Comments on On the Use and Abuse of Animals

what a beautiful and insightful post.

Yes, very well said. And as hard as it is to imagine, working on those pigs does save lives. Many lives. Just like most all animal testing for medicine (not cosmetics). We get all the benefit of medicine, but we hate to think of how we got the technology. And PETA be damned, if their loved ones were dying and only an animal tested drug would cure them, I can guarentee they would use it.

Have to agree, doing that to a pig is just wrong. I know it saves lives, but they do have brains and use them.

Thanks for this post. That article disturbed me too. Surely it's possible to train trauma personnel w/o inflicting torture on a living creature. What do they do at Harborview?

Horrific.

So much for the Culture of Life®.

We're all just meat in the end, aren't we?

Yes, thank you for a post that does not proclaim a universal truth based on opinion or ideology, but points something about what makes it hard to be human. Life is complicated and confusing, and we do what we can just to get by without going insane.

At least thats how it is for me, I should say.

I hope anyone who is expressing concern for the pigs didn't read the linked article about the Navy corpsman and (probably dead) Marine.

Because if you did read the article, and you're still more concerned for the pigs than for the men, seek therapy. Now.

At Harborview (at least in the ER) they have resident doctors practice on people. This is possible because it is a controlled environment and an actual DR is at the resident's elbow (or at least somewhere on the floor).

Military medics also train at Harborview - assisting in surguries and such. But there is obviously no way to present enough actual wounded humans.

A final complication to making a direct comparison is the large "scope of practice" that a military medic has. As a result of all of their patients having previously signed away all rights to sue - they are allowed to do far more than a state-side medic.

And seriously - I doubt you could come up with a better example of how killing an animal will directly serve to protect human life. It's a much better use for them than food.

I'll start worrying about pigs when we don't have a war in Iraq distracting us from the war in Afganistan distracting us from the violence in Darfur, ect.

There are some emergency rooms in gang terrorized neighborhoods where they send army surgeons to learn how to deal with gunshot wounds. I guess they must move up from pigs to innocenty bystanders and gang members.

No one is disputing that setting an animal on fire and keeping it alive is wrong ... but it had a real purpose. The balance is between a pig or an unknown number of men. I echo the sentiment: if you know this and still feel sorrier for the pig, you need help.

Well being the corpsman's sister I should let you know that with the practice on the pig he was able to SAVE his friend's life. Smith is currently in a drug induced coma but is very responsive. Without the training with the pig Smith would have been dead!