454
from these afflictions long before they are gassed, or stunned, or electrocuted, or
strangled, or simply slammed against a wall.
54
Despite all these unspeakable horrors—one gasps, tears quickly, before the
unspeakable aggregations of such videos on YouTube—amazingly, the merciful and
loving chicken has remained spectacularly true to its nature, from all that can be
divined. Asks one reporter, “Are chickens the new popular pet?”
55
We know from personal experience and from the testimony of numerous friends
around the world that chickens as companion animals provide, says one gardener
friend, “the most constant, remarkable calming love imaginable. Every day I would
return home, the chickens came running up to me to cuddle, to share warmth in my
lap, to kiss and console me.”
48.5 The Strange Tragedy of a Brain
Yet, if you watched any of the above-indicated videos, then you know that the
human brain, in comparison with that of Gallus gallus domesticus, had manifested
all of its own worst woes. Expressing hate and ecological doomsday for these precious birds. Why is that?
In his daunting biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Rüdiger Safranski
writes of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872), “When it comes to culture, he
contended, a decision must be made as to its essential aim. The two major options
are the well-being of the greatest possible number of people, on the one hand, and
the success of individual lives, on the other”.
56
Such utilitarian impulses, of course,
have always been at the root of the ethical debate propounded by the likes of John
Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, and George Edward Moore. While Nietzsche became
immersed in his quest for that which was “beyond good and evil,” suggesting
famously that “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the
54 See, for example, “Investigation Into British Chicken Farms,” by AnimalEquality, May 13, 2019,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oORI_y2ccs; or “COK Investigation Exposes Chicken
Industry Cruelty,” September 21, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlrdr2jHV1A; or
“You need to kill him?’: Tyson Food contractors caught on video mistreating chickens,” by Justin
Wm. Moyer,The Washington Post, December 6, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/
you-need-to-kill-him-tyson-food-contractors-caught-on-video-mistreating-chickens/2017/12
/06/35ec4f58-d9fa-11e7-94b5-82a81b0f862e_story.html; or, “Hidden-Camera Exposes Criminal
Animal Abuse at Chicken Slaughterhouse,” March 28, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=V-RwqjtQmm8; or “Horrific Video Shows What Really Happens At America’s Chicken
Farms,” by Melissa Cronin, The Dodo, November 21, 2014, https://www.thedodo.com/chickenabuse-koch-foods-mfa-833876038.html; or, “Three Birds Every Second – High-Speed Chicken
Slaughter Plant,” March 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEaI7XQmF4.
55 See article by this title, by Katherine Martinko, treehugger, August 29, 2017, https://www.treehugger.com/pets/are-chickens-new-popular-pet.html.
56 Nietzsche – A Philosophical Biography, by Rüdiger Safranski, Translated by Shelley Frisch,
W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London, 2002, p. 73.
48 The Mind of a Chicken
from these afflictions long before they are gassed, or stunned, or electrocuted, or
strangled, or simply slammed against a wall.
54
Despite all these unspeakable horrors—one gasps, tears quickly, before the
unspeakable aggregations of such videos on YouTube—amazingly, the merciful and
loving chicken has remained spectacularly true to its nature, from all that can be
divined. Asks one reporter, “Are chickens the new popular pet?”
55
We know from personal experience and from the testimony of numerous friends
around the world that chickens as companion animals provide, says one gardener
friend, “the most constant, remarkable calming love imaginable. Every day I would
return home, the chickens came running up to me to cuddle, to share warmth in my
lap, to kiss and console me.”
48.5 The Strange Tragedy of a Brain
Yet, if you watched any of the above-indicated videos, then you know that the
human brain, in comparison with that of Gallus gallus domesticus, had manifested
all of its own worst woes. Expressing hate and ecological doomsday for these precious birds. Why is that?
In his daunting biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), Rüdiger Safranski
writes of Nietzsche’s The Birth of Tragedy (1872), “When it comes to culture, he
contended, a decision must be made as to its essential aim. The two major options
are the well-being of the greatest possible number of people, on the one hand, and
the success of individual lives, on the other”.
56
Such utilitarian impulses, of course,
have always been at the root of the ethical debate propounded by the likes of John
Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, and George Edward Moore. While Nietzsche became
immersed in his quest for that which was “beyond good and evil,” suggesting
famously that “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the
54 See, for example, “Investigation Into British Chicken Farms,” by AnimalEquality, May 13, 2019,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oORI_y2ccs; or “COK Investigation Exposes Chicken
Industry Cruelty,” September 21, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlrdr2jHV1A; or
“You need to kill him?’: Tyson Food contractors caught on video mistreating chickens,” by Justin
Wm. Moyer,The Washington Post, December 6, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/
you-need-to-kill-him-tyson-food-contractors-caught-on-video-mistreating-chickens/2017/12
/06/35ec4f58-d9fa-11e7-94b5-82a81b0f862e_story.html; or, “Hidden-Camera Exposes Criminal
Animal Abuse at Chicken Slaughterhouse,” March 28, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=V-RwqjtQmm8; or “Horrific Video Shows What Really Happens At America’s Chicken
Farms,” by Melissa Cronin, The Dodo, November 21, 2014, https://www.thedodo.com/chickenabuse-koch-foods-mfa-833876038.html; or, “Three Birds Every Second – High-Speed Chicken
Slaughter Plant,” March 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdEaI7XQmF4.
55 See article by this title, by Katherine Martinko, treehugger, August 29, 2017, https://www.treehugger.com/pets/are-chickens-new-popular-pet.html.
56 Nietzsche – A Philosophical Biography, by Rüdiger Safranski, Translated by Shelley Frisch,
W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London, 2002, p. 73.
48 The Mind of a Chicken