Animal abuse and plant abuse is defined as a deliberate infliction of psychological pain, distress, deprivation, or death of an animal or a plant by human beings. Animal abuses occur every time human beings fail to meet the animals’ basic needs. In general, animal abuses comprise of all intentional, socially, and unacceptable behaviors that threatens the welfare of our fellow animals.
Notably, in our factory farms millions of animals such as dairy cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens suffer extremely in the production of food, clothing, and other animal products for human consumption. Surprisingly, many individuals in our society are unaware of these sufferings inflicted on animals.
On the other hand, plant abuse occurs when human beings and animals destroy plants’ parts and environment. Through genetic modification, plant life is changed. Plants activists argue that plant genetic modification is a violent change (Nardi 56). This paper seeks to compare and contrast two articles focusing on animal and plant abuses. These articles are Brussels Sprouts like to Live Too by Natalie Angier and Animal Vegetable Miserable by Gary Steiner.
In the two articles, the authors focus on ways in which human beings have abused both plants and animals. As such, Steiner focuses on how humans have abused animals, while Angier focuses on how humans have abused animals and how humans and animals have abused plants. In the article Animal Vegetable Miserable, the author argues that currently more people are concerned with where their animal products come from (Steiner 1).
Notably, the author notes that at present people question the quality of life an animal had before being slaughtered for human consumption. Steiner argues that through this, individuals can identify whether these products are fit for human consumption by investigating on the animals’ backgrounds. Through these arguments, the author feels remorseful for the way humans treat animals (Steiner 1).
Equally, in the article Brussels Sprouts like to Live Too the author focuses on plant abuse (Angier 1). Just like Pa, Angier argues that she is slowly transforming into a vegetarian. She asserts that she stopped consuming mammalian meat 8 years ago. Like Pa, Angier argues that killing of animals for their products is unjust.
According to her article, she believes that animals have equal right to be alive just as humans. In her article, she quotes some committed vegetarian philosophers such as Isaac Singer (Angier 1). In the quotes, she emphasizes that killing animals to satisfy human needs should be perceived as outright murder. In the same way Steiner felt, Angier felt remorseful for the way animals are being treated by human beings.
Unlike Pa, Angier argues that plants too have suffered because of animals and humans feeding on their parts. She argues that although plants cannot escape from these destructions they can stand their ground (Angier 1). In the article, she describes several mechanisms that plants have adopted to prevent animals from destroying their parts.
By doing so, she illustrates that just like animals plants should not be abused. It is worth noting that Steiner emphasizes that humans should encourage vegan lifestyles. On the other hand, Angier opposes dependence on plants and animal products by humans. Given that humans depend on animals and plant products for their survival, Angier’s arguments would not hold in the contemporary world unlike Steiner’s arguments (Angier 1).
Works Cited
Angier, Natalie. “Basics – Another Challenge for Ethical Eating – Plants Want to Live, Too – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia . N.p. 2009. Web.
Nardi, James B.. Life in the soil: a guide for naturalists and gardeners. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Print.
Steiner, Gary. “Op-Ed Contributor – Animal, Vegetable, Miserable – NYTimes.com.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p. 2009. Web.