Sentientism discussion

There are so many things to say, and I know I’m not going to get all of it, I’m going to miss points and leave important things out — but I hope in having a discussion, the important points will eventually be raised.

I’ll start by saying that I believe this book is, after all, essential to the sentientism discussion. It is impossible to not bring to light a discussion on an industry responsible for the slaughter of "70 billion land animals per year," according to faunalytics , and other sources such as the vegan calculator . I don’t want to give any spoilers … I’ll try to give a lay of the land without doing so.

To start, the book, not once uses the words or phrases “animal welfare,” “animal rights,” “suffering,” or anything akin to their meanings (“Do animals think, feel pain, know … ?”) Only once does the author state (I’m paraphrasing) it’s impossible to avoid Tyson unless you’re a vegetarian. But there are instances in the book, in the telling of its story, where it is clear the author is aware of animal consciousness, or at least animal suffering, even if they are not the focus of any given chapter’s purpose, or of the author's intentions, etc. It’s not a book about ethics, or philosophical analysis—no academics here. It’s the historical (starting from the Great Depression), journalistic telling of the origins and direct operations by Tyson, that established industrial animal “farms” for mass consumption of meat in the U.S. — the economic, business, legal and political practices that support it. The author is clearly writing to tell the audience about how companies like Tyson have forced into being the environment and conditions that allow it to support its mass destruction for one purpose: the wealth of Tyson. Leonard is appealing to a sense of how this is all wrong, but he is not interested in the book being a discussion about the moral stances of any of this as they pertain to the horrors against and killings of animals, and that seems to be deliberate. While off-putting, it is effective to support the arguments against the industry.

The fact is, these meat “producers” are billion dollar industries that most people have never heard of, and this is deliberate also, I believe. Though, in the case of the growth of Tyson, the owners wanted you to know their name. Completely, pervasive and at the same time, invisible - it is happening, and yet most people don’t know or think about exactly what is happening. Most people who eat meat have no idea which company it’s from, what’s in it, who “produced” it … nothing.

Recently reported in the news is the cyberattack that affected the “meat producer” JBS. Had you ever heard of JBS before? I hadn’t until now as it is mentioned in the book as “JBS Swift.” Also, in the reporting of the cyberattack, there is absolutely no reference to any possible additional damage and suffering that may have been inflicted upon the animals. The Meat Racket was publish in 2014, so we don’t really know (from reading the book), what is happening with Tyson present day. Where there may be talk about workers’ rights, how these companies fared during the COVID19 pandemic — there is never any focus on the animals being tortured.

I personally believe that this industry is completely tied with political manifestations we are seeing influenced by economic power structures right now. Oligarchies that are so huge, we don’t even know what we are living amongst, or how we are being controlled, unless we get the views offered by reading something like this.

Well, after 2485723458374572 days, I've finally finished.
XD

Definitely worth reading.

Oligarchies that are so huge, we don’t even know what we are living amongst, or how we are being controlled, unless we get the views offered by reading something like this. = 100% agreed.