The Tale of Peter Rabbit was one of my favorite books when I was a small boy, and rabbit pie was one of my favorite dishes. I raise the subject because, aged five, I was able to do two things that many adults today are apparently unable to do: Distinguish between fantasy and reality; and recognize that animals are not simply “less–abled” human beings.
This struck me while listening to an earnest young student discuss animal behavior. It rapidly became clear that the learning being propounded was second hand—acquired from textbooks, authored by folks who had no more first–hand knowledge of animal behavior than the student.
A genuine understanding of animal behavior might seem a less than important item on the school curriculum compared, say, with English literature, foreign languages, social studies, and sex–ed. But actually, a lack of a first hand acquaintanceship with animals and, indeed, the land itself, is gravely skewing social—and political—attitudes, especially in the realms of biology and the environment.
It is not merely a case of people not knowing where their food comes from or how it is produced—though that is truly a serious matter. Indeed, judging by the exceedingly odd shapes of the chunks of meat on display in supermarkets these days, even butchers are ignorant of the anatomy of the animals they dismember.
Our ignorance of things agricultural creates serious confusion in many areas of plant and animal husbandry—not least the realm of genetic engineering, a science that has been a tremendous contribution to feeding the world’s hungry.
It is by no means a new phenomenon. We have been engaged in genetic engineering for millennia, creating higher yielding cereals and improving breeds of domesticated animals. One of the oldest examples of genetic engineering in animal husbandry on record is found in the 30th Chapter of the Book of Genesis—an account of Jacob’s efforts to improve to quality of his herds of cattle and goats.
The difference between genetic engineering in Jacob’s day and our own is that while methodologies are essentially the same, modern science enables us to speed up the process enormously.
It is important to bear this in mind when weighing arguments about genetically engineered food—for many of the objections fall into the realm of “ignorance and vain superstition.”
Similarly, many animal rights groups appear to be labouring under a similar ignorance of animal behavior and husbandry. Indeed, farmers and others in the field of animal husbandry find the contention that animals have “rights” similar to human rights entirely perverse. Of course, it is wrong to harm or maltreat animals in our care, but it is equally wrong to anthropomorphize [He’s showing off his “mastery of English” again. —Isaac Eagle] them by endowing them with near–human qualities.
While evolution certainly represents scientific orthodoxy, leading evolutionists no longer subscribe to Darwin’s “stairway” theory. Darwin postulated that there are many “steps” between us and the great apes and chimpanzees, but the distance between us and them is one of degree and not kind (Darwin, 1871/1982, p 445).
Modern theory, by contrast, asserts that people differ in kind and in degree from animals. Evolution is really about diversity and differences rather than progress up a stairway. For instance, they believe only people can take the perspective of others. Only humans have minds that can reinterpret observable events, attribute reasons and causality, and see the world as others see it.
Actually, folks who worked on farms could have told them that centuries, nay, millennia ago. “Dumb animals” are by no means dumb, but nor are they intellectuals.
How on earth did we develop our strange modern fads and fancies? Part of the explanation might be that in 1938, agricultural workers accounted for about 25 percent of the U.S. labor force, while a majority of people lived in small rural communities. Today less than two percent of American workers work on the land, while most people live in cities or suburban communities.
As our direct acquaintanceship with farm animals and their counterparts in the wild has declined, so our impressions about them have increasingly been formed by fantasy stories, cartoons, Disney movies, and the like. Deer have morphed into Bambi, bears into Yogi, and chimpanzees into Bonzo, the animal world’s lovable, cuddly clowns.
This is a completely false impression. Animals do not have our reasoning powers—or anything like them. Treating animals in the field or in the wild as household pets is fraught with danger. Indeed, the most vicious creature I ever met was the cutest little Jersey bull you ever did see. The runner up was Oliver, an oh–so–appealing Basset Hound. GPH✠
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