on the farm

I am jumping on the blogger bandwagon and posting about a controversial subject.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at home sick & I watched Oprah. Now, I love Oprah’s show…sometimes. When she has cool guests on the show, or when Nate is on there talking about decorating, or even when Suze is on there talking about finances, I’m all about it. However, I’m not really interested in the shows that display a political agenda; they tend to bore me. So, I was hesitant to watch the special that Lisa Ling did on the treatment of animals on farms. {BTW, if any of you went to public school in Montgomery, did you get Channel 1 at school when Lisa Ling was on? That’s right, I knew ole Lisa before she was all Oprah famous! I digress…} The reason for this story on the show was in response to a proposition that the state of California would vote on, but I'm discussing it for a different reason.

Lisa Ling did a report on the conditions that animals are raised in on farms. Chickens, pigs, cows…they are raised in what is basically a huge barn with cages in it for each animal. Some of the “cages” were so small that the animal cannot even turn around in it. I’m sure a lot of you have seen or heard about these situations, so I won’t bore you with the details. Anyway, Lisa also visited a couple of organic farms, where the animals are raised free range. She spoke with a farmer who raised chickens, where the chickens could roam around the land as they please.


Obviously there is a stark difference between regular farms and free range farms. And obviously I would love for all of our food to come from the free range organic farms. Here is my problem: 1) there are not enough animals raised on these free range farms to provide for all Americans. We eat a lot. More food comes from the regular farms. 2) Organic food sure does cost a lot more. I love the idea of it, and in an ideal world we would all eat organic. But seriously, Chef Boyardee and Hamburger Helper is SO much cheaper.


I'm not saying I prefer that we raise animals in these regular farms, where they cannot live in a "natural" environment. But here's a question: do they know the difference? Are the animals on the free range farm "happier"? Are animals ever "happy"? Do they even experience emotions? I'm not so sure about that. When I say my dog is "happy" because he is wagging his tail, is he actually feeling an emotion, or is he just acting on some reflex that he has no control over?


Wednesday night in ladies' bible class at church, we discussed "Lies Women Believe About Emotions". Phoebe Dunn taught the class, and she made an observation about emotions that I'd never thought of before: Emotions are what "connect" us to God. Think about it. Think about a time when you felt really close to God. You were probably emotional in some way - overjoyed, humbled, or perhaps discovering a new revelation. Anyway, so if emotions connect us to God, by way of our souls, why would animals have emotions? Animals don't have souls. {Ok, that might be a whole different topic of discussion right there.} Animals don't fall in love, or cry, or celebrate when a baby is born. Granted, they do have actions that can be perceived as these feelings, but I think perhaps those actions are simply reactions that come naturally. So do animals have emotions? I'm not sure, but I tend to think not.


My point is this: we don't know for sure what those animals on the farms are thinking. I'm not so sure they are "thinking" at all. No, it is not nice to mistreat animals. But I don't think the best argument against animal cruelty is "that pig is unhappy". I think the best argument against animal cruelty is that we should treat God's creation with the respect it deserves, just like we wouldn't litter or pollute (oh wait...we do those things too...).


Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to eat some eggs that were produced by chickens in crowded cages that hold 5-7 birds each, where they poop all over each other and don't even get to go outside.