Animals’ choice to live should be respected
Re: “Grossly offensive to compare animal husbandry to rape,” Have Your Say April 28, The Nation
Simon Ordsall is livid because I agree with PETA that the sexual violation of cows is akin to the rape of humans. But many others think this way too. A poll carried out by British newspaper Metro in February this year showed overwhelming support of the use of words such as “rape”, “slavery” and “murder” to describe farming.
The poll asked “is it right” to use these terms? Respondents could answer with “Yes, it is exactly the same thing”, or “No, it is highly offensive to victims of such crimes”. Some 78 per cent of respondents answered “yes”.
Ordsall tells us it is his “lifestyle choice” to be a vegetarian but he respects his meat-eating friends for their “preferences”. Whenever I hear people talk about “choices” or “preferences” in relation to eating animal products I can’t help wondering why they think the choice should be all theirs. Given that our “choice” to eat animals is such a massive deal for them – they are killed – why do we always assume that the choice should be all ours?
Why should our choice to eat them, for something as frivolous and unnecessary as momentary tastebud pleasure, take precedence over their far more important choice to live?
Jenny Moxham
Australia
