Vex and Bury

Dear Editors:

I was shocked to read this sentence in Lee E. Heller's
"Eat Your Vegetables: The Dangerously Overlooked Way
to Go Green" (April 12, 2007):

“Name almost any food animal and there’s a factory
structure so gruesome it makes Guantanamo Bay look
like a Four Seasons Resort.”

As a vegetarian myself, I agree that a vegetarian diet
is more healthful and ethical than one based on the
consumption of meat from factory farms, but as a human
being I am appalled by Heller's comparison of these
farms to Guantanamo Bay. Many people have been held at
the "detention center" in Guantanamo Bay without
trial, and many have yet to even be scheduled for trial, in
which case their detainment is indefinite. Human
Rights groups around the world have called this sort
of indefinite detention torture, and indeed, multiple
reports of torture -- from being chained in a fetal
position to being gagged with duct tape -- were
observed by members of the FBI when they visited the
camp this January. Amnesty International has
repeatedly called the situation at Guantanamo Bay "a
human rights scandal." That these conditions are maintained by the
US Military -- even as the legality of said detainment
is questioned by US Courts -- is a travesty. How can
Heller -- even in a moment of hyperbole -- compare
Guantanamo to a "Four Seasons Resort"? If her
endorsement of animal rights is based on the premise
that one should try to minimize the amount of
suffering in the world, this comparison seriously
undermines her argument, and quite honestly, makes me
sick to my stomach. 

Sincerely, Michelle Detorie
Goleta

you can read the article for yourself here.