Tag: Jeffrey Masson

Another Review of Jeffrey Masson's Latest Book

Tom Fort wrote an amusing review of Jeffrey Masson’s book, The Pig Who Sang to the Moon. As you might remember, Masson is the animal rights activist/vegan wannabe who puts his own appetites above consideration for the poor chickens.

Anyway, in a review of Masson’s book for The Sunday Telegraph, Fort writes,

It is amazing what one can read in an animal’s eyes if one tries hard enough. But misunderstandings can happen. Masson refers to an encounter between a female animal rights campaigner and a boar imprisoned in a factory farm shed. The boar fixed his visitor with “those sad, intelligent penetrating eyes”, and she interpreted his question: “Why are you doing this to me?” The sceptic is entitled to as why, if the pig’s intelligence was so acute, could it not tell she was an ally?

. . .

But Masson sabotages his case by his own conceit. He cannot bothered with presenting any neurological evidence about animal responses, relying instead on assertions based on the impression of himself and other crusaders in the vegan cause. One, having spent a good deal of time with wild turkeys, reported that he had “never kept better company nor known better companionship.” Another says of her cows: “They are much nicer than us, more integrated, more whole.” A lady university professor in New Zealand explains her decision to live among 200 goats by their willingness to give her “unconditional love.”

Jeffery Masson and the others prefer the company of animals because — knowing nothing about what is really going on in their heads — they can imagine anything. They ignore the fact that the beasts would look just as genially on a Dr. Shipman as on them. Another advantage in the one-way relationship is that none of these creatures, however eloquently they grunt, moo, cluck or quack, can actually talk; and thus there is no way for them to let even someone as attuned to their ways as Jeffrey Masson know that he is talking tripe.

Or maybe the animals are just horrified when they look upon Masson and imagine him voraciously consuming eggs.

Source:

Animals are people too. Tom Fort, Sunday Telegraph (London), January 18, 2004.

Masson Says Veganism Is the Ideal . . . But Eggs Are Simply Too Yummy to Give Up

In a review of Jeffrey Masson’s latest book, Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals, reviewer Elizabeth Abbott notes a bit of a contradiction in Masson’s lament for farm animals: although Masson advocates for veganism but is unable to give up eggs. Abbott writes,

But Masson does not stop at describing farm animals. He offers solutions to halt or at least reduce the extent of what he sees as their victimization. Heading the list is veganism. We should not eat the flesh of any animal, Masson believes, or eat eggs or consume cows’ milk. We should acquire knowledge about and develop a political stance toward farmed animals. . . .

. . .

At the same time, Masson recognizes that even well-intentioned people can find it difficult to become vegan. Indeed, to the disappointment of animal-rights supporters, he admits that he himself has not reached his goal of pure veganism: “Eggs have been very hard for me to give up.”

Imagine — putting one’s own petty appetites above the pain and suffering of the animals. Masson might want to think about adopting a more rational approach to animals.

Source:

Meet your meat. Elizabeth Abbott, The Globe and Mail, January 10, 2004.