“many Americans avoid eating animals that they perceive as cute (rabbits) and instead eat animals that they consider less attractive (turkeys)” (384)
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| We would never think to eat our dogs. Why don't we feel the same way about another animal? |
Similar to the compassion fatigue we feel towards impoverished children in third-world countries, society has compassion towards certain animals as opposed to others. This dichotomy in the status quo conjures images of “cute” animals vs. edible meat. Most of us support eating meat because it is a human’s natural desire. However, we disregard the torture that goes on in slaughterhouses. When hearing about this torment, our “primary defensive of the system is invisibility; invisibility reflects the defenses avoidance and denial and it’s the foundation on which all other mechanisms stand invisibility enables us, for example, to consume beef without envisioning the animal we’re eating; it cloaks our thoughts from ourselves” (366). Many of us find more sympathy towards puppies and cats than fish or rodents. Although all animals are deserving of the same ethical treatment, we deny some animals. This process of dichotomization develops different associations of different species. For example, “many Americans avoid eating animals that they perceive as cute (rabbits) and instead eat animals that they consider less attractive (turkeys)” (384).
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| PETA's campaign |
PETA, an organization for animal rights, recently made these similar findings and sought to deconstruct these representations of animals. Some people find less compassion towards food like fish and other seafood because. PETA recently began a campaign to stop the ruthless fishery export. The organization promotes calling fish ‘sea kittens’ to evoke empathy of the killing of fish. This type of rhetoric attempts to break down the dichotomy between animals “worth” saving versus eating.
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