The ethics if factory farming

[bennyboy]

Why am I different? Because I have an understanding of other minds?

Yes, and because you have the capacity to formulate moral ideas based on an understanding of the suffering of those other minds.

So what. It might change the way I view feed lots, but it doesn't mean I am separate from other animals, or that I should reject my own biology.

Hands up people who live naturally. *waits for hands*
Meat-eaters seem pretty content to live in artificial homes, use electricity to stay warm or cool, and surf the internet for cosplay porn. But when it's dinner time, and you pull out that Swanson's TV Dinner, then suddenly the meat is "natural" and therefore necessary or at least justified.

As long as an animal lives naturally I see no problem with ending it's life to eat on it, as it would end it naturally without our interference.

How about ending a human life if you have a craving? Heard it tastes like pork.

The only difference is that less of the animal will be wasted if used by a human than if killed by say a coyote or a cougar.

There's another difference: human selection will be random at best, or favor the healthiest members of a food species at worst, while coyotes and cougars are statistically more likely to capture weak, slow, or unintelligent members of the species.

In the former, there's a net loss in the quality of the species. In the latter, there's a net gain-- the suffering of the individuals is compensated by the advantage to the survival of the species overall.