I truly have never changed my opinions on animal cruelty. I do think it is absolutely awful and it honestly makes me sick. Learning about animal cruelty in this class has totally changed my mind about eating meat. I used to love to eat meat and even in my favorite food essay, I wrote all about meatballs. I have slowly decreased my consumption of meat since furthering my education about animal cruelty. In “Consider the Lobster” I learned all about how lobsters can’t exactly feel pain and that is why not many people feel bad for killing the lobsters for food. I think that just because we can ignore pain and suffering does not mean we should. I think we should consider the pain and suffering that all of the poor animals go through. Obviously this is all beyond my control and I can’t control anyone besides myself.  I feel like people who eat a lot of animal products are not willing to think about the consequences of their actions. I do truly believe that people need to rethink using animal products because of the pain that they are putting said animals through. I am not saying that I am a full vegetarian because I do occasionally eat meat but I eat a lot less than I did at the beginning of the year. Ever since I first read David Foster Wallaces “Consider the Lobster”  I have definitely been thinking more and more about eating animal products. Even though I do love a good lobster roll,I feel bad for the innocent lobsters that are being boiled alive. From now on, before I eat an animal product I always think about the repercussions of what has previously been done to the animals. 

I truly have never changed my opinions on animal cruelty. I do think it is absolutely awful and it honestly makes me sick. Learning about animal cruelty in this class has totally changed my mind about eating meat. I used to love to eat meat and even in my favorite food essay, I wrote all about meatballs. I have slowly decreased my consumption of meat since furthering my education about animal cruelty. In “Consider the Lobster” I learned all about how lobsters can’t exactly feel pain and that is why not many people feel bad for killing the lobsters for food. I think that just because we can ignore pain and suffering does not mean we should. I think we should consider the pain and suffering that all of the poor animals go through. 

Obviously this is all beyond my control and I can’t control anyone besides myself.  I feel like people who eat a lot of animal products are not willing to think about the consequences of their actions. I do truly believe that people need to rethink using animal products because of the pain that they are putting said animals through. I am not saying that I am a full vegetarian because I do occasionally eat meat but I eat a lot less than I did at the beginning of the year. Ever since I first read David Foster Wallaces “Consider the Lobster”  I have definitely been thinking more and more about eating animal products. Even though I do love a good lobster roll,I feel bad for the innocent lobsters that are being boiled alive. From now on, before I eat an animal product I always think about the repercussions of what has previously been done to the animals.  

“Consider the Lobster” truly had a very large impact on how I view animal cruelty. I have always thought about how absolutely awful it is but I never really noticed a big impact on my eating habits. I have basically now stopped eating most meats. I honestly just feel so guilty when I consume meat. The other writing piece I will be focusing on is called, “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Million People”. This writing piece goes over how rapidly the population is growing on the earth and seeing if we have enough resources to feed all of the people. Charles C. Mann talks about how by 2050, the world’s population will most likely hit 10 million people. It is going to be quite difficult to feed that many people due to knowing how much world hunger there is today. At this point there is hunger in each country. It is so beyond awful to think about. By the year 2050, I will be 45 years old, that is how old my parents are now. Just imagining that the world is still going to be as hungry as it is now, if not more, is quite depressing. I wish there was more we could do as a whole to solve this issue. 

This is a hard topic to write about because I feel for both sides of the argument. I despise animal cruelty, but at the same time world hunger is just as bad. David Foster Wallace stands against animal cruelty while Charles C. Mann stands against world hunger. Obviously I know both of these topics are a challenge to write about. I chose the Charles C. Mann article because I think it does a very good job portraying how the world is going to look in the future with our rising population. I also think that David Foster Wallace’s article does an amazing job showing how animal cruelty is awful. That leads me into my next point about pain. 

Lobsters go through a lot and especially the lobster festival knocks the lobster population  down so much. Even though lobsters can’t feel pain it doesn’t mean they want to be boiled alive. It also doesn’t vouch for all the other animals that actually do feel pain. So many animals are killed per year for food and humans are the ones doing the killing. Over 10 million animals are killed per year due to animal cruelty. I truly think that animal cruelty is so beyond awful. I do also think that the rising population issue with not enough food is a difficult topic. Killing animals for food is wrong. We as an earth have created other alternatives to meat. We should utilize those resources rather than killing animals. According to PETA one animal suffers abuse every minute of the day. There are 1440 minutes per day, that means every day of the year 1440 animals get abused. That means roughly 525,600 animals suffer abuse per year. The world needs to shape up. 

Lily King 

English 110

Jesse Miller 

26 March 23 

I truly have never changed my opinions on animal cruelty. I do think it is absolutely awful and it honestly makes me sick. Learning about animal cruelty in this class has totally changed my mind about eating meat. I used to love to eat meat and even in my favorite food essay, I wrote all about meatballs. I have slowly decreased my consumption of meat since furthering my education about animal cruelty. In “Consider the Lobster” I learned all about how lobsters can’t exactly feel pain and that is why not many people feel bad for killing the lobsters for food. I think that just because we can ignore pain and suffering does not mean we should. I think we should consider the pain and suffering that all of the poor animals go through. 

Obviously this is all beyond my control and I can’t control anyone besides myself. Spreading awareness for animal cruelty is not controlling people, it is just spreading through emotion for this topic.  I feel like people who eat a lot of animal products are not willing to think about the consequences of their actions. I do truly believe that people need to rethink using animal products because of the pain that they are putting said animals through. I am not saying that I am a full vegetarian because I do occasionally eat meat but I eat a lot less than I did at the beginning of the year. Ever since I first read David Foster Wallaces “Consider the Lobster”  I have definitely been thinking more and more about eating animal products. Even though I do love a good lobster roll,I feel bad for the innocent lobsters that are being boiled alive. From now on, before I eat an animal product I always think about the repercussions of what has previously been done to the animals.  

“Consider the Lobster” truly had a very large impact on how I view animal cruelty. I have always thought about how absolutely awful it is but I never really noticed a big impact on my eating habits. I have basically now stopped eating most meats. I honestly just feel so guilty when I consume meat. The other writing piece I will be focusing on is called, “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Million People”. This writing piece goes over how rapidly the population is growing on the earth and seeing if we have enough resources to feed all of the people. Charles C. Mann talks about how by 2050, the world’s population will most likely hit 10 million people. It is going to be quite difficult to feed that many people due to knowing how much world hunger there is today. At this point there is hunger in each country. It is so beyond awful to think about. By the year 2050, I will be 45 years old, that is how old my parents are now. Just imagining that the world is still going to be as hungry as it is now, if not more, is quite depressing. I wish there was more we could do as a whole to solve this issue. 

This is a hard topic to write about because I feel for both sides of the argument. I despise animal cruelty, but at the same time world hunger is just as bad. David Foster Wallace stands against animal cruelty while Charles C. Mann stands against world hunger. Obviously I know both of these topics are a challenge to write about. I chose the Charles C. Mann article because I think it does a very good job portraying how the world is going to look in the future with our rising population. I also think that David Foster Wallace’s article does an amazing job showing how animal cruelty is awful. That leads me into my next point about pain, and the way we shouldn’t harm animals.  

Lobsters go through a lot and especially the lobster festival knocks the lobster population  down so much. Even though lobsters can’t feel pain it doesn’t mean they want to be boiled alive. It also doesn’t vouch for all the other animals that actually do feel pain. So many animals are killed per year for food and humans are the ones doing the killing. Over 10 million animals are killed per year due to animal cruelty. I truly think that animal cruelty is so beyond awful. I do also think that the rising population issue with not enough food is a difficult topic. Killing animals for food is wrong. We as an earth have created other alternatives to meat. We should utilize those resources rather than killing animals. According to PETA one animal suffers abuse every minute of the day. There are 1440 minutes per day, that means every day of the year 1440 animals get abused. That means roughly 525,600 animals suffer abuse per year. The world needs to shape up. 

I don’t think that cooking animals alive is okay. I obviously know that animals can’t speak English and they are unable to voice their own opinions, which is why I believe we need to advocate for them. Animals do so much for this world besides just being our source of food. 

 “Is it all right to boil a sentient creature alive just for our gustatory pleasure… What does ‘all right’ even mean in this context? Is the whole thing just a matter of personal choice?” (Wallace 503)” In David Foster Wallace’s paper he says that quote. I know that lobsters can not feel pain so people think it is okay to boil them alive. That is not the same for other animals. In the quote it asks what we think “all right” means. I truly think that it means that people think it is okay just for the pure fact that lobsters can not feel pain. In Charles C. Mann’s paper says “How can we provide for everyone without making the planet uninhabitable.” (Mann 2) I personally agree with this statement. I have been wondering the same thing as I have been writing this paper. I know that one of our main food sources is meat from animals. I want to know if there is any way possible to live on this Earth without harming animals in any way. I know that will probably never happen but it is still a question I frequently ask myself. 

I do have to agree that this world would not be as strong as it is now without using animals as our main source of food. I think there are many health benefits of not eating meat. I prefer the vegetarian lifestyle if I am being honest. While I was reading “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion people” by Charles C Mann, it deepened my thought process a lot. Just the fact that the world’s population is growing so rapidly and even now we deal with world hunger in every single country is insane to me. Charles C. Mann says “That battle is not just between two philosophies, two approaches to technology, two ways of thinking how best to increase food supply for a growing population. It is about whether the tools we choose will ensure the survival of the planet or hasten its destruction.” (Mann 9) This quote really speaks out to me. I think that it is a different thought process that I have yet to wrap my head around. Thinking about it after reading “Consider The Lobster” really confuses me. I stand against animal cruelty, one hundred percent. On the other hand I care a lot about the world we live in and the people that are on it. In Charles C Mann’s paper, he says, “The more important point here, though, is that the whole animal-cruelty-and-eating issue is not just complex, it’s also uncomfortable. It is, at any rate, uncomfortable for me, and for just about everyone I know who enjoys a variety of foods and yet does not want to see herself as cruel or unfeeling.” (Wallace 505) I resonate with this quote in such a huge way. I think that it touches every aspect of the way that I am feeling about this topic. He is right, it is uncomfortable. Every time I eat meat I have no choice but to think about where it came from. And I can’t help myself from thinking about what poor animal died just for me to eat this. 

Writing this paper has not only been a challenge but an amazing learning experience for me. Both David Foster Wallace and Charles C. Mann makes really good points. This essay has helped me realize my thought process behind animal cruelty as well as world hunger. I never have changed my opinions on animal cruelty. It still makes me sick to my stomach. With the world we live in today, you’d think we would create the resources and utilize alternatives for meat. Not only just meat but other animal products as well.  Doing this paper really makes me wonder that if we “Consider the Lobster”, “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?” 

Works Cited

Wallace, David Foster, et al. Consider the Lobster. Ascensius Press, 2011. 

Mann, Charles C. “Can Planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 Jan. 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/charles-mann-can-planet-earth-feed-10-billion-people/550928/.