The ethics if factory farming

[bennyboy]

So is it ethical to cause an increase in animal suffering and to treat animals like a commodity if it increases the well-being of some humans?

Is it ethical to cause an increase in black suffering and to treat negroes like a commodity if it increases the well-being of good church-going white folk? Why not-- we all know they don't have a soul anyway, so what's the harm in letting them work for their keep?

I'd argue that inflicting great suffering in order to eliminate relatively minor suffering represents a greater evil, and is therefore unethical. The average American will manage somehow to survive without that 5th Big Mac of the day.