Animal Rights Bloggers Take On Temple Grandin

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Animals in the Blogs roundups, Farm Animals, Slaughter

Published January 29, 2009 @ 05:00AM PT

Temple Grandin, famous for her work on slaughterhouse designs as well as her expertise in autism (she is autistic herself), has a new book out titled Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals. Always a controversial figure in the animal rights crowd, she's even more a topic of conversation these days because of her most recent book, because of the gratingly uncritical reviews of that book, and because of the way people have been comforting themselves by insisting that because Grandin has designed certain slaughterhouses, animals killed at those slaughterhouses don't suffer and fear, and people don't need to feel guilty about eating them. Yet they do suffer and fear, even at Grandin's slaughterhouses, and we have no reason to stop feeling guilty.

I've been intending to post on this topic for the last week, but I've kept putting it off. And in the meantime, several other animal rights bloggers have stepped up and, combined, have articulated essentially my own positions. Following the jump are some selections from the smart, insightful, pointed, and--yes--sometimes a bit angry things they've had to say. The following are just excerpts from the bloggers' commentaries, so please follow the links to read the original posts in their entirety.

Animal Person

In this brief commentary Mary Martin first quotes the New York Times review that has irritated many:

Ms. Grandin has designed humane and stress-free slaughter systems that are used now to process about half of all the cattle in the United States and Canada. There is some cognitive dissonance here. She is often asked, she tells us, “How can you care about animals when you design slaughter plants?”

Her reply is that “some people think death is the most terrible thing that can happen to an animal.” She argues that “the most important thing for an animal is the quality of its life.”

And then Mary points out some of the problems she sees here:

First, to say that we have humane and stress-free slaughter systems is a complete contradiction in terms. I'm not sure when humane and stress-free were first introduced to and taken seriously as descriptors of slaughter, but this has got to stop.

And finally, though quality of "its" life is surely important to an animal, I'd wager that getting killed, no matter when, where or how, and being lied to for your entire existence, as you exist only for the benefit of someone else's palate, is important as well. There's simply no way around what Grandin has done: She has helped millions of Americans feel as if they're not causing harm by eating animals.

Digging Through the Dirt

Tracy cuts right to the chase in "Animal Lovers Don't Support Slaughter":

Grandin designs slaughterhouses and is a legend in the field. She's written a new book, "Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals," which was reviewed yesterday in The New York Times. The title makes me shake my head in disbelief. If animals make us human, why do we kill them? What does "human" mean? How is raising animals and then murdering them for their flesh creating a good life for them?

Ms. Grandin bases many of her observations in "Animals Make Us Human" on the work of a Washington State University neuroscientist named Jaak Panksepp who identified a series of core "emotion systems" in animals: seeking, play, care and lust (on the positive side) and fear, panic and rage (on the negative).

This information should provide anyone with an impetus to go vegan. Animals are not inanimate objects. They are not unfeeling beings. They are like people in fundamental ways.

Yet Grandin doesn't use her talents to end the suffering and murder of animals. She's a mere welfarist who fluffs the pillow while someone else plunges the knife in. . . .

Despite what Grandin thinks, one can't have it both ways. One can't claim to like animals and then praise the forces that murder them.

The full post at Digging Through the Dirt includes more insightful commentary.

Veggie Going Vegan

"Temple Grandin does not get a free pass" from Elisa. Here's why:

Temple Grandin is famous for being autistic and using that condition as a jumping off point to a career in animal management. She is quite acclaimed . . . for her work on improving conditions for food animals.

I am not so ready to laud her. I tend to agree more with Mary Martin from Animal Person who says: "There's simply no way around what Grandin has done: She has helped millions of Americans feel as if they're not causing harm by eating animals."

I mostly hate the way people, even the NY Times reporter, take her story at such face value that they repeat, without question or concrete back-up, such statements as: "Ms. Grandin’s autism gives her a special understanding of what animals, whether house cats or cattle, think, feel and — perhaps most important — desire."

Really? Who. Says. So? Answer: She does.

She also consults for some of the companies that she praises in her books for taking humane measures. I think she gets a free pass on what we would call "shilling" [in anyone else's case]. . . . Temple Grandin makes her money from the very industry she is commenting on. I don't think that's irrelevant.

See the rest of the post here.

Reformed Fast Food Mascot

In his post "Temple Grandin Is Stealing Ronald McDonald's Thunder," David tackles this issue in a different way and like only the Reformed Fast Food Mascot can: with imaginative snark.

Classic advertising icon Ronald McDonald. Animal welfare advocate, slaughterhouse designer and McDonald's consultant Temple Grandin. If it weren't for the wig and face paint, we'd have a hard time telling them apart.  They both both boost McDonald's sales and increase shareholder value. They both pimp McDonald's whenever a microphone's put in front of their face.

McDonald's should be given credit for bringing about improvements in animal welfare in the entire beef industry ... I have been in this business for more than 25 years, and I have never seen such a transformation.  -- Temple Grandin

. . .
Ronald's been getting a little jealous of all the attention Temple Grandin's been getting lately. He's like the aging star quarterback when a hotshot rookie is drafted. All his years of loyalty and hard work and now on the responsible purchasing page of the McDonald's website there's a quotation from Temple Grandin praising McDonald's and even a picture of her inspecting cattle. But there's no picture of Ronald. . . . Sure, they're all smiles and pats on the back when they see Ronald at one of the commercial film shoots, but behind his back it's Temple Grandin this, Temple Grandin that. Temple Grandin is getting people to think we care about the animals we slaughter. Temple Grandin just praised us in her book on animal kindness. Temple Grandin, Temple Grandin. It's enough to make Ronald sick. He thought getting shit-faced last night with Mayor McCheese would get his mind off things, but it didn't help at all. This morning he woke up with a vicious hangover and Temple Grandin was still out there, going on interviews about her new book, talking about how McDonald's is doing so much for animals.

Full post here.