121
" The present day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy. The word and the concept of "mercy" seem to cause uneasiness in man, who, thanks to the enormous development of science and technology, never before known in history, has become master of the earth and has subdued and dominated it. This dominion over the earth, sometimes understood in a one-sided and superficial way, seems to leave no room for mercy. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
128
" It would be enough if more of us would simply compare our own principles, our own vision of life and nature, whether secular or religious or somewhere in between, with the reality of how animals are actually treated, often in our name. If such things cannot be justified, if the great majority of us find them reprehensible and wrong and unworthy of humanity, then why on earth are they all permitted? Why do we tolerate them, in our lives and in our laws? "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
131
" And so, in labs that neither they nor we will ever seen, more millions of animals must endure internal bleeding, convulsions, seizures, paralysis, and slow death. A stroll through the laboratories of Pfizer or any other pharmaceutical company, of Emory or many other universities, of the EPA, Consumer Safety Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Defense, and a dozen other federal agencies would reveal similar scenes. It is easy to say, a priori, "It has to be done - it's the safety and progress." But we ourselves neither pay that price nor even look at the cost. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
137
" Somehow it has become mawkish and weak to dwell upon the details of animal suffering, and strong and sensible to ignore them - to disregard "the sentimental maunderings of animal rights extremists," as Larry Katz, Safari Club's president for the year 2000 puts it. This is a twisting of plain words , of excuse ad evasion. A realist is someone who wants to know the realities, the facts of the case, what is actually taking place and how it feels to the victim. A sentimental person is one who follows desire, emotion, and impulse, often in disregard of the facts. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
139
" I know many people far more upright and conscientious than I am who disagree, who think nothing of it. I know that vegetarianism runs agains mankind's most casual assumptions about the world and our place within it. And I now that factory farming is an economic inevitability, not likely to end anytime soon.
But I don't answer to inevitabilities, and neither do you. I don't answer to tradition and I don't answer to Everyone. For me, it comes down to a question of whether I am a man or just a consumer. Whether to reason or just to rationalize. Whether to heed my conscience or my every craving, to assert my free will or just my will. Whether to side with the powerful and comfortable or with the weak, afflicted, and forgotten. Whether, as an economic actor in a free market, I answer to the god of money or to the God of mercy. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy
140
" The present day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy. The world and the concept of "mercy" seem to cause uneasiness in man, who, thanks to the enormous development of science and technology, never before known in history, has become master of the earth and has subdued and dominated it. This dominion over the earth, sometimes understood in a one-sided and superficial way, seems to leave no room for mercy. "
― Matthew Scully , Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy