Ethical Intervention

It seems that Singer and Mason see the way in which we treat animals in the food industry to be abhorrent, and they provide very disturbing evidence as to why our practices need to change. I agree with the position of Singer and Mason, and believe that large-scale changes are called for. To observe this society, one may come to believe, and perhaps not wrongly, that what this culture values most are material assets or money. Among numerous others, one problem with a value system venerating money or material belongings, prizing these things above nearly all others, is that the values that might, perhaps rightfully, be at the top of the list trickle downward, the whole natural value system becomes skewed, and society malfunctions. I would contend that a group of beings needlessly suffering would be a malfunction of the society, and I believe that the way that we produce food is evidence of this malfunction. Our food is produced in such a way that is revoltingly harmful to the animals, to humans, and to the environment. Singer and Mason seem to call for a change in the way that people consume, and in the way that people produce. They point out hideous wrongs committed in the poultry, egg, pork, beef, and dairy industries. One might ask why all is so awry. The problem could be our motivation. Those in the meat, egg, or dairy industry are motivated to save and earn every dollar possible, which is at odds with seeing to the welfare of their animals, which can be costly. The very mindset ingrained in such producers is that if something is profitable, then it should be done—no further ethical discussion is required, particularly given the lack of laws in this area. Some might be led to believe that as long as it is not illegal, it must be alright. For meat, egg, and dairy producers to run their businesses in any sort of ethical way, either our set of cultural values must be restructured, or there must be some other sort of motivation to get the industry to change. It seems that the easiest course of action to take to change the treatment of animals in the food industry would be to enforce a nation-wide law dictating the minimum standards of animal treatment, as determined by those with scientific knowledge of animals and their behavior. The current ways of the United States in the treatment of animals are anthropocentric, inhumane, rapacious, and intolerable, and if people will not change of their own accord, then an intervention is necessary.