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

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

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"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."--Genesis 1:24-26

In this crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion.

Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.

In Dominion, we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches," where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources." And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm," where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, kept in tightly confined stalls for the entirety of their lives, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.

Throughout Dominion, Scully counters the hypocritical arguments that attempt to excuse animal abuse: from those who argue that the Bible's message permits mankind to use animals as it pleases, to the hunter's argument that through hunting animal populations are controlled, to the popular and "scientifically proven" notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions, and are not conscious of their own lives.

The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. Dominion is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual. Matthew Scully has created a groundbreaking work, a book of lasting power and importance for all of us.

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Paperback, 448 pages

Published October 8th 2003 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published September 30th 2002)

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Jan 27, 2008 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: vegetarians, vegans, curious, open-minded thinkers, compassionate individuals

This book is glittering prose! I read it with a pencil or pen in hand and typically felt like underlining every word on the page! I was always scribbling things in the margins. It was great! I am amazed at how carefully Matthew Scully explains his thinking on various subjects, without being overbearing or self-righteous. I will try to quote some of my favorite passages, although there are too many favorites to include here.

"let us just call things what they are. When a man's love of finery clou...more This book is glittering prose! I read it with a pencil or pen in hand and typically felt like underlining every word on the page! I was always scribbling things in the margins. It was great! I am amazed at how carefully Matthew Scully explains his thinking on various subjects, without being overbearing or self-righteous. I will try to quote some of my favorite passages, although there are too many favorites to include here.

"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 his 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." p. 121

"When substitute products are found, with each creature in turn, responsible dominion calls for a reprieve. The warrant expires. The divine mandate is used up. What were once "necessary evils" become just evils. Laws protecting animals from mistreatment, abuse, and exploitation are not a moral luxury or sentimental afterthought to be shrugged off. They are a serious moral obligation, only clearer in the more developed parts of the world where we cannot plead poverty. Man, guided by the very light of reason and ethics that was his claim to dominion in the first place, should in generations to come have the good grace to repay his debts, step back wherever possible and leave the creatures be, off to live out the lives designed for them, with all the beauty and sights and smells and warm winds, and all the natural hardships, dangers, and violence, too." p. 43

"We tend to assume, moreover, that instinct, even when it is clearly at work, means there can be no accompanying thought or feeling--as if a doe when she caresses her fawn, or your cat when he or she kneads on you, can have no awareness or pleasure in that instinctive experience. We certainly don't assume that about ourselves when we feel the tug of instinct, in avoiding danger or safeguarding our young or seeking potential mates. On the contrary, the thoughts and emotions accompanying instinctive desires are usually the most vivid. The most earthy, ordinary human experiences--coupling, birthing, dying--are in fact, the most deeply experienced. Instinctive desire and action in our own case does not always mean blind, unfeeling reflex, and there is no reason to supppose it is any different for them." p. 228

"The whole sad business, even while defended in terms of reason and realism, is designed precisely to prevent that engagement with the facts, to keep information and conscience as far apart as possible, to soothe and satisfy all at once, now even to the point of eradicating 'cosmetic defects' like bloodsplash lest Everyone be troubled by the thought that pain was felt and blood was shed.
"I know many people far more upright and conscientious than I am who disagree, who think nothing of it. I know that vegetarianism runs against mankind's most casual assumptions about the world and our place within it. And I know that factory farming is an economic inevitability, not likely to end anytime soon.
"But I don't answer to inevitabilities, and neither do you. I don't answer to the economy. I don't answer to tradition and I don't answer to Everyone. For me, it comes down to a question of whether I am a man or just a consumer. Whether to reason or just to rationalize. Whether to heed my conscience or my every craving, to assert my free will or just my will. Whether to side with the powerful and comfortable or with the weak, afflicted, and forgotten. Whether, as an economic actor in the free market, I answer to the god of money or the God of mercy." pp. 324-325.
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Oct 27, 2008 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book a lot more before I learned the author is the speech writer for Sarah Palin. I have a hard time believing that Scully is not passionate about vegetarianism. The book is incredibly dramatic. You can tell he is a speech writer -- he writes as if he is before 100,000 people trying to enliven them for battle or something. I am a passionate vegetarian, and there were times that even I was like, okay Matthew Scully enough enough enough! So where is his inauthenticity? How can he beli...more I liked this book a lot more before I learned the author is the speech writer for Sarah Palin. I have a hard time believing that Scully is not passionate about vegetarianism. The book is incredibly dramatic. You can tell he is a speech writer -- he writes as if he is before 100,000 people trying to enliven them for battle or something. I am a passionate vegetarian, and there were times that even I was like, okay Matthew Scully enough enough enough! So where is his inauthenticity? How can he believe all of this and support a woman who is cool with aerial shooting and hunting and doesn't give a shit about polar bears?

Whatever. I liked the book, and I didn't feel overwhelmed by his conservative/religious bias, although I disagreed with him about some moral issues. Like, it was interesting to see where he draws the line on killing animals and then abortion and stem-cell research. Most vegetarians are liberal and are cool with stem-cell research and women's rights. Most. Matthew Scully breaks that mold. So I guess it makes you realize how fuzzy all the lines really are.

Scully makes a lot of valid points and says them better than I ever have. I liked this part:

He was saying people are always like (paraphrasing: "humans have thought and conscience so we obviously are better than animals, we have dominion over them, so we can eat them because they don't and they're stupid and they have no idea what's going on." They are? They don't? Fine, then: (now I'll start quoting Scully...)

"When people say that they like their veal or hot dogs just too much to ever give them up, and yeah it's sad about the farms but that's just the way it is, reason hears in that the voice of gluttony. What makes a human being human is precisely the ability to understand that the suffering of an animal is more important than the taste of a treat." (303)

Also:

"Let's 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." (121)

See what I mean about the dramatic stuff?

Anyway, read this book, if only to be confused about how someone could do such a brilliant job encapsulating such a complicated issue so beautifully and simply, and yet churn out the words for a woman who says things like "Talibani" and "Gee Willikers*".

*I have never heard her say "Gee Willikers, but I bet she does."
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Mar 02, 2009 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well. This was a shrewdly written book. Instead of arguing for animal rights he argues that humans have neglected to exercise care for animals in their use of them. In other words modern humans have forsaken a biblical and moral vision of dominion for a quite selfish and callous use of animals for profit. In this use we ourselves are disfigured and reduced.
Most of the first half of the book is an overview of the most egregious misuse of animals in our world, focusing on the trophy hunting of a...more Well. This was a shrewdly written book. Instead of arguing for animal rights he argues that humans have neglected to exercise care for animals in their use of them. In other words modern humans have forsaken a biblical and moral vision of dominion for a quite selfish and callous use of animals for profit. In this use we ourselves are disfigured and reduced.
Most of the first half of the book is an overview of the most egregious misuse of animals in our world, focusing on the trophy hunting of animals, especially elephants, the hunting of the great whales, and the industrial production of pork. What he finds in these three areas is tantamount to torture, a rejection of care/dominion for a vicious, economic approach to the higher mammals. The rest of the book is a more philosophical discussion of natural law as a basis of morality and a very discussion of whether or not animals have emotions and if they feel and experience pain in a way similar to the way we do.
Throughout the book the author deals extensively with the arguments of the other side, most of whom are fellow conservatives (he is a former speech writer foe Bush II). He seeks to ground his arguments for mercy for animals in universal human moral values. He is very convincing that higher mammals experience the world in much the same way that we do and is very convincing in his arguments for the need to abandon trophy hunting, whaling, and industrial food production. I don't think that he ever actually called for everyone to stop eating meat, he does call us to be mindful of what we are doing when we eat and when we interact with animals.
This book pushes us toward vegetarianism in a logical caring way. I would have liked to see some interaction with animal farming that is compassionate and humane. He was long on theory (and I am in no way denigrating this) and short on solutions except to ban trophy hunting and whaling (which I would support). His more journalistic sections, when he is describing the activities that he abhors are much more readable and passionate then his more theory driven chapters and this makes the book uneven. All in all this is an important book I think, because he makes the important distinction between what we can do and what we should do. We don't owe animals mercy because they have rights, we owe them mercy because we have dominion.(less)

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Mar 13, 2013 Vivian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals, 2013-reads

Quotes:
"If we buy and eat factory-farmed meat, we are left without any rational reply. With every new proposal to curtail or abolish one or another form of cruelty, opponents may simply point to our modern farms and ask why we do not favor abolishing those, too. 'Leave us to our whale,” as the whalers say, “and we will leave you to your McDonald’s and pork chops.' They have a point. If you can have your favorite treats from the factory farm, why on earth can’t others have their whale meat, or ot...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Keri rated it 5 of 5 stars

Still one of the most powerful books I've ever read. Every few years I pick it up again. Parts of it are hard to get through, but Scully is unmatched in his ability to communicate the heart and soul of this issue. He's also a unique voice in the animal advocate world, as a religious and conservative man. The argument made on a spiritual level - the true meaning of dominion and stewardship, for example - just hits me like a speeding train every time. The plain, inarguable logic and harsh truth of...more

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Dec 31, 2010 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, faith-and-spirituality, law-policy-and-justice

A beautiful and heartbreaking book.

The author does two things really, really well. First, he persuasively takes a leading argument against animal protection -- sentimentalism -- and throws it back at those who defend hunting, whaling, and meat-eating by using their own words. Second, he promotes an ethic of gentleness in a way that made it seem appealing and not at all wimpy. I didn't feel that the author was ever emotionally manipulative -- after all, he needs to confront the charge that anima...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Kristen rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best books I have ever read. I picked it up at the library last week because I recognized the author's name from when he was one of George Bush's speech writers. I didn't really even pay attention to what the book was about because I was in a hurry (although the cover image was captivating). The book explores the idea of man's dominion over animals, and how in modern times that has been turned into a completely unrighteous dominion. The author eloquently argues that every anim...more This is one of the best books I have ever read. I picked it up at the library last week because I recognized the author's name from when he was one of George Bush's speech writers. I didn't really even pay attention to what the book was about because I was in a hurry (although the cover image was captivating). The book explores the idea of man's dominion over animals, and how in modern times that has been turned into a completely unrighteous dominion. The author eloquently argues that every animal should be allowed to fulfill the measure of its creation, and that each animal was made for a divine purpose.

I have always been an animal lover, but I have also kind of thought the "animal rights" people were kind of hippie, liberal weirdos. Scully is not one of those people. He isn't one who would throw paint on a fur coat, or set a bunch of lab animals free. He simply thinks that all animals should be treated with dignity and respect, no matter what their purpose is. I could not agree more.

I learned alot from this book (some things I wish I still did not know!). I had no idea that safari companies in Africa offer "canned" hunts, where captive animals (elephants, lions, etc) are released from a cage directly in front of a waiting hunter. Where is the sport in that? How could anyone possibly think that was ok? Some of the animals used in canned hunts are previously captured wild animals, while some are "retired" zoo or circus animals. So after years of entertaining humans while being mistreated in the name of "training", the final fate of many circus animals is to be shipped to africa and shot. Awful!

I also had no idea that the debate is still going on about whether or not animals are conscious, sentient beings. Really??? How is that even still a question, after all the work done with Alex the parrot, Koko the gorilla, and millions of other animals who have shown the ability to display emotions, thoughts, and suffering?

The chapter on factory farms was just awful. To hear the farmers talking about how the pigs "like" being kept in crates and how they are "happy" with not having enough room to turn around just totally reminded me of the way Satan convinces people that evil isn't really evil. I think Abraham Lincoln's quote about slavery ("If slavery isn't evil, then nothing is evil") could be applied to factory farming. If factory farming isn't an example of unrighteous dominion, then there really must just not be any such thing as unrighteous dominion. I finished reading about the farms thinking, "Dang it! Now I will have to be a vegetarian!" because I really just did not want to contribute in any small way to such a cruel industry. But luckily I was able to find some local sources of 100% pasture raised beef and poultry, so my family can still eat meat, but definitely in smaller amounts than we have in the past. I like the idea of following the word of wisdom's admonition to eat meat "sparingly" anyway.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone. You will learn a lot, and it might change the way you think about certain things.(less)

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Apr 24, 2012 Stefani rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: animal-rights, sad, non-fiction

Although a bit tedious at times, Dominion is a series of powerful arguments against the assumption that man's cognitive superiority to animals is correlated with his ability to use them for any purpose he sees fit regardless of how it harms or causes them pain. One of the main assumptions that he challenges is whether or not animals have a "conscious," a hotly contested topic among intellectuals, many of whom think that without the ability to reason or speak, animals are functionally brain dead...more

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May 09, 2013 Michael Cremin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, green, life-lessons

I am not what you'd call an 'animal person.' I have never had a pet, nor do I want one. Although I have moved to a largely plant based diet over the past three years, my choice to go mostly vegetarian had more to do with my health than animals. I don't think much about animals, really, except that I don't like factory farming, and think zoos are mean. Then, about a week ago, after watching the documentary Vegucated, I learned something that utterly horrified me: male baby chicks are thrown alive...more I am not what you'd call an 'animal person.' I have never had a pet, nor do I want one. Although I have moved to a largely plant based diet over the past three years, my choice to go mostly vegetarian had more to do with my health than animals. I don't think much about animals, really, except that I don't like factory farming, and think zoos are mean. Then, about a week ago, after watching the documentary Vegucated, I learned something that utterly horrified me: male baby chicks are thrown alive into giant grinding machines because they can't lay eggs. The video of this practice was utterly shocking to me, and made me realize that there is an entire universe of cruelty out there in the world that I knew very little about. I had been meaning to read this book for several years, so I got it and thought I'd slog my way through.

I read in three days, which is saying something: this is a long, dense, deep book. 398 pages, 10 point font, full of an awful lot of law and philosophy. Dominionis written by a conservative Catholic who writes for National Review and who worked as a speech writer for President George W. Bush, so he's hardly some hippy tree hugger or breathless Vegan activist. This is a guy who believes in free markets, limited government regulation, and the primacy of the individual. And he is repulsed by how animals are treated. The book surveys big game hunting, whaling, animal experimentation, and factory farming. I had no idea about how any of these things really work, and I could not believe how unspeakably vile it all is. We are not talking about deer hunting, or indigenous people killing a whale, or tests done on animals to help cure cancer. We are talking about people raising monkeys in cages to kill them and sell their meat. We are talking about the Japanese classifying whales as fish and killing thousands each year for 'scientific research.' We are talking about pouring common household chemicals into the eyes of rabbits to show--yet again--that those chemicals are blinding. And we are talking about pigs (just for one example) who are as intelligent as a three year old human being spending their few years of life being tortured. As I read, the word I kept coming back to over and over again was 'unspeakable.' Literally: what I read left me speechless.

Much of the book discusses mankind's role in this world, and the Biblical idea of dominion. That is, the belief that 'man is the measure of all things,' and that all of the world is ours to use and abuse as we see fit. As the author puts it, people view creation 'as a colorful backdrop for human action,' and believe that because we can dominate and slaughter and warp life as we see fit (through things like genetic manipulation of animal DNA) we should feel free to go ahead and do these dreadful things, especially if they make money. An elephant, for example, has no inherent worth unless someone puts a market value on it, then conjures up enough wealth to go and shoot it. Not for food. Not out of necessity. Just because of some twisted appetite to do so. Whales--utterly harmless, peaceful creature (maybe not killer whales)--end up in miso soup in Japan because some small but wealthy minority wishes to eat them. Chimpanzees, a species so intelligent that it can learn sign language and communicate with us, spend decades in small cages to serve our need to create more potent drugs and chemicals. And on and on and on.

The author's main argument is not that humans shouldn't eat meat, or that medical testing isn't sometimes necessary, or that people who hunt for food are immoral. The author's point is that, like so much else of our modern world, our treatment of animals has become deeply inhumane as it has become more industrialized. As with most of humanity's vices in this day and age., the cruel treatment of animals has become excessive. The author's call is for mercy, and for human beings to realize that animals are living creatures, not cogs in our human systems. I am profoundly moved by this book--again, written by a Republican and read by an guy who has never picked up a cat in his life. I kept wincing. I feel convicted. I kept thinking, how is this different than wealthy people who go to poor countries in Asia to have sex with children? That, too, is an appetite. That, too, fails to acknowledge the claims of life and dignity. That, too, is just sick. And that, too, is a perversion of the wealthy; a symptom of affluenza, similar to those people who buy an tiger from India, have it shipped back to the United States, then shoot it as it emerges from its cage and have it stuffed. Appetite plus wealth plus what is darkest in human nature. It is all so disturbing.

The author spends a good ten pages or so demolishing Professor Pete Singer's philosophy, too, which I found joyful. I hate the evil, twisted fuck.

With all of this said, the book could have been 50 pages shorter. There was a long section about consciousness and sentience that was a bit dry, and to me, unnecessary. As interesting as neuroethnology is (I actually studied it in college long ago), I don't think I need to be convinced about the intelligence of animals to recognize that their maltreatment coarsens human nature. Like abortion, if people could see what is being done to the creatures they bring into this world, much of what constitutes 'animal husbandry' in this day and age would end tomorrow.

This book is hard. It is important. It is infuriating. I don't know if I'm happy that I read it, or if I would have been better off not connecting all of the dots that I've witnessed over the years with regard to animals and food and human beings. Very, very dark stuff.
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Jul 04, 2012 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some chapters in this book are captivating -- particularly the author's research into the Safari Club and the world of big game trophy hunting. Great investigative journalism. But then he juxtaposed a few of these chapters (including another good discussion about whale hunting) with discussions into animal rights which focus on an attack of Professor Singer's animal rights perspective and fail to offer his own cogent theory of animal rights or welfare. I felt that the author had several ideas fo...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Dear Fountain rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: food, philosophy

In Dominion, Matthew Scully brings a conservative Christian perspective to the cause of animal welfare. He begins the book with profiles of the types of animal cruelty easy for the general population to disapprove of: big game hunting, whaling, and animal experimentation. After profiling these cruel practices on beloved animals he brings the reader on a tour of the modern factory farm and slaughterhouse, in the process highlighting the absurdity of philosophical thinking excusing such cruelty. B...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Calista rated it 5 of 5 stars

Deeply disturbing. This book kept me up many nights thinking of the utter horrors that humans impart on the innocent creatures that call this world home. Thinking of the men with their guns on their hunting expeditions to Africa to take home what is to them just a trophy, like real "big game" -- elephants. Elephants have babies, they have sisters, they have families, they have memories. The chimpanzees locked up in research facilities their whole lives. The factory farm pigs who never saw the li...more

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Mar 31, 2012 Lisamarie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This, like so many books about the systematic abuse and widespread slaughter of animals, was a hard book to read. The raw truth can be devastatingly painful. Matthew Scully has done an excellent job writing a convincingly powerful, and absolutely moving argument for the rights of non-human animals. I was initially shocked to learn that Scully is a vegetarian, the former speech writer for G.W. Bush, and a Conservative Republican-not things I would normally associate with a merciful position towar...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, activism

I loved this book! It was a great new perspective of why we should be merciful to animals. The typical animal rights book is usually very extreme. Matthew Scully takes the idea of animal welfare adn explains it in ways that any right wing homocentric conservative could understand and come to agree with. Scully explores trophy hunting, slaughter, the emotional/intelligent lives of animals and a few other topics and explains from a Christian perspective why we should repect them for what they are...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Bounta rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is incredibly one sided; just as any speech writer for President Bush would need to be. I believe we should treat the animals we are going to consume for our meals decently; we cannot however treat them humanly as they are animals not humans. I do treat domesticated animals with due respect and love for they are not for dinner.

We are omnivores and hence eat meat and vegetables. We are meant too. A lion doesn't whine over how the deer was treated, but we are considered higher up the thi...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Autumn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: food, animal-rights

we ARE meant to treat animals with kindness, but not because they are powerless and unequal to humans as scully claims, but because they are equal and probably superior to us.

i was also jolted by his hypocritical anti veganism "Using animals for milk and wool and the like is perfectly acceptable provided they and their young are treated humanely, as they are on smaller farms." (P. 28.)

the tragic end for dairy cows is the same as beef cows; 80% of meat comes from dairy cows. does scully ignore t...more

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Dec 29, 2010 dara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mogo, read-in-2010

Excerpt/something to consider:

"Philosophically, one can look at it this way. Broadly speaking, for as long as people have engaged in moral thought, mankind has acted upon two fundamental beliefs: (a) It is morally permissible to raise and slaughter animals for our own consumption--a material good--because doing so is necessary for our survival and well-being--a moral good. But this very claim of moral sanction attested to the belief that there was a sacrifice involved and that (b) even in livest...more Excerpt/something to consider:

"Philosophically, one can look at it this way. Broadly speaking, for as long as people have engaged in moral thought, mankind has acted upon two fundamental beliefs: (a) It is morally permissible to raise and slaughter animals for our own consumption--a material good--because doing so is necessary for our survival and well-being--a moral good. But this very claim of moral sanction attested to the belief that there was a sacrifice involved and that (b) even in livestock production we do have at least certain minimal obligations of kindness to animals--a moral good.

Whether these are direct or indirect obligations is for the moment irrelevant to the fact that they exist, that they require certain restraints on our part, and that before the age of industrial farming one could act upon both (a) and (b) at the same time. And the problem is just this simple. The moral component of (a) is gone. We have no valid claims of need anymore, only our claim to the material good of fare to which we are accustomed. Meanwhile, in a global, high-tech economy of six billion consumers--perhaps nine or ten billion by the year 2100--livestock animals simply cannot be raised under humane conditions. We are left, then, with exactly one material good and one moral good, our pleasure weighed against our duty of compassion. And these can no longer coexist. One or the other must be abandoned.

Among those who have noticed this shift in the scales is environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who writes of how, 'like other Americans, I've reconciled myself to the idea that an animal's life has been sacrificed to bring me a meal of pork or chicken. However, industrial meat production--which subjects animals to a life of torture--has escalated the karmic costs beyond reconciliation.' Mr. Kennedy, who is leading a campaign against Smithfield for environmental negligence, buys only meat raised from small farms that 'treat their animals with dignity and respect.'

I think that is a decent compromise, and it is good to hear such a prominent voice taking the side of animals. How rare to hear anyone today speak of the 'dignity' of these creatures. But this middle ground is vanishing with our small farms. More and more, consumers are left with a choice between two radical alternatives. The way I figure it, we can be radically kind or we can be radically cruel.

I know, of course, that we vegetarians are still considered an eccentric minority. It is always hard to raise the subject without feeling a little awkward, the skunk at every party and barbecue. Frankly I have felt a little uneasy just writing about the matter, forcing unpleasant details upon the reader, a task that can be mean and spiteful if done in the wrong spirit. As harsh as the process of industrial farming may be, the motive, after all, is not cruelty. It's not as if anyone wants the creatures to suffer. We would all wish it otherwise. And in a way the standard vegetarian argument that the average person eats meat, and yet could not bear to see how it was produced, actually speaks well of the average person. Imagine a world in which most people enjoyed hearing and seeing the details.

I think this is why even the most impassioned vegetarian arguments often miss the mark: Because we tend to judge ourselves by motive and intention rather than by means and result. We vegetarians, in our defense, are at least prepared to look at actual consequences and inconvenient realities, understanding that he who wills the end wills also the means. At least we have confronted the seriousness of the matter, thought about it, made a conscious and deliberate choice, and how many people can actually pinpoint some moment in their lives when they decided to eat meat? From the first bits of flesh placed on the tray of our high chairs, most people go through life never once questioning that this is natural and necessary, the way things are and must ever be. Everyone does it, so it must be right.

Here's a good question to ask yourself: Would you give up meat if you were persuaded that factory farming was cruel and unethical? Hypothetically, in other words, how difficult and inconvenient would it be to act upon your own moral concerns? Or indeed how socially embarrassing would it be, how troublesome to have to make a choice and explain and stay with it? The next question would be whether it is, in fact, the absence of moral concern that prevents the change, or the prospect of the difficulties and inconvenience.

Likewise, if you must have meat, regarding it as a right and necessary thing while viewing factory farming as a bad and unnecessary thing, do you, like Mr. Kennedy, act on that distinction by buying only meats raised by humane standards? And if not, why not? Why is industrial farming wrong by your own standards, yet not a serious enough wrong to warrant a change in your own daily choices? Think of the effect that this decision alone would have on modern agriculture, more millions of consumers making that one little effort every day to spare the creatures from needless misery."(less)

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Jan 12, 2010 Scarlett B rated it 5 of 5 stars

I would recommend this book to any of my conservative-leaning friends who think animal issues are none of their concern. For too long, liberals have dominated and isolated animal rights as a "leftist" cause. But there are plenty of reasons why Christians and conservatives should care about and protect animals, and Matthew Scully does a brilliant job presenting his case.
This book is sad, beautiful, thought-provoking, scary, and uplifting. Most of all it's life-changing.
I wish this were required...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Writer's Relief rated it 5 of 5 stars

We’ve all seen the crammed chicken coops, the overfed, hormone-injected cow, or the shot deer hanging off the back of a hunter’s pickup. We’ve all felt something, if not a little sadness, for these defenseless animals. Then we go home and we pet our dogs and think nothing of it. So what then? In his treatise DOMINION, renowned journalist Matthew Scully explores the argument for animal rights in the modern world, and the various inconsistencies found within these debates. As the title lets on, Sc...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Granny rated it 5 of 5 stars

It took me a long time to finish this book, but not because of anything inherently wrong about the book or its merits. On the contrary, the heartbreaking commentary on the suffering of animals at the hands of our fellow world citizens, and the complicity that all of us have, in one form or another, in this awful state of being, is overwhelming and heart-wrenching. I could only take so much at one sitting. I shed more than a few tears as Matthew Scully outlined the travesties perpetrated on our f...more It took me a long time to finish this book, but not because of anything inherently wrong about the book or its merits. On the contrary, the heartbreaking commentary on the suffering of animals at the hands of our fellow world citizens, and the complicity that all of us have, in one form or another, in this awful state of being, is overwhelming and heart-wrenching. I could only take so much at one sitting. I shed more than a few tears as Matthew Scully outlined the travesties perpetrated on our factory farms, the poaching and killing of so many endangered creatures in the wild kingdoms of Africa, Asia, and elsewhere, the exploiting of marine mammals & other marine species to the point of near extinction, the horrific treatment of lab animals, cruelty done to zoo, racing, and circus animals in the name of entertainment, the horrors of the fur trade around the world, and all of it done in the name of "dominion over the creatures of the earth". I don't think all this suffering and killing is what God had in mind when he gave man dominion over the earth. And, even if man at one point in his existence relied more heavily out of necessity on animal products for sustenance, options are available today that make the need for the slaughtering of millions of sentient creatures year after year unnecessary. Scully's arguments are profound, bolstered by scholarly works throughout the ages, and biblical scriptures. Man should be a wise steward over the earth and its creatures, and what we are currently doing is not wise or merciful. Laws desperately need to be enacted in America and throughout the world that ensure the humane treatment of animals in all situations, and prescribe serious punishment to those who would break those laws. Some European countries are taking the lead by banning gestation crates, battery cages for chickens, and veal crates. America needs to follow suit and start reforming by legal statutes, the cruel factory farming practices that have developed over the years. Even if you still want to eat meat after reading a book like this, the animals that you consume should have the right to a minimal standard of care and living conditions appropriate to their species, until they are called on to be sacrificed for your dining pleasure. Their end should be a merciful death, not the kind that is seen in slaughter-houses throughout the world today, where they are often cut up or boiled while still alive as they move through the conveyors by the millions, year in and year out! We should all be willing to pay more at the store for the privilege of eating our fellow peaceable creatures, who've done nothing to deserve the fate that we have foisted upon them, and at the very least, ensure that they don't suffer inhumanely for our appetites. The call to mercy in this book is eloquent and boldly proclaimed. Scully is absolutely the best author I have read on the subject of animal welfare. If you have any compassion toward animals, you would do well to read this book.(less)

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Mar 05, 2011 tartaruga fechada rated it 4 of 5 stars

An account of animals from a religious more than a philosophical perspective, Scully, like Foer, struggles in the abstract and theoretical, but shines when the narrative breaks down into the simplicity of stories. Scully's stories are made all the more fascinating by his perspective and position as a Republican thinker and former speech writer to Bush jr. No way to say if his politics helped him get close to Schwarzkopf and Bush at a Safari Club gathering, obtain personal tours of factory farm o...more

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Jun 07, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you interested in reading this book, you should read my brother Eric's review of it. He's said pretty much what I thought of the book, but more more eloquently than I could write it! Just a couple of my own thoughts - I was particularly struck by his comments about how the average person views their own animals (family pets, etc.) and would never dream of mistreating them vs. what they are willing to eat (i.e. meat from industrial farms) and use (i.e. products tested on animals). For example,...more If you interested in reading this book, you should read my brother Eric's review of it. He's said pretty much what I thought of the book, but more more eloquently than I could write it! Just a couple of my own thoughts - I was particularly struck by his comments about how the average person views their own animals (family pets, etc.) and would never dream of mistreating them vs. what they are willing to eat (i.e. meat from industrial farms) and use (i.e. products tested on animals). For example, why is it OK for dogs to be experimented on in the lab when we would never have consented to have our beloved black lab Kalua subjected to the same treatment? In the end, they are all animals and we tend to draw a false line between the two.

I really struggled to get through the latter half of the book (particularly the "Nature and Nature's God" chapter), which was much more theory-driven. Like Eric says in his review, the other chapters in which he catalogs the horrors of trophy hunting, whaling, and industrial pig farming are much more compassionate and compelling. I was particularly sickened by the trophy hunting chapter. The theory is important as well but in the end, I'm convinced and didn't end up reading all of that chapter.

I, like Eric, wished that he would have considered the humane treatment of animals on traditional family farms in more depth. However, he does mention this option on p. 316 and calls such farms a "decent compromise". He says that most consumers these days are left with "a choice between two radial alternatives...be radically kind or ...radically cruel." In other words, be vegetarians (radically kind) or buy inhumanely raised meat from the supermarket (radically cruel). This is the decision/way of life that Barbara Kingsolver writes about in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and the way of eating that Nik and I have committed to as well. We'd rather not eat meat than eat any meat that comes from animals raised in the industrial machine. And the more we read about "free range" chickens and other supposedly more responsible choices from the supermarket, the more we are determined to only buy our meat directly from a farmer, where we can see how our animals are raised and can verify for ourselves that there is not cruelty involved. And yes, it's much more expensive this way and so we eat a lot less meat than we otherwise would. We eat meat maybe twice a week (sometimes three), we eat small portions of it and we eat a lot more vegetables. In the end, we don't believe that we are entitled to meat at every meal nor do we even miss it at every meal. And I'm glad for that. And yes, if we lived in a place where we were not blessed to have so many small farm options, we would chose the radically kind option, and become vegetarians.

In the end, I think that the lesson I take with me from this book is that we, as humans, have a responsibility to take care of those who are less powerful than ourselves. This applies to people as well as to the animals. (less)

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Nov 18, 2008 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who has never considered why they eat meat or where it comes from

Shelves: class, non-fiction

After spending the past few weeks reading theory on animal rights and our moral obligations (or lack thereof) I thought I was immune to pretty much anything any activist could throw at me. Yet, here is a conservative Christian who has managed to create a compelling work that a) neatly sums up most of what I've read on the subject and b) proposes reasons for mercy and morality towards animals that is less abrasive than Singer and more, well, realistic than most.

This book kind of snuck up on me, a...more

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Sep 04, 2008 Bri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nature-food-farming

Dominion is an excellent read and so far my favorite in the genre of making a case for animal rights. Matthew Scully is an unexpected voice for animals--he is a conservative, a Catholic, and a speechwriter for many republicans including President George W. Bush. He is the first person to admit that his party does not always do the best job of reflecting his politics when it comes to animals--and he is not shy about calling out specific names either. Perhaps this is why I like the book so much--b...more Dominion is an excellent read and so far my favorite in the genre of making a case for animal rights. Matthew Scully is an unexpected voice for animals--he is a conservative, a Catholic, and a speechwriter for many republicans including President George W. Bush. He is the first person to admit that his party does not always do the best job of reflecting his politics when it comes to animals--and he is not shy about calling out specific names either. Perhaps this is why I like the book so much--because he brings a different political orientation and point of view to the table that is sparse to begin with but is primarily stocked by progressive voices like Peter Singer. You get the feeling with some of these works that there is a lot of "preaching to the choir" going on, but in Dominion we know (partly because the author tells us) that many of the statesmen he admires most have poor records when it comes to securing rights and detailing what our obligations to animals are.

Scully devotes a good portion of the book into articulating the legal, ethical, and moral issues around humane treatment of animals and I must admit that while I am interested in the legal aspects of the issue, a lot of this seems pretty commonsense. I don't need or require several chapters devoted to trying to really answer the question once and for all, do animals feel pain. Sentience, consciousness, and all the rest may be possessed by animals to a greater or lessor degree, but having grown up around lots of different animals my whole life in an agricultural community I have no doubt that they do feel pain. And Scully ultimately arrives at the same conclusion but he does so after thoroughly explicating some of the more commonly invoked views on the question of whether animals suffer or not, which is really useful to many a reader approaching this issue for the first time.

I take it as a given that we have certain moral obligations to animals just as we do to people. It seems very clear to me that certain practices animals undergo everyday are barbaric, cruel, unnecesarry and should cease immediately. That is my personal conviction but whether or not there is a good case to be made for enacting laws that give specific protections to animals is a different issue and any compelling case must be made on equally compelling legal grounds. Peter Singer's Animal Liberation is one of the first books to do so, and Singer does an excellent job within the ethical (as opposed to moral) framework he is working in. In Dominion, Matthew Scully also attempts to make a case for the enactment of specific regulations and he does so by invoking Natural Law--something that was surprising and appealing to me.

Dominion is a tough read--who wants to have some of these gruesome facts staring at them from the page?-- and many will think that the issue does not deserve the time and attention of a whole entire book much less several of them. I disagree and I think that what the book drives home most clearly is that they way in which we see and treat animals says something about the way that we live as people and treat one another. If we are not able to show mercy to our fellow creatures, how are we to show it to one another?

The book was written several years ago, so some of the legislation mentioned is a little out of date, and we are seeing a revival of the small, humane, American farm which means a revival of better standards for livestock animals as well. All in all though the book serves as a useful, intelligently written, and meticulously researched case for ending needless suffering.

(less)

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Mar 30, 2009 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think this may end up being one of my all-time favorite books. This man writes beautifully, and says all the things I feel about animals, but am too inarticulate to express on my own. I initially bought the book because I heard it was written from a Christian perspective, and that the author is conservative -- and I wanted to expose myself to a perspective that would appeal to Christians that I might encounter in conversations about animal welfare. But (a) he doesn't push the religion stuff a...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2006

When I finally cracked it open, it took a long to read as it is just heartbreaking. The author is a Republican and admittedly conservative in most things, but also a vegetarian and fiercly devoted to the welfare of animals. His writing is well researched, well documented, and carefully worded. This has been one of the most difficult books I've ever read: he covers every aspect of animal cruelty: mass farming, whale hunting, animal research, big game hunting, crush videos, etc. He pulls no punche...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Margaret rated it 5 of 5 stars

It took me over a year, but I finally finished this book. It didn't take so long because it wasn't good, although I'm not sure that is the word I would use to describe it either. It took so long because there were parts of the book that were so horrific when reading them, I simply could read no more and had to take a break.

Mr. Scully writes a very powerful, thought-provoking and comprehensive book on the subject of man's association with, love and exploitation of animals of all kinds. He discuss...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Hayon rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is really incredible. Nearly every page contains a memorable quote or idea; its almost poetic because his writing flows so smoothly. It's a true work of art and the way he delves into the world of science, animal rights, leisure and necessity is seamless. His words are extremely compelling and they have encouraged me to become a stronger vegan and really pour my efforts into the fight for animal rights.

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Sep 17, 2010 Hannah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow!
"All of this for corsets and cosmetics, candles and perfumes, combs and stylish umbrella struts, industrial lubricants, printing inks, tanning leather, glycerin for dynamite, bone meal for livestock, fertilizer, margarine, gourmet specialities, and other products not a single one of which could be called irreplacable or essential to human life."

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Apr 18, 2013 Jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, nonfiction, favourites

This is a really good book. Through an anecdotal examination of several animal-based industries, Scully asks just a few simple questions: Is it right to inflict suffering on animals? If it is not, then how do we operate within that system to provide meat for ourselves? As a vegetarian, Scully shows a way through these moral questions. He does not do so in a heavy-handed way, and his vegetarianism is rarely discussed. This is one of the better books I've read on this topic and I will be thinking...more

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“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.” — 52 people liked it

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