Re: Thoreau on the Moose, Paul Theroux

[Karin Molander Danielsson <karin@dax.nu>]

I stopped eating meat in 1994 when I realised what conditions most animals
going  to slaughter had to endure before they died. I'm quite sure that the
reason most people ignore the fact that most domestic animals not only die
horribly, but also lead pitiful factory farm lives, is that most people are
not prepared to do anything about it. It's easier to speak up against a
(nowadays) minority lifestyle that is not part of their daily lives.
Karin 

Karin M. Danielsson
Senior Lecturer
Mälardalen University
Västerås, Sweden
+46 21 10 14 12
karin.molander.danielsson@mdh.se



> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:46:58 -0500
> From: Karla Armbruster <armbruka@webster.edu>
> To: asle@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: Thoreau on the Moose, Paul Theroux
> Message-ID: <C444C5FB-AE45-4DF4-B0C9-8208C089DFD6@webster.edu>
> 
> Going in a bit of a different direction:
> 
> I'm no fan of Palin's, and I'm not a hunter.  But I am always curious
> about why hunting generates such an outraged response (and equally
> outraged defense) when far more animals in this country are killed
> for food after miserable, insanity-inducing lives in factory farms
> and feedlots.  Theroux doesn't even address whether or not he eats
> factory-farmed meat, or meat at all (I'm guessing he doesn't eat
> hunted meat).  Clearly, it's not simply the life of an animal that is
> the issue.  (And I'm letting Thoreau off the hook here because,
> fortunately for him, he did not know about factory farms.  And he did
> pay some attention to domesticated animals, as Barney Nelson has
> pointed out in her book _The Domestic and the Wild_.)
> 
> Is this different level of interest due to the privileging of wild
> animals over domestic?  Is there something about the dignity of the
> wild at stake that catches our interest?  I am asking this as a
> genuine question ? why hunting is so interesting to people and the
> treatment of animals in factory farms and feedlots is not ? which I
> hope will enlarge the hunting discussion rather than criticize or
> silence it.
> 
> Karla
> 
> ???????????????????????????????????????????????
> Karla Armbruster, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor and Chair, English
> Co-Chair, Environmental Studies
> Webster University
> 470 E. Lockwood Ave.
> St. Louis, MO 63119
> 314-246-7577
> FAX: 314-968-7173
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 10:34:22 -0500
> From: Sarah McFarland <sarah.mcfarland@earthlink.net>
> To: asle@interversity.org
> Subject: Re: Thoreau on the Moose, Paul Theroux
> Message-ID: <488E8498-4E60-4A43-B634-56FC090A7908@earthlink.net>
> 
> Hi Karla,
> 
> I suspect that a big part of why hunted animals are singled out for
> outrage is because they are individuals. Factory farmed animals are
> "cows" or "pigs" or "chickens" but not "Bambi."
> 
> Sarah
>