Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> In contrast, I treat these as interesting
> questions: does a cabbage suffer when you cut off its head? Does
> a shrimp suffer when it suffocates in a net? --And most important:
> how can we verify our claims about what suffers and what does not?
If we reject vegetarianism as an ethical imperative out of hand, as I do, there remains a political argument for taking cruelty to animals (both "cruelty" and "animals" defined historically) seriously: such cruelty often spills over to cruelty to humans (or at least indifference to such cruelty). I believe Rosa Luxemberg (who would have sneered at PETA) made some such argument. No one is brutalized by eating a steak, or by working in a properly run slaughter-house. Such brualization might occur in a crudely run slaughterhouse. This bypasses the argument as to whether cattle "really" suffer; they are seen by humans at this time and place as suffering, and for that reason a "cruelly" run slaughterhouse can brutalize the workers.
I agree with Miles that the concept of "animal rights" is silly. Rights must be won! They are not a given for humans as far as that goes.
Carrol