Speciesism: Based on Emotion

Speciesism.

It’s a topic that has been debated about for years. I just never knew that there was a technical name for it. It’s a word that causes a lot of anger on either side of the debate. I think it is a word that is argued based on people’s emotions. So what does “speciesism” exactly mean?

According to our class lecture on Septmeber 17th, speciesism is “prejudice against those of another species and that species alone determines value”. The Merriam-Webster dictionary online states that speciesism is “prejudice or discrimination based on species especially discrimination against animals”.  In my own words, I think speciesism is when a species is bias to themselves over another species. I did a simple Google search where I just entered speciesism. Besides given me definitions, I found this image located on the left. According to Google, the mentions of the word speciesism did not increase until the 1970s through the 2000s, which I found very interesting. From our lecture on September 22^nd titled “The Modern Animal Rights Movement” the third wave of the movement hit at the same time. This time frame was also when the Internet was starting to be utilized. With resources like the Internet, people were able to read more about speciesism. 

 The most common example of speciesism is humans to non-human animals. Our lecture discussed that speciesism is very common especially with the human life vs. animal life debate. One organization that comes to mind is PETA or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Their mission is to stop the exploitation of animals whether it is for food, entertainment, or any kind of human use. There are many people that would dispute this. This just proves that the debate is larger than the issue itself.

I come from an agriculture background. I have been involved in the livestock industry showing goats in 4-H and have consumed beef, chicken, turkey, and pork my whole life. I wasn’t introduced to the animal rights issue until I got to college. It was a new issue that I have never been confronted with about. Coming from a small village surrounded by corn and soybean fields to a large city was a huge culture change for me. I was exposed to new people who lived their lives different including not having meat as their daily diet. 

As an agricultural communications major, my main responsibility is to communicate with farmers as well as consumers. Animal rights is a topic that I will have to confront and is the main reason I wanted to take this class. I suggest anyone learns the facts about a topic before educating others about it.  Therefore, I want to get as many perspectives as I can before writing my thoughts about speciesism. It is certainly a topic that has many perspectives depending on who you are, how you interact with non-human animals, and where you come from.

The Ted Talks video featuring Leslie Bisgould was an interesting perspective. An animal rights activist, she illustrates how humans need to reevaluate their relationship with animals. She uses companion animals and livestock as examples. Bisgould also criticizes laws in effect for humane treatment and how they do not work. In the video she says, “these laws are useless. They do nothing. And in no way they protect animals from human caused suffering”. According to Bisgould, the only way to humanly treat animals is not to claim them as our property. We should not refer to non-human animals as “things”. So what do we refer them as if they are not things or property?

When Bisgould talked about livestock and how they don’t see sunlight until they are shipped off to the slaughterhouse was insulting to the agriculture industry. I wanted to ask her if she has ever stepped on a farm and talked with the farmer about their practices. If she would get the facts, she would realize that poultry have to be housed in cages due to numerous factors. If they were outside they would be exposed to predators, weather, and disease. Many people do not realize why farmers do what they do and they do care for their animals in the best way possible.  

Another thing Bisgould talked about was visuals and how they help persuade others of the animal rights movement. We’ve all seen those horrible photos and videos of a pig beating or a cow getting dragged. That is not how animals are supposed to be treated and farmers wouldn’t do that because it affects their business. If they don’t care for their animal, they are unable to sell it and will lose money. You can’t believe everything you see on the Internet and that it is the same for the entire industry. 

From our lectures and readings, I have learned that animal rights activists do not demonstrate speciesism. Their goal is to treat humans and animals of the same quality and treatment. Like Bisgould in the video, they give examples of why non-human animals should be treated equal to humans.

 In our reading of Peter Singer’s book, Animal Liberation during the  “All Animals Are equal” chapter, the author states that “there are obviously important differences between humans and other animals, and these differences must give rise to some differences in the rights that each have”.  Nobody can deny this statement. There are just differences between human and non-human animals. It is just a given fact. That is the main argument of those who are not supportive of animal rights. Humans and non-human animals are different and are not the same thing. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

What I have concluded about the animal rights movement and speciesism in general is that it is a complex subject. We all have many differing opinions on the subject, which makes it hard to have a conversation about it. It is also an argument that is driven by our emotions. We all have different feelings towards non-human animals and it depends on the person you are talking to. I have a dissimilar view from Leslie Bisgould in the video that might be different from someone else. This is why speciesism is a complex subject that relies on many different factors.

Works Cited

Albert, Sarah. "Speciesism." University of Illinois. Urbana. 17 Sept. 2015. Lecture.

Albert, Sarah. "The Modern Animal Rights Movement." University of Illinois. Urbana. 22 Sept. 2015. Lecture.

Google. "Google books Ngram Viewer." Google. Google, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.

     <https://books.google.com/ngrams/ graph?year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=7&case_insensitive=on&content=speciesism&dire ct_url=t4%3B%2Cspeciesism%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bspeciesism%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSpeciesism%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BSPECIE

            SISM%3B%2Cc0>.

It's time to re-evaluate our relationship with animals: Lesli Bisgould at TEDxUofT. Prod. Tedx Talks. YouTube. YouTube, 6 May 2014. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr26scqsIwk>.

Merriam-Webster. "Speciesism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2015. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/speciesism>.

Singer, P. (1975). Animal Liberation.