Peter Singer-Animal Liberation

Ihaveemphasizedtheboycottelementofvegetarianismso
muchthatthereadermayaskwhether,iftheboycottdoesnot
spread andprove effective, anythinghasbeenachieved by
becomingavegetarian.Butwemustoftenventurewhenwe
cannotbe certainofsuccess,anditwouldbe noargument
againstbecomingavegetarianifthiswereallthatcouldbe
said against it,sincenone of thegreat movements against
oppressionandinjusticewouldhaveexistedif theirleaders
hadmadenoeffortsuntiltheywereassuredofsuccess.Inthe
case of vegetarianism, however, I believe we do achieve
something byour individualacts,evenif theboycott asa
wholeshouldnotsucceed.George BernardShawoncesaid
thathewouldbefollowedtohisgravebynumeroussheep,
cattle,pigs,chickens,andawholeshoaloffish,allgratefulat
havingbeensparedfromslaughterbecauseofhisvegetarian
diet. Although we cannot identify any individual animals
whomwehavebenefitedbybecomingavegetarian,wecan
assumethatourdiet,together withthatofthemanyothers
whoarealreadyavoidingmeat,willhavesomeimpactonthe
numberofanimalsraisedinfactoryfarmsandslaughteredfor
food.Thisassumptionisreasonablebecausethenumberof
animalsraisedandslaughtereddependsontheprofitabilityof
thisprocess,andthisprofitdependsinpartonthedemandfor
theproduct.Thesmallerthedemand,thelowerthepriceand
the lower the profit. The lower the profit, the fewer the
animalsthatwillberaisedandslaughtered.Thisiselementary
economics,anditcaneasilybeobservedintablespublished
by the poultry
tradejournals,forinstance,thatthereisadirect correlation
between the price of poultry and the numberof chickens
placed in broiler sheds to begin their joyless existence.