Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

It's been roughly 1 year and 3 months since I picked up Domionion at my local library. At the time, I was hardly looking to become vegetarian or vegan. In fact, after being pescetarian for 5 1/2 years for health reasons, I was looking to eat chicken again. I had been Christians for a few years, but indifferently so. Recently, I've solidified my faith much more. In fact my veganism and Christianity became distinct together, in terms of time, but separately in terms of reason.I've been vegan for a year now. When I first picked up Dominion, a year and 3 months ago, I couldn't finish it. I skipped pages and chapters in disgust and don't really recall finishing it. I was casually browsing Amazon and in a small rush hit me when I saw Dominion, that fateful book that set me on my journey to veganism. I bought immediately and this time read it cover to cover.Which brings me to Dominion itself. Dominion, was interesting in the respect that Matthew Scully didn't shy away from the emotional arguments that come with animal rights. For the dozens of books I've read on the issue this past year, Scully was the most honest. Indeed, he spent entire pages dedicated to the idea that he doesn't need any complex theories to recognize that animal suffering is worth recognizing. He wasn't going to waste the readers time on theories. He sat them down and said 'If we owe it animals to not cause them to suffer, as we all agree, then why should we eat them unnecessarily?' This was the hard hitting punch of the book.Starting with canned hunting in Africa, Scully does what a reporter does: he gives an account of what he saw. In the chapters he spends giving the opposition a chance to speak for themselves, he resists, for the most part, snide comments. Only once every few pages or so does an obvious bit of sarcasm or depression speak through. The hunters don't feel a need to apologize for paying 20k to shoot fish in a barrel, or in this case, Elephants in fences. Guaranteed kills at that, or your money back. Why should they apologize for calls that imitate the sound of distressed babyh deer? Their shooting them either way.Moving onto whaling, the whalers don't feel a need to apologize either. Mirroring the hunters words in many respects, they speak of the bond that comes through whaling, the 'tradition' and 'culture' that comes with it. Japan in particular gets special attention, their lame excuses despite absolutely no need for killing whales over their 'scientific' studies. Scullys melancholy over describing the scientific fact that whales never likely 'unconcious' and thus are entirely aware of their pain when grenades and harpoon explode in their heads for anywhere from 5-30 minutes.Food animals was always resting in the background until Scully ventured onto factory farms. There's a different excuse this time around from the food industry. The animals actually enjoy the factory farms! Oh yes ecnomics are involved as with hunting and whaling but this time the animals love it. They love not being able to turn, being covered in sores and tumors. Any amount of words will fall short of my feelings towards re-reading this book. Over the year I've grown almost numb to the heart breaking logic people use to justify causing animals pain. Here old wounds opened. I remember how I first felt, being so disgusted, having to skip the hunters trying to justify their petty pleasures over hitting a deer with an arrow.You have to read it.The pros of the book are simple and steadfast: Scully offers a neutral account of what he sees, then absolutely smashes it in the next chapter. He offers clear cut logic on why we shouldn't eat animals anymore, all while recognizing any amount of logic won't stop some people. One quote in particular, on the final pages of the book hit hard. "When faces with [the suffering of animals] 'mmmm [steak] is so good' is not my idea of a mans reply."The cons of the book, are that Scully seems to slightly dodge the issue that his holy book seems to condone eating meat. Granted, as scully noted himself, factory farms didn't exist when the bible was written. But most who sit on his conservative side of the fence will appeal to the 'timelessness' of the biblical rules, as they do sometimes with global warming.But onto more meta matters, Scully did something I noted was interesting. He appealed to emotions. This may be obvious, but there's often the accusation of bleeding heart liberals, yet for all the animal rights book I read, the theories were often cold and calculating, using blunt logic. Matthew Scully on the other hand, takes a simple, human, instead of an academic approach and fully describes the suffering of his fellow creatures and sighing with exhausting at his fellow conservatives accusing him of Paganism and New Age Heresy. Indeed, being Christian and Vegan myself, I'm familiar with those accusations.Which turns me to my fellow liberals. Simpy click the one star button and my brother and sister liberals have accused Matthew Scully of hypocrisy, working for Sarah Palin, who is certainly no animal friend, and George Bush, who many liberals accuse of being a child killer. However, as Scully noted in this book, how one feels about the animal issue is completely separate from human issues. I'm sure if me and Mr. Scully sat down, had a beer, we'd probably vehemently disagree over every single issue -- accept this one.It's been 13 years since Scully set Dominion to the presses. He's gone vegan since, probably due to many people sending him videos of how dairy cows are treated [hint: not pretty]. In his book, in 2002, according to him 15 million Americans were vegetarians. The population was around 282 million. Now the population is around with 319 million Americans, around 5% identifying as vegetarian. Meaning only 16 million identify as vegetarian. Despite that depressing stat, other countries have vegetarianism on the upswing. 25 of Israel Identify as vegetarians. Vegetarianism is hot in germany. Nearly 10% of Swedens are vegetarians.This is probably the most depressing part of being any sort of Animal Rights activist. Despite unyielding optimism, we have to recognize it's been 50 years since Animal Liberation was penned. 13 years since Scully pleaded to the world and more directly, his fellow Christians, to eat less meat and actually have animal welfare laws in place. Reading his bullet points for laws that should be passed at the end of the book reminds me of the progress that need to be made.Whether or not the 'world will go vegan' in 50 or 100 years, as some predict, there is certainly pressure to do so, given all the data coming forth that factory farms are absolutely obliterating the environment.However, I didn't go vegan to be 'on the right side of history'. I went vegan to eat with a clear conscious, rather than brushing it all aside. I went vegan to be consistent. I went vegan because mercy is to withhold harm, when I have all the power to inflict it.“Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind's capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights or power or some claim to equality, but in a sense because they don't; because they all stand unequal and powerless before us.”― Matthew Scully, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

What does it take to change? I know for many vegetarians it was reading Peter Singer's Animal Liberation. For me, animal lover, yet ardent meat eater and fox hunter, it was a gradual process that led me to the point I am now, most closely allied with the Jains of India who kill nothing, a blend of the eastern religions which speak of higher spiritual evolution through pacifism. One doesn't, however, arrive at such a point in life without help, so I say thank you to Matthew Scully author of Dominion.Why, Matthew Scully asks, is cruelty to a puppy appalling and cruelty to anonymous livestock or laboratory animals by the billions a matter of social indifference? This is the kind of question that erudite and compassionate Scully raises within the 400 pages of Dominion, in prose so beautiful you want to read it over and over experiencing his sense of kindness, intelligence, and logic, realizing that never once does he come across as self-righteous even in the midst of painting a picture of appalling cruelty. Be forewarned, however, certain chapters are not for the faint of heart. Although first published in 2002, I didn't read Dominion until 2006, but it is easily the best book I read in 2006, both in content and in style. I would urge any student of literature to leaf through enjoying Scully's beautiful command of language, and animal advocates will cheer his thorough research and extensive knowledge of the subject.Matthew Scully, ex-speech writer for President George W. Bush, is a Christian conservative. As such, one might think he offers at best a new perspective beside the many books already written on the subject of animal exploitation, and at worst, assuming his motives are political or economic, nothing. Yet as a Christian, Scully shows us the true meaning of the word, not what the extreme right, in co-opting the term for their personal agenda, has done with it:"Many of today's cruelties come at the hands of people quick to identify themselves as good Christian folk. It is galling. If the exercise of examining the words of the Bible will at least spare us the sanctimonious airs of those who wantonly kill or mistreat animals, as if beckoned ever onward into field, forest, or factory farm by the Good Lord himself, that would be a small victory."As a conservative and realist, Scully offers the hope that maybe, if animal activism is not limited to the hands of liberals and leftists, the plight of so many animals suffering needlessly will be taken seriously by more people."If reason and morality are what set humans apart from animals, then reason and morality must always guide us in how we treat them."The result is a prose and plea written from the heart and stemming from the same conditions prompting anyone else, liberal or conservative, to write a book on behalf of animals: a desire to make animal lives better:"For me it was a simple moral step of extending that vision [appreciation of all animals because of love for a dog] out into the world, for what are dogs but affable emissaries from the animal kingdom?...What gifts they all are if our hearts are inclined in the right way and our vision to the right angle--seeing animals as they are apart from our designs upon them... Go into the largest livestock operation, search out the darkest and tiniest stall or pen, single out the filthiest, most forlorn little lamb or pig or calf, and that is one of God's creatures you're looking at, morally indistinguishable from your beloved Fluffy or Frisky.Scully may be faulted by many who believe animals are our equal for his and the theistic contention that humans have dominion over animals, but this is his call for mercy. For those of us who see animals as not only equal, but often surpassing us in emotional intelligence, we cannot deny that animals still have no voice in our government, hence no say to stop current atrocities. And as Scully points out:"Animal advocates sometimes speak a language of liberation bearing little resemblance to the world that animals actually inhabit, or to our own world for that matter... Much as I admire anyone who bothers to take the matter seriously, some theorists, at least in their more abstract arguments, miss a crucial point by assuming that to be cared for a creature must somehow be made our equal, which isn't even true in our human affairs, where often those we love most are the weak and vulnerable."Scully has remarkable grasp of the issues and looks in depth at many major industries including factory farming, whaling, big game hunting, the fur industry, zoos and animals used for experimentation in laboratories. There are passages such as one about a mother elephant and her calf that are so powerful, so moving I can't even now recall them without feeling tears well in my eyes, a lump in my throat and strong indignation rising. But Matthew Scully opposes violence, asking instead that we educate ourselves about the practices being conducted, quite legally, around us. Then there are other passages whose sheer sarcastic brilliance is surely lost on the very people to whom they are directed. There are passages so graphic and heartrending they will, if one has half a conscience, urge some form of committed action on behalf of the animals. And then there is his unshakeable logic:This always surprises me. If you express concern for the fur bearer in question, his or her paw all but severed by the time the trapper comes along for the forking bludgeoning, or huddled for its entire life in a tiny cage in 32-degree temperatures--why, then, you must be one of those ridiculous, killjoy fanatics. A bore. But rise in furious defense of a coat--now there's the mark of a serious man. Likewise, express qualms about some little delicacy like foie gras--fifteen thousand tons of the stuff eaten every year in France alone, all of it obtained by forcing a metal pipe down the ducks' throats and pumping in pounds of food until their livers are grotesquely enlarged--and that makes you petty and trifling and sentimental, and why don't you have your mind on bigger things? But reach for the knife and crackers, never mind the damned duck, and then you're thinking straight. Now, you've got your priorities in order.Nobody likes being preached to, especially about meals and clothing. I sure don't, and most of us who worry about animal welfare have learned to let the point go. But spare us the haughty airs. If moral seriousness is the standard, I for one would rather be standing between duck and knife than going to the mat in angry defense of a table treat.In fact, let us just call things what they are. When a man's love of finery clouds his moral judgment, that is vanity. When he lets a demanding palate make his moral choices, that is gluttony. When he ascribes the divine will to his own whims, that is pride. And when he gets angry at being reminded of animal suffering that his own daily choices might help avoid, that is moral cowardice."Read Dominion for Scully's elegant prose and comprehensive research. For those of us working to help amend such industries as factory farming, the book is an excellent resource. Scully reminds us that instead of worrying about cruelty, we serve best if we begin by doing something about it. This can be as seemingly insignificant as speaking honestly our beliefs that animals are sentient beings, or perhaps deciding not to eat meat. Aside from that you can buy copies of Dominion and hand them out to all who'll accept.Review first published in THE ECHO magazine. Flash's Song: How One Small Dog Turned into One Big Miracle

They should teach this book in school to help kids grow up to be respectful and aware of how animals are treated, and where their food comes from. Some parts were very hard to read, especially about the disgusting trophy hunting industry, which is a disgrace. But he's done his research and only presenting the truth, as terrible as it is. If everyone felt this way about animals and cared, the world would be a MUCH better place. Please buy this book and read it, then make your kids read it.

I admit, when I first tried to read this book, the language put me off.I then gave it another go a year later. He writes beautifully, just a little slow to get going. He shows the sham arguments against animal welfare, which hold this insane double standard where animals exist either just to be exploited, or their pains, fears, and death are instead become mere pain, only fear, and a release,The arguments deployed against him essentially focus on the only differences between humans and advanced mammals they can latch upon, that humans' control of language and mathematics makes us more able to..... feel pain and sorrow?

Superbly written, Matthew Scully tackles the issue of animal cruelty and exploitation in all spheres, hunting, the fur trade, killing animals to eat, cruel sports etc without beating about the bush. It is a refreshing book coming from a Christian in particular. In my view christians on the whole have their ostrich heads in the sand. It is sad that evangelicals often associate a concern for the welfare of animals with extremism than with the Bible!I quote one paragraph: "In this chapter I just want to examine the thinking of many skeptics, especially my fellow conservatives and the lengths to which they often go to avoid animal welfare as a serious moral issue. Typically this involves three points of attack: A glorification of economic imperatives; a summary dismissal of the matter as sentimental, morally trivial and probably subversive; and a little Scripture thrown in for our moral uplift." A must read.

Very disappointing book. Very little concrete facts and a lot of theorising and waffling around. Worth less stars but giving four because it’s to do with animal cruelty.

Good book thank you