It's been roughly 1 year and 3 months since I picked up Domionion at my local library. At the time, I was hardly looking to become vegetarian or vegan. In fact, after being pescetarian for 5 1/2 years for health reasons, I was looking to eat chicken again. I had been Christians for a few years, but indifferently so. Recently, I've solidified my faith much more. In fact my veganism and Christianity became distinct together, in terms of time, but separately in terms of reason.
I've been vegan for a year now. When I first picked up Dominion, a year and 3 months ago, I couldn't finish it. I skipped pages and chapters in disgust and don't really recall finishing it. I was casually browsing Amazon and in a small rush hit me when I saw Dominion, that fateful book that set me on my journey to veganism. I bought immediately and this time read it cover to cover.
Which brings me to Dominion itself. Dominion, was interesting in the respect that Matthew Scully didn't shy away from the emotional arguments that come with animal rights. For the dozens of books I've read on the issue this past year, Scully was the most honest. Indeed, he spent entire pages dedicated to the idea that he doesn't need any complex theories to recognize that animal suffering is worth recognizing. He wasn't going to waste the readers time on theories. He sat them down and said 'If we owe it animals to not cause them to suffer, as we all agree, then why should we eat them unnecessarily?' This was the hard hitting punch of the book.
Starting with canned hunting in Africa, Scully does what a reporter does: he gives an account of what he saw. In the chapters he spends giving the opposition a chance to speak for themselves, he resists, for the most part, snide comments. Only once every few pages or so does an obvious bit of sarcasm or depression speak through. The hunters don't feel a need to apologize for paying 20k to shoot fish in a barrel, or in this case, Elephants in fences. Guaranteed kills at that, or your money back. Why should they apologize for calls that imitate the sound of distressed babyh deer? Their shooting them either way.
Moving onto whaling, the whalers don't feel a need to apologize either. Mirroring the hunters words in many respects, they speak of the bond that comes through whaling, the 'tradition' and 'culture' that comes with it. Japan in particular gets special attention, their lame excuses despite absolutely no need for killing whales over their 'scientific' studies. Scullys melancholy over describing the scientific fact that whales never likely 'unconcious' and thus are entirely aware of their pain when grenades and harpoon explode in their heads for anywhere from 5-30 minutes.
Food animals was always resting in the background until Scully ventured onto factory farms. There's a different excuse this time around from the food industry. The animals actually enjoy the factory farms! Oh yes ecnomics are involved as with hunting and whaling but this time the animals love it. They love not being able to turn, being covered in sores and tumors. Any amount of words will fall short of my feelings towards re-reading this book. Over the year I've grown almost numb to the heart breaking logic people use to justify causing animals pain. Here old wounds opened. I remember how I first felt, being so disgusted, having to skip the hunters trying to justify their petty pleasures over hitting a deer with an arrow.
You have to read it.
The pros of the book are simple and steadfast: Scully offers a neutral account of what he sees, then absolutely smashes it in the next chapter. He offers clear cut logic on why we shouldn't eat animals anymore, all while recognizing any amount of logic won't stop some people. One quote in particular, on the final pages of the book hit hard. "When faces with [the suffering of animals] 'mmmm [steak] is so good' is not my idea of a mans reply."
The cons of the book, are that Scully seems to slightly dodge the issue that his holy book seems to condone eating meat. Granted, as scully noted himself, factory farms didn't exist when the bible was written. But most who sit on his conservative side of the fence will appeal to the 'timelessness' of the biblical rules, as they do sometimes with global warming.
But onto more meta matters, Scully did something I noted was interesting. He appealed to emotions. This may be obvious, but there's often the accusation of bleeding heart liberals, yet for all the animal rights book I read, the theories were often cold and calculating, using blunt logic. Matthew Scully on the other hand, takes a simple, human, instead of an academic approach and fully describes the suffering of his fellow creatures and sighing with exhausting at his fellow conservatives accusing him of Paganism and New Age Heresy. Indeed, being Christian and Vegan myself, I'm familiar with those accusations.
Which turns me to my fellow liberals. Simpy click the one star button and my brother and sister liberals have accused Matthew Scully of hypocrisy, working for Sarah Palin, who is certainly no animal friend, and George Bush, who many liberals accuse of being a child killer. However, as Scully noted in this book, how one feels about the animal issue is completely separate from human issues. I'm sure if me and Mr. Scully sat down, had a beer, we'd probably vehemently disagree over every single issue -- accept this one.
It's been 13 years since Scully set Dominion to the presses. He's gone vegan since, probably due to many people sending him videos of how dairy cows are treated [hint: not pretty]. In his book, in 2002, according to him 15 million Americans were vegetarians. The population was around 282 million. Now the population is around with 319 million Americans, around 5% identifying as vegetarian. Meaning only 16 million identify as vegetarian. Despite that depressing stat, other countries have vegetarianism on the upswing. 25 of Israel Identify as vegetarians. Vegetarianism is hot in germany. Nearly 10% of Swedens are vegetarians.
This is probably the most depressing part of being any sort of Animal Rights activist. Despite unyielding optimism, we have to recognize it's been 50 years since Animal Liberation was penned. 13 years since Scully pleaded to the world and more directly, his fellow Christians, to eat less meat and actually have animal welfare laws in place. Reading his bullet points for laws that should be passed at the end of the book reminds me of the progress that need to be made.
Whether or not the 'world will go vegan' in 50 or 100 years, as some predict, there is certainly pressure to do so, given all the data coming forth that factory farms are absolutely obliterating the environment.
However, I didn't go vegan to be 'on the right side of history'. I went vegan to eat with a clear conscious, rather than brushing it all aside. I went vegan to be consistent. I went vegan because mercy is to withhold harm, when I have all the power to inflict it.
“Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.”
― Matthew Scully, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
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Ethan
once it gets going - lucid, alive, logical, passionate
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2020Coral Raven
A radical book about animal cruelty, but with humour
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 13, 2009
