Nadia Masoudi: One day, animal slavery for meat and milk will end
Nadia Masoudi is the founder of Animal Freedom Day.
By Nadia Masoudi
The slavery of animals is a worldwide blight that seemingly has no end. Animals suffer greatly by the hand of the species thought to be the most “evolved”. Sadly, by consuming our cohabitants, we are harming not only our planet, but ourselves.
The mass slaying of factory-farmed animals poses a greater threat to our environment than all vehicles and wars combined. The dangers of factory farming loom upon us, in the form of virulent disease, health issues, and irrefutable cruelty. I believe that healthy coexistence among animals and people can only be gained once we stop the genocide of their kind.
A factory-farmed animal is usually conceived artificially. Many cows are used for breeding then casually tossed to the gates of dog-food manufacturers once they are unable to produce. From conception, these animals (mainly cows, pigs, sheep, fish, and poultry) suffer through deplorable living conditions. These conditions are said to be made better through revisionary tactics (the implementation of free-range methods and the abolition of genetically modified organisms) but these dance around the major issue—animals should not be eaten by our kind.
According to The Nutrition Source site, from the Harvard School of Public Health, milk isn’t the best source of calcium for everyone. Collard greens and legumes are more than enough to sustain us, yet we keep cows producing until they are worn and beat before their stated life expectancy. Calves destined to become veal are confined to narrow pens and forced to eat an iron-deficient diet to coerce their muscle mass into immobility. Veal calves have been found twisting themselves into ruin in an attempt to lick iron nails embedded in their stalls.
I believe that every creature on Earth has the right to live. How can we be good to each other when we treat defenceless animals in this fashion? How will we be able to stop slaughtering each other when we are waging an unjust siege against weapon-less beings? The only way is to peacefully coexist.
I have heard time and time again the notion that animals were placed here for our use. Firstly, the arrogance of those words is appalling. Second, the beef industry has gotten to the point where its employees are victims as much as the animals are. Working at a slaughterhouse is the most dangerous job in America.
The idea of meat as the central basis of our sustenance is ignorant. On behalf of the beef and dairy industry, we are constantly told through mass media that meat is part of a healthy lifestyle (I’m looking at you Canada’s Food Guide). This is problematic. Thankfully, technology has advanced, and we now have many healthier and ethically inclined food sources. You can now walk to your local grocery store and find many meat alternatives, as well as a myriad of soy-based foodstuffs.
We are taught from a young age that milk and meat are great for us. Who are we to question the knowledge of our parents and society? But imagine a world without food-borne illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella. Imagine a world where fecal matter in your food supply is a remnant of the past. Meat lovers or not, we must make a global change.
On the topic of slavery, Thomas Jefferson famously said to James Heaton in 1826, “The revolution in public opinion which this case requires is not to be expected in a day, or perhaps in an age; but time, which outlives all things, will outlive this evil also.” I do not know when the consumption of meat will end, but I am reassured by Jefferson’s words. It will end when we have gained knowledge and respect for all living creatures. One day, we will look back and proudly denounce our ways as the bygone standards of a bygone era.
Nadia Masoudi is an 18-year-old filmmaker, an activist, and the founder of Animal Freedom Day, which will take place on July 24. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario.
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Comments
Why should our limitless compassion stop at the protection of animals? By cultivating plants, then tearing them up and consuming them, are we not also abusing their rights as living beings to live and reproduce freely? Just because you can't observe a carrot 'suffering' doesn't mean that it doesn't suffer when you rip it out of the ground. Are we not also making slaves out of our crops?
Do I ever disagree with you. While I do agree that animals should be treated humanly, I disagree and take offense to your view that it is "ignorant" to consider meat as part of a healthy diet. In addition if you look at all levels of nature animals consume other animals to survive and just because you think animals are cute and you love your cat doesnt mean as humans we should feel guilty for eat cow.
Sure chickens raised in cages to be used for food and many ways veil (not all) is produced is cruel and I disagree with, but there is NOTHING wrong with eating meat, and its not reasonable to assume people should hunt every day in order to get there meat and therefor farming is totally appropriate.
You are one of those stereotypical vegetarians I can not stand. The one that shows up to a dinner party and chastises others who are eating meat trying to push your beliefs onto others like some type of a food jahova witness or something. Fact is the VAST majority of vegetarians look and are extremely unhealthy, and meat is part of a very health diet.
I bet you are one of those people who cant stand to look at a lion eating a zebra either, and hate the lion for it. Right?
What a nine-iron.
I don't blame here, I blame the society that allows such people to think they know best. Good Lord, she probably still sleeps with a teddy bear!
i've been a vegetarian by choice for twenty years - and i'm twenty-four. perhaps the tone of this article is slightly extremist, but this young woman has many valid points: factory farmed meat - which is by a huge majority what is consumed, NOT happy (organic, local, free range) meat - is environmentally unethical, inhumane, and often unhealthy for those of us consuming it. you think companies who torture animals for their entire lives to sell their flesh after they've ended care what gets packaged with it, or how? canada's rate of animals that are allowed to die en route to a processing plant is far larger than in the US and almost double Europe's. i'm sure companies that only care for the lowest bottom line allow all those dead bodies to be thrown out when they were just going to be killed anyway.
i personally agree that animals of any kind needn't die for food. however, i don't expect the majority of our omnivorous society to agree with my perspective. there are ways to counteract the ills that eating mass-produced meat and dairy inflict. buy local. buy organic. buy free range. and by all means research the company you choose to give your business to - many products with the "free range" label on them aren't much better than cruel factory farms. supplement with soy, nuts, legumes, broccoli, quinoa, and hemp hearts. and, if you're interested and concerned, become a vegetarian, which reduces your carbon footprint by a vast amount. rainforests are cut down for cattle farms. our oceans are vastly overfished. we in canada largely don't see the impact of the meat industry in our faces, but it is there.
those commenters getting their backs up over this article: wake up. we are living in a world that can't continue sustaining all of us at the rate we consume. it's time to start making choices unselfishly. supporting the meat industry is a choice you make every time you buy a normal steak at the supermarket and it has an impact every time.
you can choose to dismiss these facts as crazy hippy vegetarian slanting, but perhaps you should pay attention to those of us warning about environmental change: we're not chicken little warning about the sky falling. judging us as falsely morally superior idiots is an easy way to dismiss an issue that is at a critical point. i hope some people out there can commit to even small lifestyle changes to save other lives, both human, and animal, impacted by the meat industry, and to protect the world we live on from further devastating damage.
Personally, I believe in balance (as mentioned by Conservative.) We are a part of the animal kingdom as much as the other animals that consume the same things we do, and although the way we treat the animals before eating them may be unethical... the fact that we do eat them shouldn't be considered a crime.
I have been vegan for over half a year, and my views were just as cloudy as Nadia's appear, but after a few months I realized that, for myself at least, it all comes down to the process of getting an animal to your dinner plate. What is of concern are the living conditions of the animals, the things they are fed, the unnecessary treatment towards the them, the chemicals used for injection or for production, and all other things that harm the animals, our environment, and ultimately ourselves. (Besides, do we REALLY have to kick and throw chickens against the wall before catching them? It's not like they can walk around anyway.)
The fact is I love meat. It tastes very good, and I can see the reluctance in giving it up. But I have found enough reasons to do so, (even if I am only one person and even if I don't expect to change the world) and I'm not going back. Before, I never gave a second thought to the things I ate, but now I read the labels... now I make sure I'm actually getting the vitamins I need... now I'm making sure I'm healthy. I'm seventeen and I've been playing sports all year round, five days a week and I feel great. It doesn't bother me when my friends eat meat... it just bothers me if they don't give what they eat any thought.
The fact is, not every vegetarian/vegan thinks the way Nadia does, and I'm tired of dealing with the stereotypes presented in her thoughts.
For whatever reason you eat meat, just make sure it is a reason and not an excuse. It's good. You like the taste. It's chewy in your mouth. But hearing something like "I can't live without it..." just makes no sense. At least know why you're eating what you do, and as long as you are aware I'll respect you for it just as I hope to be respected in return... even if we can't agree.
I dont want to be mean or rude, but in fact your article is mean and rude to every meat eater out there, and you simply are uneducated, narrow minded and hypocritical. Whats amazing even more amazing is that any publication would tie itself to you.
I respect well informed opinions I disagree with, but yours isnt even that. Get educated, open your eyes and mind. While you may have a cause you're article is having the opposite effect you are after.
j/k This is pretty damn silly though.
People should eat less meat. Ideally, no meat. But, less is a good target. Consuming less meat (ie, meatless mondays) will greatly improve one's health as well as make an impact on the high pollutant-causing slaughter houses/farms. IMO, we should be able to see where our meat comes from, and we should be able to kill our own food - but most people would feel traumatized by this, which shows society's distance from its own major food source.
Vegetarians are the healthiest people alive, and they live, on average, longer than their meat-eating and vegan counterparts. Some vegetarians eat fish, some drink milk. But the same result is that they are healthier.
Our human bodies are built to consume plants, and maybe a side of meat (yet, meals are often mostly meat with a side of veggies) and this can be seen in our teeth, and our intestines.
Plants do feel pain. But we don't have to look into a carrot's frightened eyes when we "kill" it. Yet, we don't have to look into the eyes of the cow who is stuck on a conveyor belt, frightened, because her sisters before her was just killed. If we brought every elementary school class to the slaughter house, to teach kids about where and how our food goes from farm to plate, then we will see a ton of vegetarians in the future.
Some animals are suppost to eat meat primarily as their diet. I have a cat who eats meat, her body supports the digestion of meat with her short intestines and sharp teeth. She is made to consume flesh. We cannot argue against the reality of the food chain.
Humans, however, can do the world better. By consuming less meat, we are doing lots of good for the world. By buying meat from the individual free-range farms, we do a lot of good to local farms, our environment as well as our health.
Gandhi said "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man. I feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants. I do not regard flesh-food as necessary for us at any stage and under any clime in which it is possible for human beings ordinarily to live. I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species."
Lets do the world a favor, and eat less meat.
I support the eating of meat, ethical and responsible treatment of animals by farmers and producers, and the reduction of meat farms for grains and produce because its a responsible choice. The advocacy of this movie has its heart in the right place, though its message is misguided with youthful dreams, hopes, and goals which we have all had at one point.
To people who see this: Take it with a grain of salt, and consider its message.
To Nadia: Don't be disheartened from whats said... But do consider the human costs of all those veggies youre eating!
Just consider this fact: that vegetarian giving you shit at a party is the same one getting chastised by you meat-eaters every time they ask for a non-meat option in public (for males, inevitably the sexuality and masculinity of the vegetarian is called in question. Grow up.)
It takes a lot of perseverance to put up with the societal bias against those who seek to improve their lives in a way that might raise questions regarding the actions of those around them. Some are more vocal (yes, even aggrivating) than others, but the issue itself is not marginalized by a few loose cannons. I'm sure you conservative folk use this same argument daily regarding Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly!
Take a look at your arguments sometime, though only if you have the capability of reason and self-examination. This exercise isn't for the weak of mind.
'Plants feel suffering too! Therefore if plants must suffer, so too should our animal bretheren.' Well friend, just wait until this economic crunch *really* hits us hard and we'll see how far this argument can go. Getting hungry? Livestock supply dwindling? If both plants and cows can feel suffering but are justifiably offered to quell my appetite, so then should be fellow humans. What's stopping you from eating those who don't eat you first?
It strikes me that two millenia of religious influence may have something to do with the foundation for the meat-eating argument. Perhaps if the Old Testament hadn't been so damned specific about rules regarding livestock ownership then we might not be having this argument.
...on that note, you know it also promoted the ownership of slaves (among other truly deplorable activities), right? Discuss!
Treat the animals as humanely as possible.
Common sense should also inform Nadia and other purist vegetarians that the meat-eaters have come a long way already in accepting the gospel of the salad (look at how pro athletes feed -- it certainly is not on burgers), and that they should applaud, cajole, and coax the rest of us into eating sensibly rather than using unproductive, divisive words like "slavery."
As for threats to this planet, while it never hurts to do the little things, like turning off our excess lights, and switching from steak to thriftier fare, the main problem is of course not that people eat too much of the wrong thing, but that there are too many people, period.
In that sense, truly planet-minded citizens should perhaps encourage the even more widespread consumption of pure lard, refined sugars, alcohol, cigarettes, and heroin, to say nothing of longboarding down Mt Seymour Parkway, on the basis that it would skim off the excess population.
Okay, so eating meat. The solution based upon that ethical stance is simple. Stop eating meat.
However, animal slavery? How does one solve that? Do we simply let all chickens and cows and other livestock run free? Animals that we've bred to the point of losing any ability to defend themselves from predators?
And, assuming that animals are not being consumed for meat and are being treated ethically when used for other consumables (milk, dairy, etc) is the prospect of being killed by a predator something that the author assumes animals would prefer over a symbiotic relationship with human beings? One in which they receive veterinary care, protection from predators, food and shelter in exchange for milk, wool, etc?
While I sympathize with the ethical stance when it comes to not eating meat (though I am a meat eater myself) the pure vegan/animal slavery stance has always baffled me. Widespread adoption of the vegan lifestyle by the mainstream would likely lead to more animal deaths by either predators or mass slaughter when farmers are unable to care for the animals because they can't sell their product.
"Animal slavery" just isn't a big enough issue to sink money into while we're fighting wars, diseases, climate change, economic turbulence, etc etc etc.
Haven't seen stuff this sad since the hockey rape connection.
By the way, this isn't a hateful comment, I just love Hypocrites!
As a thought experiment, consider if everyone became vegan and animal murdering ended. Feedlots would go out of business, and the population of cows, pigs, sheep, etc. would decline dramatically. But those species would still survive in the wild, petting zoos or raised for fur or leather, where they would be allowed to die a natural and humane death.
The amount of crop and grazing land would be reduced by about 95%, so habitat loss would be reversed, and the tens of thousands of species that we are currently driving into extinction each year through our deranged food choices would cease to be wiped out.
Also, the biggest cause of water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions would end. Disease rates would plummet to nearly zero, and health care costs would decline by hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Life expectancy would increase dramatically, and people in their 70's and 80's would be like people in their 40's now healthwise. The health, happiness and productivity of the population would increase dramatically.
Because of the reduction in daily cruelty and violence, people would probably reject war finally and create world peace. The peace dividend we have been waiting to reap for decades would finally be realised.
Delicious salads, vegetables, whole grains, fruits and legumes would be the feature of every table for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Humanity and the nature kingdoms would both thrive in harmony, disease would practically vanish, the lakes and rivers would run clear, and the climate might stabilise. We could build a philosophic empire where free travel, universal prosperity, peace and culture would be the hallmarks of a new civilisation.
Veganism is a key to a new world, so even if Nadia's argument isn't the last word on the topic, it does point us in the right direction to a truly human lifestyle, not one that emulates the most violent carnivores of the animal kingdom.
ARE U EVER ONE STUPID PERSON- how many 18 y/o's do YOU know that are even capable of such a task, whether you agree or disagree? I suggest you get your head out of your @$$ - OMG LOSER!
So, what other tasks has she done that are so impressive? When I was 18 I was working as an apprentice architect designing a multi-million dollar building and putting on art shows. Then I spent a year building schools in Tibet. Friends of mine started businesses that are still successful. One guys father died, and he took over his multi-million dollar dairy farm business to support his family. Another friend became a music video director and now works as a high-end commercial director. Another friend made it into a Warren Miller movie after winning several extreme skiing competitions. The list goes on, and there are several 18 year olds that have accomplished many exciting, tangible things.
This girl who stopped eating meat, condemns those who do, and calls herself a film maker/activist is note worthy of any respect.
"Working at a slaughterhouse is the most dangerous job in America."
Stop making stuff up and passing it off as fact. You do realize that government statistics are freely available and we can all perform Google searches and read, don't you?
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.t02.htm
Consider my intelligence insulted.
You make a couple of good points I hadn't considered. Veganism from an ethical (in terms of violence) point of view doesn't seem internally consistent, but the impact of these farms environmentally is definitely cause for concern. An ecological argument seems to hold much more weight.
That still doesn't make it necessarily more ethical for the animals - they still can and probably will be killed by predators, disease, etc but given the amount of water alone that can be saved simply by limiting the individuals consumption of meat you might be on to something.
Do you know of any concrete studies that examine the potential reversal of ecological damage stemming from a reduction in meat consumption? I'd like to read those.
If minimal levels of rights, security, healthcare, nutrition, shelter, education and constructive livelihood was provided to all the world's people, then the global population would decline steadily until it stabilised at a level far lower than the current one, so this would help a great deal also to address environmental destruction.
Alot of the pro-meat arguments above seem to be written by the same person, or a variety of persons reading from the same playbook. If is very reminiscent of the Defensive Omnivore Bingo card.
http://seanbonner.tumblr.com/post/252364222/defensive-omnivore-bingo
It is true; it is in the "fuckin" Bible, as Mayor Gregor might say:
"An Ceiling Cat sayed, letz us do peeps like uz, becuz we ish teh qte, An let min p0wnz0r becuz tehy has can openers." Genesis 1:26 http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Genesis_1#26
We p0wnz0r animals because we have can openers. And we find that Ceiling Cat approves of meat:
"An Abel tuk sum yummy moocow fat, an he made teh 1st cheezburger, an gaev it to Ceiling Cat. Ceiling Cat thot it wuz AWSUM an sed, "U go Abel!"" (Gen 4:4)
And, as if one needed express permission to eat delicious animals, "If it mvs, it kin be et. Even if it dun't—o hai plants." (Gen. 9:3)
As for "animal slavery," consider the aim of the author---to enslave her readers by attaching her own peculiar philosophical bonds.
One of the goals listed on the website linked at the bottom of this editorial is "To create and ensure the passage of legislation for world governments of all levels to halt the advertisements of raw flesh/meat as marketing images for commercial producers."
Oh, yes, that is just what we need limitation of freedom of expression! I have to ask, are these people focusing on animals because they simply do not care about human slavery, or is it because they think the problem of human bodage was solved, and, if so, gosh, when? I suppose cute widdle animals are easier to love than human beings...human beings are much more fun to hypnotize and order about than to love as they are, aren't they?
And, to close, I invite Nadia Masoudi to pledge to never take antibiotics, no matter how compromised by "living beings" her immune system becomes---the needs of the many, after all, outweight her selfish individual desire to continue living at their expense, does it not? Think of the poor little families of anthropomorphic, cartoon bacteria!
Ironic you don't use animal products, because your movement is spinning us quite a yarn.
The people who honestly are so against vegan/vegetarianism have to be some of the most ignorant people alive. Why do you think they/you have to make such nasty comments (rhetorical question). Making comments to degrade what we stand for puts you at a level of beyond ignorance....where are your morals? Why do you have to get your back up? Why does it really affect you so much? Is it because there are people out there that are ready and willing to make change and you’re afraid of change? Could you honestly stand there in a factory farm and watch the suffering of innocent lives just so you can eat a steak?! Could you do it, really? If you can, what kind of person do you think that makes you? Not a very nice one! And that is why you buy meat at the grocery stores...because you don't care to look at the big picture! Disassociating doesn't make it go away! Who can stand by, know something is suffering and turn a blind eye?! Ignorant, selfish people are who could do this. We need more people like Nadia who are willing to take a stand regardless of uneducated, lazy, selfish humans.
People who are about to write nasty comments to this....I don't care. Your ignorance makes me just believe in vegan/vegetarianism all the more! At least we have something called compassion. It’s time to check your egos. Ignorance is so over!! Do I even need to talk about the obesity rate in North America?! I sure as heck don't know any obese vegan/vegetarians!! Watch FOOD INC. and get your heads out of your asses!!! Good for you Nadia, keep up the good work! Don’t let any of these people bring you down; they are so disconnected from the truth they will most likely never learn.
Nature's trophic levels are essentially a pyramid scheme of slavery. The food chain is slavery. Nature is not the place to look for lessons in human morality. Beware of Natural Edenists and Utopianists.Without checks and balances, nature would destroy itself. But also beware of present day society's justifications for cruelty. If there are no alternatives to cruelty, it's survival, if they are alternatives, then it's cruel not to pursue them.
And for godsakes government of Canada, pay the east coast seal hunters to stay home.
* * *
Plants don't have nervous systems, a requirement for pain.