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"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."—Genesis 1:24-26
In this crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals with simple dignity and compassion.
Somewhere along the way, something has gone wrong.
In Dominion, we witness the annual convention of Safari Club International, an organization whose wealthier members will pay up to $20,000 to hunt an elephant, a lion or another animal, either abroad or in American "safari ranches," where the animals are fenced in pens. We attend the annual International Whaling Commission conference, where the skewed politics of the whaling industry come to light, and the focus is on developing more lethal, but not more merciful, methods of harvesting "living marine resources." And we visit a gargantuan American "factory farm," where animals are treated as mere product and raised in conditions of mass confinement, bred for passivity and bulk, inseminated and fed with machines, kept in tightly confined stalls for the entirety of their lives, and slaughtered in a way that maximizes profits and minimizes decency.
Throughout Dominion, Scully counters the hypocritical arguments that attempt to excuse animal abuse: from those who argue that the Bible's message permits mankind to use animals as it pleases, to the hunter's argument that through hunting animal populations are controlled, to the popular and "scientifically proven" notions that animals cannot feel pain, experience no emotions, and are not conscious of their own lives.
The result is eye opening, painful and infuriating, insightful and rewarding. Dominion is a plea for human benevolence and mercy, a scathing attack on those who would dismiss animal activists as mere sentimentalists, and a demand for reform from the government down to the individual. Matthew Scully has created a groundbreaking work, a book of lasting power and importance for all of us.
"Matthew Scully has set forth a case - in a wry and riveting manner - that will resonate with any reader who values logical reasoning and ethical conduct. I expect that Dominion will be the most influential book on animal protection in the last twenty-five years." — Wayne Pacelle, Senior Vice President, The Humane Society of the United States
Like it or not, humans have a measure of dominion over animals, but what are our moral obligations toward them, Scully asks. Do we sit mute before the unspeakable conditions and unadulterated cruelty of factory farming of animals or the staged machismo of big-game hunting? Do we recognize animals as having intelligence and capacity for pain, recognize their moral worth and our duty and kinship to them under natural law, "which advances a being onward toward its natural fulfillment"? If one is an eater of meat, asks vegetarian Scully, do you ask whether that pork chop had a good life before the blade ran home, and are you willing to support giant operations in which pigs are denied every conceivable natural moment, including sunlight? Scully has done plenty of fieldwork to make it plain that humility and empathy don’t guide our dealings with fellow creatures on megafarms or on "safari." Decency and mercy are ostensible values governing behavior between humans, and it’s ridiculous to Scully to think they wouldn’t play a part in our interactions with animals. Yet, however vivid Scully’s descriptions of feedlots or however righteous his moral ground or unsparing his critiques of Peter Singer or Stephen Budiansky, he is also preaching to the converted. He takes pains to alienate hunters and will irritate fence-sitters with his coyness ("the creatures’ little lives of grazing and capering"), meanwhile offending everyone else and betraying his speechwriting past by unctuously draping expressions of uncertainty over the utter absence of his own uncertainty, with his buffed prose and his tendency to mewl: "The images bore witness."
Still,Scully’s appeal for respect and dignity in our treatment of animals certainly beats the big-game outfitter who’s quoted: "You shoot ’em at close range. And the thing is, they don’t go right down. They get up. And now they’re piffed."
| Introduction | ix | |
| 1 | The Things That Are | 1 |
| Mere Pain | 2 | |
| Into Your Hands | 11 | |
| Practical Ethics | 20 | |
| Reckless Divine Cruelty | 24 | |
| This Lovely World | 28 | |
| Tasty Nibbles | 36 | |
| 2 | The Shooting Field | 47 |
| Skins and Bones | 49 | |
| Take Charge | 52 | |
| Fair Chase | 56 | |
| The Deer Factory | 62 | |
| Men of Influence | 67 | |
| A Spot of Plains Game | 72 | |
| The Curators | 77 | |
| Nimrod.com | 81 | |
| 3 | Matters of Consequence | 88 |
| Go Forth | 90 | |
| The Lord of Mercy | 95 | |
| Laissez-Faire | 100 | |
| Imperative Cooking | 108 | |
| Deeper Than Choice | 112 | |
| The Prosperity Bible | 120 | |
| Back at the Ranch | 126 | |
| Think a Second Time | 130 | |
| Mild Qualms | 135 | |
| 4 | Riches of the Sea | 141 |
| Save the Whales for Dinner | 142 | |
| Collective Guilt | 146 | |
| Time to Death | 150 | |
| Wise Use | 155 | |
| Scientific Research | 161 | |
| Cultural Imperialism | 169 | |
| Brave Fish | 177 | |
| Sanctuary | 186 | |
| 5 | The Laws | 191 |
| Unknowable Territory | 194 | |
| The Masquerade | 200 | |
| Want Nut | 209 | |
| Thinking About Thoughts | 217 | |
| Profound Respect | 229 | |
| The Stress Gene | 235 | |
| Knowledge Without Love | 241 | |
| 6 | Deliver Me from My Necessities | 247 |
| Managerial Intensity | 249 | |
| The New Agriculture | 253 | |
| State of the Art | 259 | |
| Lean Generation | 263 | |
| For Their Own Good | 269 | |
| Piece by Piece | 277 | |
| 7 | Nature and Nature's God | 287 |
| Necessary Evils | 288 | |
| Thou Shalt Not | 294 | |
| Self-Evident Truths | 299 | |
| The Mirror Test | 305 | |
| A Crime Against Nature | 312 | |
| A Fresh Start | 325 | |
| An Obligation of Justice | 337 | |
| 8 | Justice and Mercy | 350 |
| Game Butchery | 353 | |
| An Abomination | 360 | |
| Noah's Choice | 368 | |
| Sinning Bravely | 375 | |
| They Know Pain | 389 | |
| The Good Shepherds | 393 | |
| Notes | 399 | |
| Acknowledgments | 423 | |
| Index | 427 |
Anonymous
Posted April 17, 2013
this is a very thought provoking book from a very biblical perspective. It's very well written, and has a lot of quoted speeches and letters I find very insightful. 4 stars
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Posted November 15, 2008
Superbly crafted, meticulously researched and absorbing. The deplorable cruelty, utter indifference, disrespect and pain we inflict on all animals, in the name of sport, science, "conservation," food, and vanity, make this book, at times, difficult to read. A SHOULD read for anyone who hunts, fishes, eats meat, wears fur/leather/down/wool. Perhaps this book would make people think twice about using animals the way they do and taking them so much for granted.
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Posted April 4, 2008
This is such an eloquent and thoughtful Writing. The author is a true Theologian and deep thinker. The case he makes for mercy towards Gods creatures, extends to God's mercy towards ourselves. One premise: that a Society must not cherry pick from the Bible to serve it's own ends, but must serve the teachings in full, must resonate with those searching for greater understanding. Those of us who accept our daily plight but look around and know deeep inside that something is wrong with the values of our society, might start with this book, whose philosophy on our treatment of animals really is a discourse on how we treat ourselves. I say, good for you Matthew Scully
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Posted January 22, 2008
This book is so honest and horrifying that it's hard to read it all at once. It is the responsibility of man to care for animals, but instead we are exploiting and torturing them at every opportunity. This book is my favorite because it is written from the unique perspective of a conservative and Christian.
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Posted January 16, 2006
If everyone read this book the world would forever be changed. The world would be a wonderful place for people AND animals.
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Posted September 15, 2004
Mr. Scully's book is guaranteed to make you think twice about how you view and treat animals. His arguments are well-developed and are supported not only by compassion, but by factual data, too. Anyone who reads this book will be forever changed.
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Posted July 16, 2004
I heard Matthew Scully on a New York radio station last year and I was impressed that as a conservative Republican he cared that deeply about animals. This book is thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate. This book was wriiten for those people who don't give a damn about animals. They will care after reading this book!
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Posted July 2, 2003
Intelligent, well researched and very insightful. This is a groundbreaking book for all the animals; whether companion animals or livestock, who suffer daily throughout the world. Written by a very prominent author, anyone interested in animals, what we can do to help them as well as looking at are own 'human' nature- this book is a must.
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Posted February 13, 2003
I had a chance to hear Mr. Scully on NPR 02-12-03 while at work. Definately by far a very intelligent man with some great ideas and thoughts for people to open their minds to.
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Posted February 24, 2010
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Posted April 10, 2011
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Posted November 22, 2008
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Posted May 25, 2010
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Overview
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."—Genesis 1:24-26
In this crucial passage from the Old Testament, God grants mankind power over animals. But with this privilege comes the grave responsibility to respect life, to treat animals ...