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An Unnatural Order: Uncovering the Roots of Our Domination of Nature and Each Other

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In 1892, Henry Salt published the book Animals' Rights. While it was not totally ignored, it took nearly another century for the modern "Animal Rights" movement to begin, after the appearance of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation in 1975.

When reading An Unnatural Order it will be difficult to not get the impression that Jim Mason is a visionary, on par with Henry Salt. We are privileged to have Mason as a contemporary. Years from now people could easily look back on him as the spark that helped reverse the course of destruction humans were on at the end of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, as with the ideas in it-and like Salt's work-An Unnatural Order has been largely ignored. Like a great movie that no one has seen, the fault for this must lay with lack of promotion. This review is appearing several years after the book's publication. This is unfortunate. An Unnatural Order is an important book.

"This book is written in hope and celebration. My hope is that we have the strength to rid ourselves of the destructive strands in Western culture," Mason begins. These destructive strands manifest themselves in the "Nature Question." Grossly simplified, the Nature Question is the intellectual belief that somewhere in our evolutionary past our ancestors broke their bonds with the living earth and put Homo sapiens above all other life on the planet, resulting in our species having no sense of kinship with other life nor any sense of belonging. The earth is beneath us; we are alienated from nature.

Mason continues "It is now time to bring this question into popular discussion, and I hope this book is a start." The roots of our alienation are deep-and deeply explored. Thirty pages are devoted to identifying dominionism. A picture of the world before agriculture-the seed of dominionism-is painted. Using current research and extensive references, a vivid portrait results that is as believable as any anthropologist's.

An all-things-are-connected web is spun, touching animal-human history and relationships; the crossover to agriculture; misogyny and misothery (the author's invention for "an attitude of hatred and contempt for animals and nature"); racism, colonialism, and dominionism. The breadth of his discussion is extensive and not every reader will agree with all of Mason's personal viewpoints. It irrelevant. In the long run one will feel certain that the book hits the mark of verity.

The final chapter brings it all together and offers Mason's broad outline for what needs to be done to turn dominionism around. He shows how the awareness of our social and environmental problems is widely known, citing the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, quoting political leaders and scholars, and referencing a who's who list of environmental writers, who he concludes all have the same message: "Humanity needs fundamental changes in its relationship with nature."

Supplying the missing piece, Mason states: "All having laid down such strong rhetoric, however, the movers and shakers, with rare exceptions, stop dead in their tracks when they approach the Animal Question. The Animal Question is regarded as illegitimate, silly, peripheral." To address the Animal Question reduces ones credibility. Driving home the point, Mason ponders how Christopher Stone's landmark 1972 article "Should Trees Have Standing?" would have been received had he written "Should Chimpanzees Have Standing?" He concludes that the Animal Question "is the very heart" of the Nature Question. The two cannot be separated. In order to make any progress toward healing our dominionist worldview, this gap must be bridged.

In the last few years some headway seems to have been made in this area. For too long the wedge that existed between "animal" and "environmental" groups has done all harm and no good. Since An Unnatural Order's publicatiom, there has been a call for unity as well as a more serious acceptance of the "Animal Question." Peter Singer's 1993 book and continued efforts with The Great Ape Project; the publication of When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy; and E magazine, which, beginning with its September/October 1995 issue, published a three-part series "to promote a dialogue between these two disparate communities," are just a few. Hopefully this is the start of serious progress.

In 1993, Jim Mason's An Unnatural Order appeared. While not totally ignored, there may never be a "modern dominionism" movement. If the message in his book is even remotely accurate, our culture cannot wait 80 years for some as-yet-unborn author to rediscover An Unnatural Order's message.

Joseph Connelly

Joe Gaziano from Chicago, Illinois , November 24, 1998 An excellent book that explains human/animal relations Unnatural Order establishes Jim Mason as one of the important intellectuals of the Animal Rights Movement. Mason provides a thoughtful and readable analysis of the relationship of people to animals throughout history. In this book Mason demonstrates how the changes in animal/people relationships have, over time, dramatically altered human existence. In much of the early history of humanity people lived in harmony with animals. Nature was viewed as containing fellow creatures with many of the same characteristics as people. Animals were revered and respeced. The move to an agricultural society where increasing numbers of animals became food resulted in a shift of consciousness. The culture became one in which humans were seen as dominant over and superior to animals. Humans increasingly separated themselves from nature and the animals, often denying their own animal nature. The result is a human culture divorced from nature and suffering from all the ill effects that such a society produces. Mason's book should be read by every vegetarian and animal rights advocate. It is sure to be a classic in the field.

Why are we the most violent and destructive species on this planet? In "An Unnatural Order", Jim Mason tells us. He opens with a clarification of the philosophy of 'dominionism' as expounded in most religions, and declares it as the principle at the root of human violence and warfare. He presents the case that there was a time when humans got along rather well with each other and the rest of nature. It was the time of the forager, mistakenly called the time of the hunter/gatherer by those looking through the filter of western philosophy and religion. For many thousands of years, Homo sapiens did not do much meat-eating or hunting, until widespread, organized hunting appears some 20,000 years ago. When foragers became hunters, and hunters became herdsmen, their view of nature changed from one of provider to one of enemy, and the notion of human supremacy was born. The non human animals, once seen as ancestors, neighbors, teachers and kin, began to be thought of as inferior, dangerous and evil, or simply commodities. With the advent of agriculture, and especially animal agriculture, ideas about a hierarchy of being, ownership of property, patriarchy, domination and exploitation begin to take over human culture. The idea of a male god, with man just below, and women, 'primitive' people and the other animals, below men, became the mindset of the "northern tribes." It was eventually sanctified by western religions and remains the dominant worldview today. Mason takes us on a journey through human history, unfettered by human ego, thoroughly explaining our dissociation from nature and animals, and the resulting losses, both pyschologically and spiritually. He probes deep, and finds the origins of warfare, racism, sexism, religionism and colonialism. He challenges the idea that agriculture was a great human achievement, arguing that it gave us repeating cycles of increased production and growth only at the expense of the environment and the animals that we enslaved. The result has not been success for all humans, but actually an increase in human starvation and suffering, caused by the human population explosion and the misuse of resources. Enslavement of non humans and then humans, followed by the introduction of organized warfare, are the results of the hunter / herder mentality that replaced the original cooperative, egalitarian nature of human culture. Mason, does not simply chronicle our mistakes, he seeks out causes, and offers solutions. He does not blame farmers for the disasters of agriculture, nor does he call for an end to religion. Instead he calls for a new approach to farming, and the return to the family farm, by the re-introduction of sustainable, humane farming methods. Likewise, he calls for a re-discovery of the suppressed voices of progressive theologians who have spoken out against dominionism for centuries. He asks us to re-evaluate our ideas of human supremacy and accept our proper role as a part of nature, not something above it. His approach is unique among most writers -- the preservationists, environmentalists or even the deep ecologists -- as he dares to ask "the animal question." When will we admit to the psychological lives of the other animals, and take this into consideration in our dealings with them? Do they exist just for us? Or are they part of our family, deserving every bit as much consideration as those of "our own kind."

This book influenced me more than any book I've read in the last several years. It profoundly changed the way I understand our culture's treatment of animals and our alienation from nature. As a biologist and a writer, I've spent my life thinking and writing about nature and animals. But Mason caused me to reflect differently on many of the experiences I had at universities, caused me to understand differently the detachment that many science professionals practice when studying their subject animals, even in relatively humane ways.

Mason examines the origins of the myths that sustain our need to dominate and control nature, and our separation from nature. Before I read this book, I regarded Americans' abuse of animals as a self-contained problem. Now I understand it to be just one facet of our estrangement from our own basic needs, and from nature, that has led not only to the grossest mistreatment of animals, but to racism and misogyny. Mason pulls it all together in a brilliant cohesive portrait of perhaps our most serious modern dilemma.

Just about everyone is saying that humankind must soon find a better relationship with the living world. Jim Mason shows were to start. He explains how the presence of animals has made us human, and how much went wrong when we began to see them merely as objects to exploit. If you want to understand this centruy and be prepared for the next, read this book.

Unnatural Order establishes Jim Mason as one of the important intellectuals of the Animal Rights Movement. Mason provides a thoughtful and readable analysis of the relationship of people to animals throughout history. In this book Mason demonstrates how the changes in animal/people relationships have, over time, dramatically altered human existence. In much of the early history of humanity people lived in harmony with animals. Nature was viewed as containing fellow creatures with many of the same characteristics as people. Animals were revered and respeced. The move to an agricultural society where increasing numbers of animals became food resulted in a shift of consciousness. The culture became one in which humans were seen as dominant over and superior to animals. Humans increasingly separated themselves from nature and the animals, often denying their own animal nature. The result is a human culture divorced from nature and suffering from all the ill effects that such a society produces. Mason's book should be read by every vegetarian and animal rights advocate. It is sure to be a classic in the field.

A rare gift to those who would understand how we humans have come to view ourselves, the rest of nature, in the harmful ways we do. At once scholarly and accessible, I know of no better book to rouse humanity from its disfunctional stupor--before it is too late.

Amazing book that uncovers the roots of our dominionism of the earth, animals, and each other. a stunning, in depth anaylsis of history and psychology makes this book one of my all time favorites1

Jim Mason brilliantly envisions ways of living that could actually allow the other animals of the world to fare well with humans on this planet.

A painstakingly researched and beautifully written book that explains and explores the many factors that shape our realtionship with animals and the environment. Mason's contribution to the literature on this increasingly important topic is simply inestimable. This book is a "must read".