A Reaction to Don Lepan's Animals

During our class discussion someone mentioned an issue they had with the book Animals and the "ordering of priorities." I thought that was a good way to describe my thoughts about the text. I was heavily influenced by the book because I believed it was based on a plausible situation, something that could potentially occur if we continue down the path we are on. Without this belief, I don't think the book would have the same effect. For me, the main point of the novel that really stood out was the assignment of value to different creatures, and the extreme seperation between "human" and "non-human" species. It has never occured to me before that the line drawn between human and non-human animals could be blurred and changed over time depending on politics and economic need. That is a truly scary thought. The horrific images of the slaughter house took a second seat to the idea of society's shifting concept of "human." I can recognize that one important point to take out of the reading of this novel is that the way we treat animals as a mere means for slaughter is unnacceptable and the conditions they live in in factory farms are deplorable. However, I think the most striking point illustrated through Sam's story is that of how assigning value to creatures based on their level of "humanness" is a faulty system ridden with error. Ultimately, we must go back to the question of what defines human, and can this definition change over time like it did in Sam's case? Another very important point made is what gives those deemed to be "human" the right to treat non-humans as lesser beings with little or no rights? But I believe the second question easily follows once we acknowledge the issues behind creating seperations between non-human and human animals.