DO NOT HARM!: LET'S NOT BE COMPLICIT IN FACTORY FARM ABUSE (II)

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Some will say that animals cannot be compared to Jews. Of course they can be compared, because both share the only relevant characteristic for making a comparison: both have the capacity to feel and to suffer. They have the same pain receptors and the same nervous system structure.

In fact, from a scientific point of view, Jews, like the rest of Homo sapiens, are also animals—specifically vertebrate animals, mammals, primates, apes, Old World monkeys, and hominids—which, according to some studies, share 98–99% of their DNA with their closest hominid cousins, chimpanzees.

And we know that the exploitation and mistreatment we subject these creatures to in factory farms—creatures that share most of our genetics—is wrong. For example, 73% of Germans and 82% of French people reject industrial livestock farming, yet almost all the animal products they consume come from it, because they are cheaper this way.

Some people quickly shrug off their responsibility for the cruelties committed by blaming politicians. They believe it is politicians who must regulate. And that is true, but (i) politicians legislate based on what the majority of voters want, and (ii) politicians do not force you to consume animal products, so you are the one responsible for it.

Animal abuse on farms can become a boomerang that turns against us. This is what happened with the Germans of the Third Reich, many of whom ended up dying in the war sooner than their biology dictated. To this must be added some 14 million Germans from East Prussia and other parts of Eastern Europe who were expelled from their homes and regions and had to flee to other parts of Germany, with some of them dying along the way. And the additional millions of amputees, wounded, orphans, childless, or impoverished, in a country in ruins and desolation.

The harm you cause can come back to you, because we are what we eat, and if we eat suffering, it will return to us in the form of animal products “enriched” with the toxic substances produced by stress and distress (such as cortisol or adrenaline), antibiotics, and other harmful chemical compounds that can ultimately cause cancer or other painful diseases.

What can an ethical and empathetic person do to put an end to these cruelties?:

1. 1. Choose plant-based options in your diet.
   2. Vote for anti-cruelty political parties.
   3. Sign petitions in campaigns like this one from Compassion in World Farming.
   4. Share these kinds of messages.
   5. Persuade people around you.
   6. Donate money, both to the Institute of Well-being and to NGOs that are doing excellent work in animal advocacy, such as Animal Equality or PETA.
   7. Become a volunteer.
      
      

Thank you for being compassionate and a good person,