Cages And Cage-Free
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“it doesn’t take a logician to realize that if we—correctly—believe that putting two chickens in a ring and allowing them to fight is so heinous that it warrants criminal sanction, perhaps we ought not be putting eight chickens in a cramped cage where they can barely move an inch for their whole lives.”
wrote Paul Shapiro.
Here’s a visual aid of battery cages from Animal Visuals:
Here’s a video about cage-free facilities:
A discussion of why cage-free is not cruelty-free, but is significantly better than battery cage confinement:
http://www.hsus.org/farm/camp/nbe/compare.html
Thanks, Paul.
Obviously, vegan is best. But I’ll certainly concede that cage-free can be kinder than caged. And I certainly support an effort to ban battery cages.
Cage-free is a pseudo-solution that diverts activist time away from promoting veganism and encouraging insitutions to stop using eggs. There is nothing “kind” about either system of enslavement, both are cruel and unjust.
“Dr. Guillotin’s Reform”
http://www.veganideal.org/content/dr-guillotins-reform
Excerpt:
“The guillotine is perhaps one of the most infamous weapons of capital punishment. It was the guillotine, after all, that became the symbol of France’s Reign of Terror, from which the term “terrorism” came. As such, it seems hardly imaginable that the guillotine was thought up by a reformer who supposedly wanted to abolish the death penalty.”
Brandon,
a) battery cage ban =/= promotion of cage-free eggs,
b) guillotine =/= cage-free
c) my time has not been diverted, has yours?
a) Actually, such “bans” are nothing more than regulations for new conditions of exploitation.
b) It’s structurally similar. However, perhaps this guillotine example is better example compared to PETA’s “controlled-atmosphere killing” campaign to encourage gassing chickens to death.
Recommended article: “Moving from Abstraction to Veganism: Advocating Alternatives to Exploitation, Not Alternative Exploitation” http://www.veganideal.org/content/moving-abstraction-veganism
c) Far more activist time would be diverted if no one challenges campaigns that are derailing the animal rights movement on the “welfarist” path (see: “Animal Rights ‘Welfarists’: An Oxymoron” http://www.satyamag.com/mar05/dunayer.html). Getting our house in order is the first step in building a true emancipationist movement.
Recommended article: “Why We Must Do More”
http://www.vegansoapbox.com/why-we-must-do-more/