Ever since it burst on-scene on May 19th, 2017, Okja has stoked a social media firestorm, inspiring countless pleas to not only watch the film, but also save real-life Okjas, trapped in factory farms and slaughterhouses around the world. While the poignancy of this film descends largely from the histrionic, whimsical performances of talented actors, from Tilda Swinton to Jake Gyllenhaal, Okja derives its true power from its apt, heart-wrenching response to a burgeoning cultural crisis—a world of avowed animal lovers increasingly confronted by the atrocities they daily support, all concealed by the deliberate humane-washing of a profoundly corrupt, violent, destructive, and inhumane industry.

As part of our ongoing exploration of nonhuman animal personhood, I would like to share the following essay I composed roughly four years ago in a business ethics course I took at STLCC - Meramec. Titled “Human Infants as a Test Case for Animal Experimentation,” this essay forces us to critically reflect on the following question: if we wouldn’t experiment on human infants, then who are we to experiment upon similarly situated nonhuman animals?

As a skeptical atheist and a vegan, my approach to veganism has been somewhat different than most. Instead of immediately accepting claims, such as “meat is murder,” I have exercised skepticism to such extent, I have frequently distanced myself from and even disavowed the use of popular memes, which I believe, while making a point, often distort the evidence. In this old essay of mine, I grapple with the age-old question: is meat murder, after all?

Are animals really just objects put here on Earth to serve our purposes, from food and clothing to entertainment and science? Are cows, chickens, and pigs just property, or are they something more? Join us as we grapple with these pressing questions in a world where not just billions, but, indeed, trillions of nonhuman animals are treated as no more than mere, replaceable, impersonal commodities each and every year.

“We are ashamed of our ancestors who owned slaves. We are ashamed of our ancestors who believed in segregation. So, too, our grandchildren be ashamed of what we allowed to happen on our watch. Each of us has to ask ourselves a spiritual question: what side do I want to tell my grandchildren I was on? Was I on the side of mercy and compassion, or was I on the blind side that helped to perpetuate suffering?”

After decades of enduring homophobic slurs, vicious rumors, and near daily mockery, there exists another prejudice so potent, yet so overlooked, unknown, and even unnamed, I have suffered far more in consequence of it than I have in consequence of homophobia. What is this secret prejudice? What makes is so powerful? And why should we do our best to address it that all may know justice?

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