Meatsplaining: The Animal Agriculture Industry and the Rhetoric of Denial ed. by Jason Hannan (review)

Abstract

fully meaningful only to it” (p. 195). In “The Stock Image,” Traisnel also touches upon Kantian philosophy, stating that we become aware of “the finitude of our sensorial faculties”—thus we cannot bridge any distance by “capturing” really anything (p. 157). In a heartbreaking finale, Traisnel makes this point frightenedly clear in that the capture regime leads to extinction. He recounts the heartbreaking fate of passenger pigeons in the sole survivor of Martha as the tragic result of biopower. Seen only through the lens of reproducibility, Martha remained infertile unto her death despite the best practices by conservationists. Understanding that we saw Martha as an object rather than as a subject who “sees” means that we, too, can only see her from our “milieu” as well. As a result, we can never really understand her infertility. Traisnel’s point to acknowledge animals at a distance is integral to a new ethics of care, and he is clear about what it should not look like. What it could like is left to the reader to ponder.