This is an article from the May 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 2) and was written by one of our students, Augustus F. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
Wow! You decided to give this article a chance; something most people wouldn’t do. I know I wouldn’t have years ago. I’d like to preface this article by saying it is my intention to not force my beliefs on anyone or to come off as hostile. My goal in writing this is to help you, the reader, make sure your moral values align with your actions by asking some questions you’ve probably never given in-depth thought to.
I remember when I was probably five or six, and I was playing Minecraft with my cousins. I didn’t know much of what I was doing: I usually just played in Creative mode, wandering through the world and building houses. But, this day was different. My cousins taught me how to play Survival mode (for those that don’t know, Survival mode means that you can die in the game).
In Survival, the player must effectively manage their hunger and health, fend off monsters, and gather resources. I remember being taught how to gather cobblestone and how to smelt sand into glass, but one specific, seemingly insignificant moment stuck out to me: my cousins killed a cow to get food.
Now, does anyone want to kill a cow? Not really. I’m sure I was told the same thing except that it was a necessary part to survive in the game.
Over a decade later, I revisited this memory, realizing this happens in the real world. But, what if I told you that it’s not necessary to eat animals?
First, using animalclock.org, let me set the scene: an estimated eight billion chickens die per year in the United States. That’s just chickens in the United States!
Over 99% of the animals killed for food are raised in factory farms. I had never given thought to truly how many animals are killed for the 15 minutes it takes to eat a meal. I especially never gave thought to the animals’ lives. The average egg-laying hen gets an 8 x 10 inch metal cage to live their entire life. For reference, that’s the distance between your thumb and your pinky.
Mother pigs can’t even turn around to see their children.
Now, I know you’re probably thinking: while this is sad, it’s an unfortunate reality. What if I told you it wasn’t?
I highly doubt that many people know what the conditions for most farm animals are like. I would strongly encourage watching the documentary Dominion to see what most animals’ lives look like. Or, you’re probably thinking to yourself, like I did for so long, “No, I know it’s going to be awful. It’s better that I don’t think about it.” If so, why don’t you want to see it? Yes, it’s disturbing, but wouldn’t you care if humans were being put to death in gas chambers? Wouldn’t you care if humans were being electrocuted and boiled alive? Wouldn’t you speak up for those without a voice?
“You can’t compare humans to animals!”
Humans have souls; animals don’t feel pain; animals can’t reason. Those are three of the most common responses I’ve been told. I’ll respond to these three rebuttals quickly:
- Whether or not animals have souls makes no difference. Is it wrong to kick a dog? Is it wrong to throw a kitten? Placing a belief over objective science is dangerous. It’s also just unnecessary as eating meat is not mandated in any religious text. Why not just choose the option that doesn’t cause suffering?
- Study after study shows that animals feel pain. This rebuttal usually applies to fish, but the notion is wrong. Scientific studies overwhelmingly support the fact that fish feel pain (feel free to fact-check me).
- Actually, animals can reason. Primates have been taught sign language. Dolphins talk to each other using whistles. The scientific community disputes this argument by recognizing animals as sentient. Pigs are just as smart as—or smarter than— dogs; yet, one is “food” and another is “man’s best friend.”
“Okay, but with that logic, are animals equal to humans? Should animals be able to vote?”
No, I agree that non-human animals shouldn’t be able to vote, primarily because they can’t comprehend it. In response, though, I’d like to point out that animals don’t need to be equal to receive an equal consideration of their interests. It’s completely unnecessary to subject animals to their current conditions.
Going vegan saves around 200 lives a year. Yet, to me, it’s not about the lives that are saved; it’s about the lives that are transformed. Have you ever seen a video of a calf being ripped away from her mother? Could you imagine never even being able to turn around just to see your own children? Not being able to help your weak offspring who died mere inches away from you? Did you know that animals sense that something is terribly wrong when they arrive at the slaughterhouse?
Now, imagine two cows—a mother and a son—running around in a field. Think of how happy your parents were when they first held you. In a world where we can choose between buying meat or buying plants, why wouldn’t you choose plants?
The “final boss” of why most people don’t go vegan is because of taste. Yet, do you really think a dog tastes that bad? Is there really that much of a difference between an animal’s body and a human’s body that makes us say, “Well, we wouldn’t want it to go to waste”?
The answer is no. There isn’t a difference. Unfortunately, I also don’t believe that this article will turn anyone vegan, but I believe it can plant a seed in at least someone’s mind. I know that’s what happened to me.
One day, I thought, “Why do so many people hate vegans? They’re just standing up for what they believe in.” Never did I think I’d actually agree with them.
So, with that, I want to leave you with two things:
- Watch Dominion. It’s free on YouTube. Watch Dominion. Animals only get one life. Watch Dominion. It makes me cry seeing how trillions of animals don’t get to experience happiness. Watch Dominion. I can’t convince you by just writing words on a paper; your eyes have to convince you. Watch Dominion. Once again, it’s free on YouTube.
- Just in the time it took you to read this (probably around five minutes), 527,400 animals were killed in the United States for food. That’s 1,800 animals a second. With that rate, humans would go extinct in 53 days.
Thank you for your time. Please, don’t forget the mothers whose children were stolen. Please, help them. Watch Dominion.
