A reader writes:
It was so fun to see you mention Matthew Scully’s book on animal welfare today! I discovered "Dominion" and your blog at roughly the same time two years ago, and together they’ve played a big role in my re-examination of my own convictions.
Like your blog does when it’s at its best, "Dominion" casts aside partisanship for a search for truth. I never questioned our treatment of animals before reading his book. Mostly, I dismissed the issue – and the bleeding hearts who typically promoted it – as entirely juvenile and misdirected. It took a conservative, Catholic, former Bush speechwriter to show – in beautiful and horrifying terms – the seriousness of the problem, and the contradiction between our treatment of animals and any claim of moral superiority.
Matthew has indeed done God’s work in bringing this to the surface. The photograph above is courtesy of Farm Sanctuary. Wikipedia’s description of it is:
"Female pigs used for breeding (called ‘breeding sows’ by industry) are confined most of their lives in ‘gestation crates’ which are so small that they cannot even turn around. The pigs’ basic needs are denied, and they experience severe physical and psychological disorders."
Pigs are as intelligent and as sensitive as dogs. And the way we treat them in factory farms is a form of barbarism.
The Dish 