A Linguistic Method of Deception: The Difference Between Killing Humanely and a Humane Killing

I examine how the use of moral language is tactically employed by the meat-eating industry to exploit and manipulate the moral community. In particular, I discuss the treatment of the word humane in the context of factory farming. I argue that when the meat-eating industry employs phrases such as killing humanely, it deceitfully directs the attention of the moral community by inviting us to make judgments about the method of killing farmed animals, while ignoring judgments about the whether or not such killing ought to happen. This difference is between killing humanely and a humane killing.