, sometimes synchronizing across entire ocean populations? (Payne & McVay, 1971, Science; Garland et al., 2011, Current Biology)
Did you know “the intricate cellular structure of certain eels allows the precise mapping of perturbations in nearby electric fields?”7
Did you know animals have cultures and strategies for social learning, especially mammals?
Did you know that compassion and cooperation appear in wolves, bonobos, and elephants, who console the distressed with touch and gesture? (de Waal, 2008, The Age of Empathy)
Did you know that social mammals, when deprived of contact, exhibit brain patterns indistinguishable from those of human loneliness? (Tomova et al., 2020, Nature Neuroscience)
Did you know that animals in captivity often develop repetitive behaviors like swaying, pacing, self-harm, that are analogous to human trauma responses? (Mason & Latham, 2004, Nature)
Did you know that mammals are endowed with limbic brains same as humans?
Did you know that nurturance, social communion, (vocal) communication, and play are rooted in limbic territory?8
Did you know the limbic brain found in mammals is not only the seat of dreams and value judgements, but also the center of emotionality?
Did you know the limbic activity of mammals draws their emotions into immediate congruence?
Did you know limbic resonance—the capacity to sense and become attuned to each other’s inner states--is present in all mammals?
Did you know that proximity to the mother is an inborn need for all mammals?9
Did you know separations of young mammals from their attachment figures send them into complete disarray?
Did you know such prolonged separations or terminated relationships affect a number of somatic parameters and can cause physical illness (low heart rate, lighter sleep with less REM sleep and more spontaneous nocturnal awakenings, disturbed circadian rhythms, declining levels of growth hormone in the blood, major alterations in immune regulation)?
Did you know “a mammal will risk and sometimes lose its life to protect a child or mate from attack?”10
Did you know that rats will refuse a treat if taking it means another rat will receive a shock? (Church, 1959, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology; Bartal et al., 2011, Science)
Do you believe humans alone are endowed with worth and dignity?
Do you think humans alone are capable of thinking? Do you believe there is only one kind of thinking?
Do you think it's possible that language, which distinguishes us from animals, might be a “by-product of alienation from nature and detachment from the body?”11
Did you know that animals dream, and birds, dogs, cats, and rats all exhibit REM sleep patterns associated with imagined experience? (Rattenborg, 2006, Brain Research Bulletin; Wilson & McNaughton, 1994, Science)
Did you know birds were the first creatures to have dreams?4
Did you know that parrots not only mimic words but understand abstract relationships like “same” and “different”? (Pepperberg, 1999, The Alex Studies)
Did you know that crows remember human faces for years, teaching their young who to trust and who to fear? (Marzluff et al., 2010, Animal Behaviour)
Did you know that elephants pass the mirror test of self-recognition, mourning their dead and revisiting the bones of lost kin years later? (Plotnik et al., 2006, PNAS; McComb et al., 2006, Biology Letters)
Did you know that prairie dogs have a language so detailed they can describe the color, size, and speed of approaching predators? (Slobodchikoff et al., 2009, Animal Behavior)
Did you know that migratory animals use magnetic fields, polarized light, scent, and even the stars to navigate continents and oceans? (Wiltschko & Wiltschko, Magnetic Orientation and Magnetoreception in Birds and Other Animals, 2005)
Did you know “animals have highly developed neural systems for processing specific informational needs?”5
Did you know that communication in many species like bees and ants relies on multi-sensory codes we have only begun to decipher? (Frisch, 1967, The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees; Hölldobler & Wilson, The Ants, 1990)
Did you know the brain of a single honeybee contains nearly a million neurons?
Did you know the midbrain of honeybees “pulls on memory and perception to support behavioral choice?”6
Did you know bats and dolphins are equipped with sonar systems that help them ‘see’ using sound?
Did you know that dolphins have individual names—whistle signatures used to call to one another across vast distances? (Janik & Sayigh, 2013, Proceedings of the Royal Society B)
Did you know that octopuses can use tools, solve puzzles, and express moods through rapid color changes of their skin? (Finn et al., 2009, Current Biology; Godfrey-Smith, Other Minds, 2016)
Did you know that whales compose songs that travel hundreds of miles underwater, sometimes synchronizing across entire ocean populations? (Payne & McVay, 1971, Science; Garland et al., 2011, Current Biology)
Did you know “the intricate cellular structure of certain eels allows the precise mapping of perturbations in nearby electric fields?”7
Did you know animals have cultures and strategies for social learning, especially mammals?
Did you know that compassion and cooperation appear in wolves, bonobos, and elephants, who console the distressed with touch and gesture? (de Waal, 2008, The Age of Empathy)
Did you know that social mammals, when deprived of contact, exhibit brain patterns indistinguishable from those of human loneliness? (Tomova et al., 2020, Nature Neuroscience)
Did you know that animals in captivity often develop repetitive behaviors like swaying, pacing, self-harm, that are analogous to human trauma responses? (Mason & Latham, 2004, Nature)
Did you know that mammals are endowed with limbic brains same as humans?
Did you know that nurturance, social communion, (vocal) communication, and play are rooted in limbic territory?8
Did you know the limbic brain found in mammals is not only the seat of dreams and value judgements, but also the center of emotionality?
Did you know the limbic activity of mammals draws their emotions into immediate congruence?
Did you know limbic resonance—the capacity to sense and become attuned to each other’s inner states--is present in all mammals?
Did you know that proximity to the mother is an inborn need for all mammals?9
Did you know separations of young mammals from their attachment figures send them into complete disarray?
Did you know such prolonged separations or terminated relationships affect a number of somatic parameters and can cause physical illness (low heart rate, lighter sleep with less REM sleep and more spontaneous nocturnal awakenings, disturbed circadian rhythms, declining levels of growth hormone in the blood, major alterations in immune regulation)?
Did you know “a mammal will risk and sometimes lose its life to protect a child or mate from attack?”10
Did you know that rats will refuse a treat if taking it means another rat will receive a shock? (Church, 1959, Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology; Bartal et al., 2011, Science)
Do you believe humans alone are endowed with worth and dignity?
Do you think humans alone are capable of thinking? Do you believe there is only one kind of thinking?
Do you think it's possible that language, which distinguishes us from animals, might be a “by-product of alienation from nature and detachment from the body?”11
Have you ever wondered why we classify some animals as “food” and others as “companions,” even when there’s no clear biological or ethical difference?
Do you think concern for animal welfare along with the use of animal products could represent a case of cognitive dissonance?
Did you know that chickens can recognize up to 100 faces, experience empathy, and form strong social bonds?
Did you know that sheep can distinguish emotional expressions on human faces, and remember them long after? (Kendrick et al., 2001, Nature; Tate et al., 2006, Animal Cognition)
Did you know that pigs outperform dogs and even young children in certain tests of spatial memory and problem-solving? (Marino & Colvin, 2015, International Journal of Comparative Psychology)
If dogs were raised and killed for meat, would that feel morally different to you than raising and killing pigs or chickens?
Did you know animals raised for meat are often denied the chance to engage in any natural behaviors, like running, nesting, or nurturing their young?
Are you aware that animals used for eggs and milk are also slaughtered once their productivity declines?
Are you aware language helps distance us from the reality of what we're eating—using words like “beef” or “pork” or "venison" instead of cow or pig or deer?
Are you aware terms like livestock, etc., are used to desensitize consumers by referring to sentient beings as products?
Do you believe a sentient being can be a product?
Are you a product?
Did you know science now shows the lives of other organisms are far more complex and sentient than we thought?
Did you know the capacity to suffer is not related to intelligence?
Did you know that the immune and nervous systems of mammals are so interlinked that chronic emotional pain can weaken physical health? (Kemeny & Schedlowski, 2007, Nature Reviews)
Did you know that, given their sharp senses and unique sensitivities, some farmed animals may be capable of suffering even more intensely than humans?*
Did you know that farmed fish are often kept in conditions so awful they develop open sores, blindness, and deformities before being killed?
Did you know mother cows cry and search for their calves for days after they're taken away?
Did you know cows have best friends and experience stress when separated from them?
Did you know that empathy is measurable in many species, not just in behavior, but in neurological patterns mirroring human compassion? (Decety & Lamm, 2006, Neuropsychologia; Burkett et al., 2016, Science)
Did you know that many animals show signs of trauma, depression, and learned helplessness when confined in factory farms?
Did you know “humane” labels are largely unregulated or misleading, and animals are still bred, confined, and ultimately killed long before their natural lifespan?
Can ethical treatment really exist in a system that ends in the killing of the subject after a life of suffering?
Do you think concern for animal welfare along with the use of animal products could represent a case of cognitive dissonance?
Did you know that chickens can recognize up to 100 faces, experience empathy, and form strong social bonds?
Did you know that sheep can distinguish emotional expressions on human faces, and remember them long after? (Kendrick et al., 2001, Nature; Tate et al., 2006, Animal Cognition)
Did you know that pigs outperform dogs and even young children in certain tests of spatial memory and problem-solving? (Marino & Colvin, 2015, International Journal of Comparative Psychology)
If dogs were raised and killed for meat, would that feel morally different to you than raising and killing pigs or chickens?
Did you know animals raised for meat are often denied the chance to engage in any natural behaviors, like running, nesting, or nurturing their young?
Are you aware that animals used for eggs and milk are also slaughtered once their productivity declines?
Are you aware language helps distance us from the reality of what we're eating—using words like “beef” or “pork” or "venison" instead of cow or pig or deer?
Are you aware terms like livestock, etc., are used to desensitize consumers by referring to sentient beings as products?
Do you believe a sentient being can be a product?
Are you a product?
Did you know science now shows the lives of other organisms are far more complex and sentient than we thought?
Did you know the capacity to suffer is not related to intelligence?
Did you know that the immune and nervous systems of mammals are so interlinked that chronic emotional pain can weaken physical health? (Kemeny & Schedlowski, 2007, Nature Reviews)
Did you know that, given their sharp senses and unique sensitivities, some farmed animals may be capable of suffering even more intensely than humans?*
Did you know that farmed fish are often kept in conditions so awful they develop open sores, blindness, and deformities before being killed?
Did you know mother cows cry and search for their calves for days after they're taken away?
Did you know cows have best friends and experience stress when separated from them?
Did you know that empathy is measurable in many species, not just in behavior, but in neurological patterns mirroring human compassion? (Decety & Lamm, 2006, Neuropsychologia; Burkett et al., 2016, Science)
Did you know that many animals show signs of trauma, depression, and learned helplessness when confined in factory farms?
Did you know “humane” labels are largely unregulated or misleading, and animals are still bred, confined, and ultimately killed long before their natural lifespan?
Can ethical treatment really exist in a system that ends in the killing of the subject after a life of suffering?
Do you listen to the natural world or the one shaped by your mind?
Which one do you think is more susceptible to manipulation?
Do you think humans are superior to animals because we have unique needs?
Do you think human needs cancel out the feelings and needs of animals?
If we say humans are unique, does that equal good?
Are you aware that cultural norms, rather than objective reasoning, shape much of what we view as “acceptable” when it comes to eating animals?
Is it worth asking whether taste or tradition are strong enough justifications for actions that involve large-scale suffering (around 6 billion animals killed every day by the food industry)?
If unspeakable cruelty was caused in part by your own conditioning, would you consider change?
Did you know ethical progress often means reexamining cultural habits? Traditions shape behavior but they can evolve.
Which one do you think is more susceptible to manipulation?
Do you think humans are superior to animals because we have unique needs?
Do you think human needs cancel out the feelings and needs of animals?
If we say humans are unique, does that equal good?
Are you aware that cultural norms, rather than objective reasoning, shape much of what we view as “acceptable” when it comes to eating animals?
Is it worth asking whether taste or tradition are strong enough justifications for actions that involve large-scale suffering (around 6 billion animals killed every day by the food industry)?
If unspeakable cruelty was caused in part by your own conditioning, would you consider change?
Did you know ethical progress often means reexamining cultural habits? Traditions shape behavior but they can evolve.
Did you know that humans have a disproportionately negative effect on the Earth and most of its organisms?
Did you know humans eat around 70% of the mammals on the planet?
Did you know our destruction of habitats has led to the loss of two-thirds of the planet’s vertebrates?
Did you know the animal industry is the leading cause of deforestation worldwide?
Did you know a quarter of the worldwide use of water goes to the manufacturing of animal products?
Did you know “animal farming generates more than five times the greenhouse gas emissions of all aircraft in the world taken together?”*
Did you know “more than half of all antibiotics are used on farmed animals, making the industry an ideal breeding ground for resistant bacteria?”*
Did you know that per capita consumption of animal products is going up instead of down?
Did you know massive amounts of resources (grain, corn, soy, and fresh water) that could be directly consumed by humans are used to grow livestock?*
Did you know around 75% of the world’s soy is grown to feed livestock, not people, whereas a plant-based diet uses fewer resources and causes less deforestation?
Did you know “the world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people?”*
Did you know the manufacturing of animal products contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, water and air pollution, rainforest destruction, irreversible destruction of marine ecosystems, and pandemic risk?
Did you know the UN has reported that “the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global?”*
Are you aware that industries promoting meat and dairy products have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, even if it's at odds with scientific, environmental, or ethical insights?
Did you know the meat and dairy industries use scare tactics, lobbying, and deceptive ad campaigns to prevent change and maximize profit?
Did you know consumption of both red and white meat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, even after adjusting for confounding variables such as urbanization-related lifestyles, obesity, and socioeconomic status?12
Did you know meat-eaters unwittingly shut down their brains’ automatic response to the pain of animals?
Did you know transitioning to plant-based diets could reduce humanity’s entire land use by 73%?*
Did you know the world's largest organization of nutrition experts, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, maintains a balanced vegan diet is “appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes?”*
Did you know “abstaining from animal products has a preventive effect against 14 of the 15 deadliest diseases of our time?”*
Are you aware that, despite challenging norms, veganism is less extreme than raising billions of animals in confined spaces, subjecting them to mutilation and killing them for food we don't need?
Did you know humans eat around 70% of the mammals on the planet?
Did you know our destruction of habitats has led to the loss of two-thirds of the planet’s vertebrates?
Did you know the animal industry is the leading cause of deforestation worldwide?
Did you know a quarter of the worldwide use of water goes to the manufacturing of animal products?
Did you know “animal farming generates more than five times the greenhouse gas emissions of all aircraft in the world taken together?”*
Did you know “more than half of all antibiotics are used on farmed animals, making the industry an ideal breeding ground for resistant bacteria?”*
Did you know that per capita consumption of animal products is going up instead of down?
Did you know massive amounts of resources (grain, corn, soy, and fresh water) that could be directly consumed by humans are used to grow livestock?*
Did you know around 75% of the world’s soy is grown to feed livestock, not people, whereas a plant-based diet uses fewer resources and causes less deforestation?
Did you know “the world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people?”*
Did you know the manufacturing of animal products contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, water and air pollution, rainforest destruction, irreversible destruction of marine ecosystems, and pandemic risk?
Did you know the UN has reported that “the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global?”*
Are you aware that industries promoting meat and dairy products have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, even if it's at odds with scientific, environmental, or ethical insights?
Did you know the meat and dairy industries use scare tactics, lobbying, and deceptive ad campaigns to prevent change and maximize profit?
Did you know consumption of both red and white meat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, even after adjusting for confounding variables such as urbanization-related lifestyles, obesity, and socioeconomic status?12
Did you know meat-eaters unwittingly shut down their brains’ automatic response to the pain of animals?
Did you know transitioning to plant-based diets could reduce humanity’s entire land use by 73%?*
Did you know the world's largest organization of nutrition experts, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, maintains a balanced vegan diet is “appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes?”*
Did you know “abstaining from animal products has a preventive effect against 14 of the 15 deadliest diseases of our time?”*
Are you aware that, despite challenging norms, veganism is less extreme than raising billions of animals in confined spaces, subjecting them to mutilation and killing them for food we don't need?
Did you know humans are almost always cognizant of the harm they do, but manage it through narratives that shift their psychology toward kinship or othering?13
Do you think putting others first is an act of virtue-signaling?
How do you feel about animal lovers who assist in the brutal oppression of animals?
How does it make you feel when your world view is challenged?
What do you think lies beneath your conditioning?
What do you think lies beneath societal and cultural conventions?
What does it say about humans if the natural world were better off without them?
Is it possible the most important thing that sets us apart from other animals is that we are the only ones able to protect them?
Do you believe that if any species had this power, it should be its duty to use it?
Are you aware caring about animals doesn’t preclude caring about people and the two are in fact interconnected?
Do you think civilization should be measured by the degree to which it succeeds in preventing and relieving unnecessary suffering?
Do you think a culture which promotes analysis over intuition and logic above feeling may “mislead people about the nature and significance of their lives?”14
Do you think tech, AI, and social media are the apotheosis of human progress?
Do you think tech, AI, and social media can improve human empathy and kindness?
Do you think there can be trust without empathy and kindness?
Do you think there is a path forward for mankind without trust, empathy, and kindness?
Do you think we have lost sight of the fact that we are all part of an interconnected creation?
Do you think the concept of personhood born out of social consciousness has come to replace the religious concept of salvation?
Do you think the concept of personhood has been defined at the expense of other forms of life?
Did you know that the boundary between instinct and consciousness grows fainter with every new study of animal cognition? (Griffin, 2001, Animal Minds; Shettleworth, 2010, Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior)
Could it be we’ve structured our world “with the intuition of an animal whose greatest interests lie with its own kind?”15
What do the possibilities of human nature hold if they fail to take into account those of the non-human world?
Do you think putting others first is an act of virtue-signaling?
How do you feel about animal lovers who assist in the brutal oppression of animals?
How does it make you feel when your world view is challenged?
What do you think lies beneath your conditioning?
What do you think lies beneath societal and cultural conventions?
What does it say about humans if the natural world were better off without them?
Is it possible the most important thing that sets us apart from other animals is that we are the only ones able to protect them?
Do you believe that if any species had this power, it should be its duty to use it?
Are you aware caring about animals doesn’t preclude caring about people and the two are in fact interconnected?
Do you think civilization should be measured by the degree to which it succeeds in preventing and relieving unnecessary suffering?
Do you think a culture which promotes analysis over intuition and logic above feeling may “mislead people about the nature and significance of their lives?”14
Do you think tech, AI, and social media are the apotheosis of human progress?
Do you think tech, AI, and social media can improve human empathy and kindness?
Do you think there can be trust without empathy and kindness?
Do you think there is a path forward for mankind without trust, empathy, and kindness?
Do you think we have lost sight of the fact that we are all part of an interconnected creation?
Do you think the concept of personhood born out of social consciousness has come to replace the religious concept of salvation?
Do you think the concept of personhood has been defined at the expense of other forms of life?
Did you know that the boundary between instinct and consciousness grows fainter with every new study of animal cognition? (Griffin, 2001, Animal Minds; Shettleworth, 2010, Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior)
Could it be we’ve structured our world “with the intuition of an animal whose greatest interests lie with its own kind?”15
What do the possibilities of human nature hold if they fail to take into account those of the non-human world?
Submit your thoughts or work to collaborate on this feature at [email protected], with “Us v. World Revisited” in the subject line.
1 M. Challenger, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human. Canongate Books, 2021.
2 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
3 A. Weber, The Biology of Wonder: Aliveness, Feeling and the Metamorphosis of Science. New Society Publishers, 2016.
4 M. Popova, “Do Birds Dream?” (essay). New York Times, 2024.
5 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
6 M. Challenger, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human. Canongate Books, 2021.
7 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
8 “Mammals form close-knit, mutually nurturant social groups—families—in which members spend time touching and caring for one another.” T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
9 In reference to J. Bowlby’s attachment theory.
10 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
11 D. Morris, The Poetry of Louise Glück: A Thematic Introduction. University of Missouri Press, 2006.
12 W. You, S. Feng, & F. Donnelly, “Total meat (flesh) supply may be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases worldwide”. Food Science & Nutrition, 2023.
13 M. Challenger, "Unlearning Human Exceptionalism," contribution to GTI Forum "Solidarity with Animals," Great Transition Initiative, February 2023.
14 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
15 M. Challenger, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human. Canongate Books, 2021.
* from P. Najana, Vegan Horizon (newsletter).
2 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
3 A. Weber, The Biology of Wonder: Aliveness, Feeling and the Metamorphosis of Science. New Society Publishers, 2016.
4 M. Popova, “Do Birds Dream?” (essay). New York Times, 2024.
5 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
6 M. Challenger, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human. Canongate Books, 2021.
7 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
8 “Mammals form close-knit, mutually nurturant social groups—families—in which members spend time touching and caring for one another.” T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
9 In reference to J. Bowlby’s attachment theory.
10 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
11 D. Morris, The Poetry of Louise Glück: A Thematic Introduction. University of Missouri Press, 2006.
12 W. You, S. Feng, & F. Donnelly, “Total meat (flesh) supply may be a significant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases worldwide”. Food Science & Nutrition, 2023.
13 M. Challenger, "Unlearning Human Exceptionalism," contribution to GTI Forum "Solidarity with Animals," Great Transition Initiative, February 2023.
14 T. Lewis, F. Amini, & R. Lannon, A General Theory of Love. Random House, 2000.
15 M. Challenger, How to Be Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human. Canongate Books, 2021.
* from P. Najana, Vegan Horizon (newsletter).
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Daniel Carden Nemo is a poet, translator, and photographer. His work has appeared in Magma Poetry, RHINO, Full Stop, Sontag Mag, and elsewhere.
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