New Globals: The Cruelty-Free Generation?
by Rebecca Wittman
Well, not quite, but they appear to more concerned with humane issues than their elders. In two areas Zogby has polled – circuses and farm animals – New Globals appear ready to consider animals as beings worthy of empathy and consideration.
On Using Animals in Circuses
A majority of New Globals are opposed to using exotic animals like elephants, tigers, and bears in circuses, in fact, they are nearly one and a half times as likely as any other age group to feel that way – 51% under 30 opposed vs. an average of 38% over 30 who are opposed. And it isn’t just exotic animals they object to, they are also more likely than those over 30 to object to using domesticated animals like horses, cats, and dogs as circus acts (49% New Globals object vs. an average of 27% over 30 who object).
And when weighing two arguments about the treatment of animals used in circus acts, one postulating humane treatment (care by trained professionals who understand the animals’ needs and reinforcing natural behaviors as acts) and one postulating inhumane treatment (cramped cages, chaining, forced to perform unnatural behaviors), agreement with the notion that animals in circuses are treated inhumanely decreases with age, with New Globals (56%) most likely to agree that animals are treated inhumanely, while those over 65 are the least likely to agree (36%).
On Treatment of Farm Animals
In a 2005 PETA poll, Zogby spoke with 300 15 to 23 year olds and discovered that humane issues were as likely or more likely to generate a move to vegetarianism than were personal or health issues.
| Stop eating meat if. . . |
Higher inclination |
Lower inclination |
Not sure |
||||
|
Total |
Very |
Some-what |
Total |
Slightly |
Not at all |
||
| If you saw videos that showed that farm and slaughterhouse workers often abuse animals for fun, such as by throwing chickens against walls and stomping on their heads |
67 |
44 |
23 |
32 |
9 |
23 |
1 |
| If you knew that a vegetarian diet could prevent heart disease and cancer |
62 |
34 |
28 |
38 |
17 |
21 |
– |
| If you knew that cruelty to animals on factory farms, such as castrating male pigs without any painkillers and slicing the beaks off of fully conscious chickens, was routine |
60 |
37 |
23 |
40 |
15 |
25 |
0 |
| If you knew it would help you lose weight |
49 |
27 |
22 |
51 |
17 |
34 |
0 |
So, New Globals may be the turning point in realizing better treatment for animals and an understanding that they deserve respect as individuals with intrinsic value outside their usefulness to humans. Here’s hoping so!
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Here’s to empathy and consideration.
I’d be interested to see how many of these same people volunteer to help needy humans, offer to buy the homeless person on the street a meal, etc., recognizing their instrinsic value and paying them the respect they’re due.