"Equality For Animals?" Reading Response

I just want to start off and say that I really enjoyed this piece. I have read several of Singer's other works in the past and I fully agree with him on most of his points. I agree that factory farming is an epidemic that gets swept under the rug. I agree that animals deserve to live their full lives out in a pasture and doing what they want. I agree that there are different ways of eating and that eating meat is only one of them. That being said, I am not a vegetarian. I eat as little meat as I can, but I almost always have some sort of animal product with my meal (usually it's cheese, but still). It's not really an option for me to become vegetarian or vegan, as Singer suggests, but I like to think that I do what I can to make as few lives taken for my sake as possible. Singer styles this piece in a way that helps the reader better understand the basics of his argument that animals should not be used as food. He quotes Benjamin Franklin in the later half of his piece discussing the reasons that people argue against vegetarianism, and this helps to put a famous name to validity his statements. Singer knows that people are appalled of the ways that animal are treated in slaughterhouses but are able to keep it out of their minds most of the time. He says that people should not be ignoring this unethical treatment and should take a stand, though he knows that it will be close to impossible to change the farming industry now. Singer is obviously very passionate about his research and position on animal equality. Titling his piece "Equality For Animals?" with the question mark is meant to draw potential readers into the piece and to learn more about the factory farming industry and vegetarianism/veganism, even though this is just the tip of the iceberg.