Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others?
The Japanese YouTube channel “Eaten Pig after 100 Days” created a controversy after its 100th video on September 1 showed the eponymous pet pig being butchered then barbecued. Viewers who had grown attached to the pig criticized the cruelty of the owner in heartlessly eating his pet. Although nine days later, the pig cooked in the video turned out to be another pig, is there a difference? So where do we draw the line? What is the difference between pets and livestock?
What separates livestock and pets? What allows us to enjoy meat from livestock when the thought of eating pets disgusts us? What makes us see livestock as food and pets as family? To put it simply, it is the deep bonds formed between humans and pets that separate them. As human-centric and selfish it may sound, this bond of emotional attachment is the fine yet significant line between friend and food.
So what happens if we give livestock the same emotional attachment and investment as pets? This exact situation has been shown over 100 days on the YouTube channel “Eaten Pig after 100 Days”, where the owner uploaded daily videos of his pet pig, Kalbi. The YouTube channel gained popularity owing to the pig’s cuteness but soon was criticized when the thumbnail for the 100th video, showing what appeared to be Kalbi cooked, was released.
The main critique viewers had with the channel is how deeply the owner and the viewers bonded with the pig before it got “butchered”. During the previous 99 videos, the owner walked Kalbi around the neighborhood, held a pool party and a birthday party, and built enough of a relationship that Kalbi responded when called by his name. At this point, if we cross out the word pig, people would expect Kalbi to be a dog. What Kalbi and other pet dogs had in common was the deep emotional connection between the animal and the human. Simply ignoring this connection and butchering the animal is inhuman and cold.
Then how would we define this emotional attachment? I believe the main indicator of a bond being formed is memory. May it be names, events, or stories, each memory made with the animal strengthens the emotional attachment people have for it. In this sense, the owner has made 99 memories, all in the form of a YouTube video, to build up an attachment with Kalbi. We now know that the pig in the 100th video was not Kalbi, but before that fact was out, we can understand why people were so upset and criticized the channel. Butchering and cooking the animal with that much bond simply for views and subscriptions was just too monstrous.
It is in human nature to care for and grow an emotional attachment to animals that we spend time and make memories with. People allow these bonds to form with pets, while with livestock, it is the opposite. Even in the most humane livestock industry, rarely do we see animals kept as closely as pets. Humans don’t celebrate birthdays for livestock or form memories with them to keep the emotional bond as minimal as possible, since growing attached to livestock is needless pain for both the animal and human. While it is also true that animal cruelty in the livestock industry is an important issue that needs to be addressed, I do not think that it should be done in a way that ignores human nature and feelings. Not only would it be a very unhealthy way to advocate a just cause, but it may also cause people to feel negative about helping the issue.
In a perfect world, humans might be able to exclude all emotional attachments in judgments. However, this imperfection is what makes humans, humans. These emotional attachments may be the cause of needless cruelty and pain, but they are also the biggest source of love and compassion. Emotional attachment is a fine line mankind has walked on over its history with animals. While the lack of it shows how cruel and diabolical man can be, emotional attachment has also given us heartwarming stories that show the potential of how great man can be.
