Morality and the Treatment of Animals

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged on the way its animals are treated.” – Ghandi

Ghandi’s quotes are so simple when you first look at it, then when you delve deeper into what he might be meaning…you get confused and lose track of it. This quote can be taken many ways, and my understanding of it is that Ghandi is stating that the treatment of animals reflects on the treatment to each other.

Battery Hens kept indoors in small, crowded pens don’t waste energy moving around and keeping warm. They convert more energy into biomass – both food and eggs – than animals that run free. Battery hens lay 300 eggs per year. After one year, their egg-laying declines and they are killed. Battery hens are efficient and cheap. Hens crowded together cannot stretch their wings and show odd behavior, such as pecking their feathers, so they are de-beaked [beaks taken off; imagine if your mouth got ripped off!].

Humane-nity: What is morality? What’s the line between right and wrong? There are two sides to every argument. The Judge decides what is humane and inhumane. The Court decides right or wrong. I think that the way animals are treated reflects on the treatment of humans. In the past: white men thought that Africans, Aborigines, etc people weren’t human, they thought they were monkeys.Early settlers in Australia used to go to church on Sundays, and then shoot Aborigines as sport. For example: Recent CIA torture: e.g. the Waterboard [giving the prisoner the illusion of drowning, the High Court in America let the CIA torture these prisoners [one of the prisoners had severe insect phobia so they put him in a small, dark, enclosed room with an insect which they told him could bite and was poisonous.

Only 1% separates us from the common monkey, so what makes us feel so superior? It’s not like we adapted well even; we can’t run fast, we’re not that strong, we can’t fly, etc. We’re just an extreme case of brains beats brawn. Literally. Ever since we evolved we’ve been misusing and abusing animals. In the greatness of a nation animals play a big part. For food, transport, for inspiration, to imitate. If there were no animals, there would be no us. The way animals are treated means that the nation is kind, generous and rich enough to do so.

In conclusion, I feel that Ghandi is referring to the treatment of humans indirectly. If you can kill your cat, you can kill your friend. If you can starve a dog, you can starve your brother. This is how I interpreted this quote. Would you kill your pet? Would you kill your brother?