Everything Is Bullshit: The Greatest Scams on Earth Revealed Read Online Free PDF Page B

employed to garner
public interest, and it’s worked.
    Harp Seals, an activist group working to end the Canadian seal
slaughter, conjures such language to mobilize people to join their cause. Seal
pups are “famous for their big black eyes and fluffy white fur,” they write,
“and are astounding in their innocence, individuality, gentle nature, and
beauty.” The language appeals to society’s predisposition for pedomorphism , or things that resemble human babies (big
eyes, fuzzy little heads, etc.); social psychologists have long argued that
these traits are what make cute creatures endearing.
    Regardless of cuteness, the harp seal population in Canada is
currently estimated at 5.6 million — nearly triple what it was in the
1970s — and with nearly 20,000 species threatened by extinction, the
populous animal seems a strange target for so much attention. Renowned
ecologist Jacques Cousteau addresses this:

 
    “The harp seal question is entirely emotional. We have to be
logical. We have to aim our activity first to the endangered species. Those who
are moved by the plight of the harp seal could also be moved by the plight of
the pig...We have to be logical. If we are sentimental about harp seals, which
are not endangered because they are partially protected, then we have to also
be emotional about pigs.”

 
    Dr. M. Sanjayan , a noted
conservationist, believes that non-profits and animal protection agencies have
a deeply flawed selection methodology rooted almost solely in “preserving cute
and fuzzy animals” rather than the creatures that “actually keep our planet
humming.” He touches on this in an interview with National Geographic :

 
    "What we decide to save really is very arbitrary—it's
much more often done for emotional or psychological or national reasons than
would ever be made with a model...people end up saving what they want to
save—it's as simple as that."

 
    Sanjayan cites
ants as a prime example of how activists are biased toward cuteness over
ecological function. The tiny creatures are essential environmental helpers
— they disseminate seeds, aerate soils, and eliminate human pests —
but are not represented by animal rights groups. "If we're going to save
pandas, for instance, rather than ants,” adds Marc Bekoff ,
an ethologist at the University of Colorado Boulder,
“we need a good reason, and being cute is not a good reason."
    In Western society, cows are on the opposite spectrum of the
cute bias. Every year in the United States, 40 million cattle are slaughtered;
their skin, manufactured into leather, accounts for 50% of their total
byproduct value. We’re the world’s largest producer of hides, with an annual
supply of 1.1 million tons. Most commercial cattle endure horrendous living
conditions: they’re crowded into factory farms with inadequate food and water,
pumped full of antibiotics, and spend their entire lives milling around on
concrete floors without the “luxury” of living in their natural habitats.
    Cows are killed by a swift blow to the skull with a stun gun and
a slit to the throat; they are then hooked to a chain by their hind leg, and
bled out over a tub — often still alive, but not coherent. Under the
U.S.’s 1958 Humane Slaughter Act, this is not only legal, but considered a
“compassionate” way to die. Chickens endure even worse: they are hung upside
down, shocked into paralysis, then drowned in hot
water. The act of seal clubbing, when gauged with these methods, seems somewhat
tamer, but has been sensationalized as unapologetically violent due to the fact
that seals are more aesthetically pleasing than cows and chickens.
    Whales present a case that isn’t entirely dissimilar. Beneath hotly-contested Canadian ice, the giant, unattractive
creatures go unloved. Recently, the Canadian government moved to take humpback
whales off the threatened species list; instead, the animals will be labeled a
“species of special concern” — a title