Lesson Plan 11/4

Topics: Animal rights, extending the sympathetic imagination to animals


Main conflict: the cruelty of eating meat, regardless of how it was slaughtered.


Jenny: “It all comes down to pain and suffering…Pain and suffering are in themselves bad and should be prevented or minimized, irrespective of the race, sex, or species of the being that suffers.” (X729) My basic belief is this: no one (animal or human) should have to suffer at the hands of another.

Isn’t it our duty to give up a few luxuries, to become less selfish, in order to prolong all of the precious lives on this earth?
-why is it? do we have obligations to other species? perhaps to curb abuse but also to go so far as to eliminating a very natural part of our diet? not a rhetorical question, a topic to be debated

Samantha: While I would like to say that this movie instantly transformed me into a PETA activist and adamant vegetarian after seeing the gruesome processes by which our eating animals are slaughtered, I just love meat too much.
- is this not a contradiction and one that all meat-eaters must live with?


Ben:
One of the main problems that I had with the script was the argument about how “if we had to kill our own meat, we would all be vegetarian”[2]. If we all were forced to amputate our own legs, would there be no doctors, and everyone would then die? If we all had to manufacture auto parts, would there be no cars?

Also stating that we are all entitled to our own choices.

Skaggs:
I don’t mean to dismiss the idea of an alternative solution entirely, but my line of reasoning hits too many dead ends, and I can’t think of a practical and manageable solution myself.
-in the end we have to concern ourselves primarily with the advancement of our own species.

But no matter what you do, an animal that is to be slaughtered will suffer. I will not simply give up eating meat because other animals are suffering.
-the rub of ecosystems. should we start PETP (p for plants)? of course not.


Austyn: we have things to work on among our own species before we worry about animals.
Earthlings as propaganda.


Tyler:
I don’t think business owners particularly enjoy the fact that they inhumanely kill animals, but they certainly have no problem turning a blind eye if it nets them a greater profit.
-the epitome of human self-interest. how many of you are absolutely willing to go against this?


Pets as slaves?
-not sure how most feel about that....


Russell: "Even through sympathetic imagination, humans will never be able to fully understand a chicken's wants and needs."
-Russell should fight Dana.

Dana: Humans are undeniably animals
-but animals eat other animals.

Lydia would agree with Dana.




How ignorant are we really?

Skaggs, Ben, and Jenny seem aware.
-does ignorance and/or tolerance of abuses in slaughterhouses make a difference when it comes to eating meat, regardless of how the animal was treated?



Sympathetic imagination to pets: Jenny, Ben, Brian
-is it any more than the time we have spent growing up with them that makes us compassionate? Are there deeper connections? Other than those animals which we domesticate, should we have obligations to feel the same compassion for all animals?


Animals in Alice:

Jenny and Sammy both cite the lessons we have to learn from them.
-is it legitimate to use such an inane tale to advance our dependence on animals?