In California, Proposition 2 on the ballot would, if passed, end "the practice of cramming farm animals into cages so small the animals can't even turn around, lie down or extend their limbs."
This got me thinking about whether it's possible to legislate compassion. Can rules and regulations really make us better people, and a better society?
Laws alone can't rid the world of misery, but they're a start. Most people don't remember that it used to be legal in this country for very small children to work grueling hours in dangerous factories. Child labor laws helped change this. But it's not as if we as a society have been able to end child abuse.
People are very often cruel and exploitative...and laws don't change this.
So where does "change" come from?
If we were to become viscerally aware of the suffering of animals raised for food, I think we'd change our behavior. We would eat less meat, or we would advocate for more humane treatment of animals.
Change would arise from awareness and compassion. As the Buddha taught, compassion arises from compassion.
As a Buddhist, I think Prop 2 makes a lot of sense. The whole factory farm system in this country is not only morally appalling, it's producing food that's less healthy. For instance, because animals are basically forced to live in their own excrement, more fecal matter finds its way into the human food supply.
So you can make the case that better treatment of animals will result in better, safer food for us and our loved ones. As the Dalai Lama says, Buddhists are self-interested, but self-interested in the sense of knowing that we benefit from that which benefits all living beings.
(The treatment of "factory farm" animals is deeply disturbing, but check out the funny, entertaining video at Yes On Prop 2 -- brilliant.)
Contrast California's Prop 2 with the "Personhood" initiative that's on the Colorado ballot. The "Personhood" amendment would define a fertilized egg as a human being. The point of the measure is to ultimately outlaw abortion and, possibly, criminalize birth control. I don't support it.
As a Buddhist, I have to ask myself: If my aspiration is to benefit all living beings, how can I support humane treatment of farm animals, yet resist attempts to outlaw abortion? Do I think animals are more worthy of legal protection than a human embryo?
Am I cruel and exploitative for supporting a woman's right to choose?
I don't think so. I'm just thinking aloud, here -- I know the abortion issue is waaay more complicated than just saying, "abortion equals death."
I'm interested in what others have to say on the topics of animal cruelty, abortion and voting on these issues.
2 comments
This just came in my email and I checked it out on Snopes.com where they said it was true, noting that some details could not be specifically confirmed from eyewitness accounts and added some more graphic details should you care what the law of the womens' right to vote in America cost these suffragettes:http://www.snopes.com/politics...Subject: FW: WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE...This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago. Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic". (Lucy Burns)They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. (Dora Lewis) They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the womens' only water came from an open pail. Their food -- all of it colorless slop -- was infested with worms. (Alice Paul) When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/co... So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because -- why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie "Iron Jawed Angels". It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied womens' history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was -- with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity." We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democratic, Republican, or Independent party -- remember to vote.History is being made.______________________________________Get more out of the Web. Learn 10 hidden secrets of Windows Live. Learn Now
Brookie... Have you read The Omnivore's Dilemma? It's a fantastically excellent book that changed my approach to food. It's not a vegetarian screed at all. In fact, it made me question my views about vegetarianism. Also, it made me want to drop everything and become a farmer.My brother was a passionate meat-eater until he read the book Dominion. It turned him into a vegetarian overnight. I haven't made it past the first 20 pages -- it's a powerful argument, and I don't feel ready for it yet.Tricycle Blog has a post about The Hidden Costs of Eating Meat:
Check it out.I don't live in Calif. these days, but I would support Prop. 2. I live in Colorado and will be voting No on Amendment 48, the "Personhood" measure. I don't feel the slightest bit conflicted about opposing cruelty to animals AND opposing the codification of the religious belief that human life begins at the moment of conception. Similarly, I think marriage is a sacred institution AND I think gays and lesbians should have the right to marry, not just form civil unions. Go fig.