Albert Einstein once said, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet” (The World as I See It); a rather inspirational stance on its own, however, some have taken this statement past the realm of rational interpretation. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA for short, is one of the organizations pushing the line between rational and extreme. Shock marketing, graphic protests, and famous supporters help to fuel their ambitious ideals to make Einstein’s belief a reality; with their start in the 1980’s, the build from paint to nudity and animal masks during protests is quite the evolution. Human’s can be easily swayed when introduced to extreme stimuli, but there is a catch to this human perception. If there is more than one instance of this stimuli, the emotional response within the brain is shut off, forcing the makers of the stimuli to modify the intensity of their product (Nicholas Kristof). Marketing techniques, and art theory, help PETA in catching the eye of the roaming public and bring aspects of the meat industry to light. They also pose a dangerous endeavor as they attempt a shift in societal views, but whether this shift is possible, with the use of shock marketing, is called into question.
Art theory in simplest terms is the light shed on some aspect of a project’s definition (John Berger); aesthetics being the main attraction for that project, how it appeals to the eye. Imagine a sign on the side of a bus stop and on this sign a beautiful woman is chained by her hands, hanging from the ceiling, and looking straight into the crowd approaching her. Now, look below her face and see that she has been cut in two, jus...
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...rs, or clever pallet choices; the solution for the looming problems could be found in something as simple as a speech, or interview. Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but those thousand words are chosen by those who see that picture, not those who made it.
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The argumentative article “More Pros than Cons in a Meat-Free Life” authored by Marjorie Lee Garretson was published in the student newspaper of the University of Mississippi in April 2010. In Garretson’s article, she said that a vegetarian lifestyle is the healthy life choice and how many people don’t know how the environment is affected by their eating habits. She argues how the animal factory farms mistreat the animals in an inhumane way in order to be sources of food. Although, she did not really achieve the aim she wants it for this article, she did not do a good job in trying to convince most of the readers to become vegetarian because of her writing style and the lack of information of vegetarian
I will admit that PETA has done some things that go along with their animal rights ways and have helped many animals in need. Some things they have done to help the animals would be, helping rescue animals who are in need, bringing the mistreatment of animals to the public’s attention, and relocating and finding homes for those animals who have been abused or neglected. This is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal’s side, However there is always two sides to each story.
Breeding sows are confined in gestation stalls, pigs have their tails cut off without anesthesia, calves are tethered by their necks in veal crates, and egg-laying hens are debeaked and kept in cages too small to spread their wings in; in a factory farm, animals are treated as commodities. This vivid imagery depicts the facts pertaining to animals. The search for solutions has focused on two paths; one reforming the system and instituting more humane standards, and the second promoting veganism so that fewer animals are bred, nurtured, and slaughtered. While few animal activists disagree with promoting veganism, some believe that campaigning for reforms, and humane labeling is counter-productive. Humane standards can either be required by law, or instituted voluntarily by farmers. Farmers who voluntarily agree to higher humane standards are either opposed to factory farming, or are trying to appeal to consumers who prefer meat from humanely raised and slaughtered animals. There is no single definition of “humane meat,” and many animal activists would say that the term is an oxymoron. Different meat producers and organizations have their own humane standards by which they abide. Humane standards might include larger cages, no cages, natural feed, less painful methods of slaughter, or prohibition of practices such as tail docking or debeaking. In some cases, campaigns target retailers or restaurants instead of the actual producers, and pressure the companies to purchase animal products only from producers who raise the animals according to certain voluntary standards. Societies individuality is split by advocates and opponents; is there a fine line between truth and falsehood, or is animal slaughter for diet always inhumane?
Years ago it would have been unheard of for anyone to not eat meat on a daily basis, since during one period of time it was considered a staple for some. However, meat eaters started to pay attention to what they were consuming once Upton Sinclair’s famous novel The Jungle was published in the early 1930’s. It drew so much attention that the Pure Food and Drug Act passed to prevent the unsanitary and hazardous practices mentioned in The Jungle from happening. However, before Upton Sinclair’s novel was published few were already recognizing the ethical and nutritional (in this time period) hazards that happened because of the commercial meat industry. The International Vegetarian Union was established in 1908 and was one of the first notable movements and the organization that brought the most publicity towards vegetarianism in the western world. This organization stood against the ethical, environmental, and economic effects the commercial meat industry had on our nation. Even with the founding of this organization many do not understand vegetarianism or veganism in Europe or the United States and thus discuss it negatively, but this is an event that should cease to happen. The negative discussion of vegetarianism has negative effects that should be avoided and will be discussed.
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“The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that their treatment has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."(Schopenhauer). I always wondered why some people are not so drawn to the consumption of meat and fed up with only one thought about it. Why so many people loathe of blood, and why so few people can easily kill and be slaughter animal, until they just get used to it? This reaction should say something about the most important moments in the code, which was programmed in the human psyche. Realization the necessity of refraining from meat is especially difficult because people consume it for a long time, and in addition, there is a certain attitude to the meat as to the product that is useful, nourishing and even prestigious. On the other hand, the constant consumption of meat has made the vast majority of people completely emotionless towards it. However, there must be some real and strong reasons for refusal of consumption of meat and as I noticed they were always completely different. So, even though vegetarianism has evolved drastically over time, some of its current forms have come back full circle to resemble that of its roots, when vegetarianism was an ethical-philosophical choice, not merely a matter of personal health.
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Adams). Derrida maintains “meat eating is not a simple, natural phenomenon, but is irreducibly linked in our culture to masculinity along multiple material, ideological, and symbolic lines” (quoted in Adams). Despite the absence of “real” meat, the patriarchal myth of masculinity remains on its website: “men are strong, men need to be strong”, thus men need vegan bacon. With this in mind, PETA’s use of sexually explicit and misogynistic ads makes sense. The group is attempting to reach male meat eaters (“Make your ‘stock’ rise”) and assume the familiar patriarchal subject cannot and should not change. The reiteration of such advertisements show that apparently you have to keep participating in the traditional construction of maleness
In today’s technological society, where negative pictures of agriculture can go viral in a matter of minutes, programs such as Global Animal Partnership (G.A.P.) can be both a benefit and a detriment to the meat industry. Producers use groups such as G.A.P. to help combat the negative publicity of inhumane treatment to the American food supply, but also battle the pressure from these groups to take things a step farther. I will examine the pros and cons of animal activist groups and how they impact the American meat industry, but first, let’s get a further understanding of some of these animal right groups.
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Ethical eating and food selection reveal that responsibility: “modern meat and animal products and industries are also explored.” (Crocombe 88) The author believes that the simple facts are enough to make consumers make the mental link between the awful lives of the animals that live and die for the purpose of
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