Lauren Alvar

English 6A
Eric Dinsmore
11 November 2015
Ethical vs. Unethical: Why Not Both?
Today, there has been a big debate on whether or not eating animals is ethical. Veganism
and Vegetarianism have come up as new and healthier alternatives rather than the red meat,
protein-filled diet that most people are used to. On a more serious note, the heat between the
debates of whether eating animals is ethically right goes down to the treatment of its animals and
its effect on society. In Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, he brings the reader into his
personal story on how he became vegetarian and went into depth on the world of factory farms
and his view on how eating meat is ethical. Though his arguments are valid, the other side that
argues eating meat is indeed ethical since there are more humane methods of treating livestock.
The unethical thoughts that tie in with meat are mainly focused on the mindset of how livestock
are commercially treated due to high numbers in population. This leads to the possible argument
that the ethics of eating meat can simultaneously be ethical and unethical being based off of
peoples different views on the treatment of animals and their own personal diet.
The way that people see the way animals are treated depends on where they look. Most
people in our society would just turn a blind eye since eating meat has been a part of the norm
for as long as a man can remember. Indeed there are factory farms that mistreat their animals and
the living environments arent the best, but rather than giving it up, there is such thing as free-

range farming. Free-range farming means that it is applied to meat, eggs, dairy, and even fish
when they are able to roam around freely without being crammed into tight spaces. (61)
Compared to Foer calling the ways of free-range bullshit and his description of how chickens
are in a shed containing thirty thousand of them, with a small door at one end (61); there are
other farms that give their livestock the freedom they do deserve. Though there are harsher
treatments that society may look down upon, its something that cant be helped. With the
population constantly rising, the factory farms are a much more efficient way for meeting
everyones demands. The meat industry is also very large, so the loss of a minimal amount of
consumers would make no difference in the world. Still, it is ones personal decision whether or
not they want to get their produce from factory farms or free-range farming.
Furthermore, it depends on how the culture within a society views eating meat. Foer talks
about how taboo it is to eat dogs in the USA because those animals are seen as mans best friend.
They are pets and mates that people deeply care about and consider members of their family. But
in other cases around the world, mainly in Asia, dogs are a common type of meat used within
their cultures. In some provinces in the Philippines, dogs are still eaten to overcome bad luck,
within Korean culture its been informed into language as well with the Sino-Korean character
for fair and proper which translates into as cooked dog meat is delicious, and the Chinese
have raised special breeds of dogs (like the black-tongued chow) for chow. (26) Overall, Foer
tries to explain how All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others, by
quoting George Orwell about how theres a chain with different animals as their main source of
meat (e.g. The French love dogs but eat horses, the Spanish love horses but eat cows, the Indians
love cows but eat dogs). (25)

Michael Ruhlman, who is an author and journalist who writes primarily about food and
cooking, wrote an article on his website on how its ethical to eat meat. Within that article he
shares his knowledge and experience with factory farms and humanely raised animals. He had
interviewed a farmer named Keith Martin. The farmer raises lamb for high-end restaurants such
as the French Laundry and Alinea, located at the outside of Pittsburg. Ruhlman shares how
Martin is so caring for his animals that when a farm hand failed to keep the animals bedding
dry, he made the farm hand lie in the urine-soaked hay in order to make his point. Martin had
also left his job as a stockbroker in order to raise livestock and had told Ruhlman how he would
watch his animals get into the truck that would take them to the slaughterhouse. He sees it in the
eyes of his animals that they know theyre good with it and with this arrangement. In general,
it really depends on how a person decides to see these treatments as a whole. Of course a major
amount of these factory farms do mistreat their animals, but farmers like Keith Martin are also
within the business.
The New York Times Magazine had invited readers back in 2012 to make an argument for
the ethics of eating meat. Thousands of readers had submitted essays and the panel of judges
included major figures that have argued in the topic of the ethics of eating meat: Jonathan Safran
Foer, Michael Pollan, and Peter Singer just to name a few. The winning essay that was chosen
was in favor of how it is ethical to eat meat. The author, Jay Bost, had become vegetarian, then
vegan, and then again a conscientious meat-eater. His main argument is that eating meat raised in
specific circumstances is ethical just how eating meat raised in other circumstances is unethical.
He goes on by saying that while most present-day meat production is an ecologically foolish
and ethically wrong endeavor, happily this is changing, and there are abundant examples of
ecologically beneficially, pasture-based systems. He further lists three reasons as to how eating

meat is ethical when one does three things: First, you accept the biological reality that death
begets life on this plant and that all life is really just solar energy temporarily stored in an
impermanent form. Second, you combine this realization with that cherished human trait of
compassion and choose ethically raised food, vegetable, grain and/or meat. And third, you give
thanks.
Overall, the debate on if eating meat is ethical depends on how one sees to understand it.
One person can call eating meat and free-range farming in the words of Foer as bullshit or in
the opinion of Bost and simply give thanks. In this stance, eating meat can go either both
ways. It is widely accepted and is a part of the norm in society, but can also be seen as inhumane
due to the commercialization and production of livestock. Meat is essential for our diet in order
to get our dose of protein, but those that see it as unethical have other substitutions like
supplement pills to balance the missing protein. Although there are inhumane treatments of how
the livestock are being treated, there are free-range farms as well as farmers that do deeply care
about their animals as well. So the ethics of meat and the treatment of its livestock can be both
ethical and unethical because of how one perceives it to be.

Works Cited
Asprey, Dave. "Bulletproof Editorial for the New York Times: Why Eating Meat Is
Ethical." Bulletproof. Web. 11 Nov. 2015. <https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproofeditorial-for-the-new-york-times-why-eating-meat-is-ethical/>.
Bost, Jay. "The Ethicist Contest Winner: Give Thanks for Meat." The New York Times
Magazine. 3 May 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/magazine/the-ethicist-contest-winner-give-thanks-formeat.html>.
Foer, Jonathan. Eating Animals. New York: Little, Brown, 2010. 341. Print.
Landrigan, Marissa. "Breaking Vegetarian: The Ethical Implications of Eating Meat Paste's
Column on E." Paste. Paste Magazine, 3 Apr. 2015. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/04/breaking-vegetarian-the-ethical-implicationsof-ea.html?p=2>.
Ruhlman, Michael. "Why It's Ethical to Eat Meat." Ruhlman. 29 May 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.
<http://ruhlman.com/2012/05/why-its-ethical-to-eat-meat/>.