The practice of eating meat is unethical

For the following reasons, I urge a Pro ballot: As a resident of the United States of America, I have read about and even seen firsthand the effects of dehumanization within my homeland. I am white, and live with a mostly-white family, but I also have a black sibling. Once my family visited a restaurant we've been to previously without my sibling. Because my sibling was black, we were kicked out of the restaurant. The members of the restaurant had no patience for a racially-mixed family. It was an allusion to a time not long ago to when persons of color were considered mentally and spiritually inferior to white persons. There was a widespread belief among persons who had power that "Negroes" were not fully human--they were spiritually-depraved persons who could not be trusted with their own autonomy. They were often associated with apes, were given a culture of mistrust, and given only partial voting rights. Even earlier, black persons were so dehumanized that they became the economic property of white persons. They were forced into extraordinarily small crates and shipped to America where they would be raped and tortured and made to live at the pleasure of the white master. The culture believed that the person of color was so inhuman that her only value came from her master, and not from herself. The only difference between the white "human" and the black "animal" is one's body: because one had light skin and the other had dark skin, American politicians were allowed to believe that a black person's value based based on white authority. Today is Thanksgiving, so I think it appropriate to briefly remind the judge of the travesty that transpired in America that inspired the hypocritical holiday. What Americans celebrate during Thanksgiving is the "settling" (or rather invading) of Europeans into land that was already occupied. The vast and powerful tribes of America were killed, raped, and relocated until they became a fraction of their original stature. What justified the violation and destruction of the American tribal nations? Europeans called them "savages." They were not humans, but instead shadows of humans--some pre-human race capable of only basic and barbarous social interactions. For this reason they did not truly "occupy" space, or have the right to "human" dignities. For this reason they were massacred and moved across the nation: The Trail of Tears occurred because they were in the way. We often use the word "dehumanization" to refer to the solidifying of "out-groups," the compete lack of empathy and self-identification toward the same, and the absurd hierarchies that occur through this framework. In almost all cases, we use the word "dehumanization" to refer to some horrendous series of policies. Please notice, however, that these policies are for the most part uncontested within the culture that supports them. Jews were "justifiably" exterminated in Nazi Germany until many years after WWII. Native Americans were "justifiably" slaughtered until they were almost extinct. Racism wasn't a bad thing until around 50 years ago. LGBTIQQA persons are only just gaining mainstream acceptance. It is often very hard to halt systematic injustice in the midst of systematic injustice. For this reason one must oppose them at every opportunity. The problem with "dehumanization" however is the fact that it relies on the presence of a human for its validity. In the cultural status quo, one needs to be of a particular biological species to be considered worthwhile. This requirement for value is ridiculous to the same degree as having a particular skin color, a particular culture, a particular gender, or a particular sexual orientation. A human who lives closely with a dog, cat, or horse should intuitively recognize that these creatures do have value independent of their human price tag. And yet, this belief in the value of non-human life is not extended to the "farm animals," who undergo extreme cruelties solely for the pleasure of the human who is subsequently placed at the peak of the hierarchy of value. Ninety-nine percent of meat comes from factory farms, so if we are talking about meat-eating in general, it seems only natural that we focus on factory farming. In addition to that, 99% of all slaughtered animals are raised and slaughtered in the United States, so it would seem that factory farms in the United States are most relevant to our discussion. In America, chickens are not given even the legal status of "animal." This means that literally any cruel action may be taken against the chicken, and it would be legal. They have been bred to be too fat to walk, and live their entire existence in extreme pain. Turkeys are also bred to be too fat to walk or even breed. That's right: humans have made turkey's so fat that they cannot even have sex. The solution? Humans spread the turkey's legs and gives them artificial insemination. This problem of turkey breeding is across factory -style farms and non-factory-style farms. Both chickens and turkey's are crushed to death under their own weight. Chickens, turkeys, and sows are born and die in an unnatural cycle of pregnancy, birth, and slaughter where they never get to see the outside world. Here's a really sick fact: because there is no federal protection for chickens, "almost all chickens are conscious when their throats are cut, and many are literally scalded to death in feather-removal tanks after missing the throat-cutter." Pigs literally live in their own waste for virtually their entire lives. They are so bored by being in captivity for so long that they exhibit neurotic, self harming behavior. I don't think I need to mention the extraordinary cruelties of veal. Cows are slaughtered when they are very young. When a male cow is born, rather than be given to a live of imprisonment as a dairy cow, he is slaughtered to produce veal, which is prized for its tenderness. The diary cows have strong attachments to their children, and yet their children are stolen away hours after they are born. We drink their stolen milk. As an aside, the unnaturally large number of animals produced and slaughtered in factory farms are a significant contributor to global warming and soil erosion. All of these practices represent horrid cruelties and tortures toward creatures who have committed no crime. There is no justice here. By eating meat, one not only symbolically places humankind above the other creatures that she/he determines (in prejudice) is morally and intellectually inferior, but also engages in and funds a system of torture that would be horrible for any creature, regardless of its label or epistemological status. And yet, we continue to ignore these problems. Approximately 9 billion animals are slaughtered in factory farms in America alone. One's enjoyment of animal flesh comes at the cost of agony, and yet many say that it is morally acceptable because humans are omnivores, not recognizing the cultural parallel in which "boys will be boys" is a culturally-acceptable justification for rape. The treatment of animals in factory farms is much like what the treatment of slaves would be in contemporary times, if we could eat slaves. Animals are alive, and have their own value independent of the economic value we assign them. Factory farms also cause environmental problems, and even health problems. Being vegetarian or, better, vegan is the only ethical choice available. -Pro http://www.farmforward.com... http://www.peta.org... http://www.aspca.org... http://gulfnews.com... http://www.wired.com... http://www.farmsanctuary.org... http://www.farmsanctuary.org... http://ecowatch.com...