In his essay 'Fear Factories: The Case for Compassionate Conservatism for Animals'
Matthew Scully is looking to convince the reader that they should support a more humane way of
treating animals. He is able to accomplish this goal with a combination of logos, ethos, and
pathos to deliver his message. As a result of using these, Scully was able to create a very strong
argument which helps the reader agree with his opinion.

First of all, Scully uses logic to make his argument deductively. This can be seen by him
stating there are religious reasons for humans to treat animals in a dignified way. Scully initially
gets the reader to accept that because of religious reasons people should obey the wishes of God.
Scully later states that it is God's wish for us to take care of the animals, this means that if we
accept the fact we should obey God's wishes then we should also be able to accept the fact that
we are responsible for looking after the animals and as a result should treat them in a more
humane way.

Scully also uses the method of false reasoning to help strengthen his claim. An example
of this is when he discusses the viewpoints PETA has on the issue of animal rights. Scully quotes
Jonah Goldberg that ''What the PETA crowd doesn't understand' or what it deliberately
confuses, is that human compassion towards animals is an obligation of humans; not an
entitlement for animals'' (Scully 157). Scully is analyzing the justification PETA has for
promoting animal rights and goes on to argue why they have that wrong. After discrediting
PETA's stance Scully discusses how people 'have a moral duty to respect the animal world as
God's handiwork, treating animals with 'the mercy of our Maker'' But mercy and respect for
animals are completely different from rights for animals' (157). By presenting a counter
argument Scully gave himself a platform to present his side of the argument while at the same
time discrediting another side of the argument. Scully also needed to argue in this style due to the
nature of this topic. When discussing animal rights there are very few facts that can be very
convincing enough to make a person change their mind since it is, for the most part, an ethical
issue, as a result you have to demonstrate why the other side is wrong and in this case the best
way was for Scully to break down the other viewpoint through logic.

Scully also relies on situated ethos to help build his argument. He brings up the pre-
existing ethics made by the Catholic Church. He quotes the Catholic Encyclopedia in saying
'there is a 'direct and essential sinfulness of cruelty to the animal world, irrespective of the
results of such conduct on the character of those who practice it'' (159). Later Scully even
quotes C.S. Lewis is saying animal cruelty ''begun by Satan's malice and perpetrated by man's
desertion of his post'' (161). Calling animal cruelty an act of Satan is a very powerful message
and as long a person is remotely religious they will not want to promote the work of the devil
and as a result will find it immoral to support the mistreatment of animals for religious reasons.
Scully makes his entire ethical claim based on Christianity. This is done because many
people will look towards their religion as the main source of their morals. Scully is taking
advantage of this because since he is writing in a conservative magazine he knows a bulk of his
audience will be Christian and hopes that if he can prove his opinion is consistent with the
church's opinion people will agree with him.

Since animal cruelty is an issue that can often be gruesome and heart-wrenching Scully
makes sure that he uses the emotions of his audience to his advantage. Scully does this by telling
stories of animal cruelty that are intended to generate a strong emotional response from his
audience. One such story is Judge Green's response to the court case against Johnson 'who had
been found guilty of cruelty to 350 dogs lying sick, starving, or dead in their puppy-mill kennel'
(159). Another stronger example of this is Scully describes his trip to a hog farm he toured where
'the visitor is greeted by a bedlam of squealing, chain rattling, and horrible roaring' [and how]
they chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw, or
engage in stereotypical nest-building with the straw that isn't there, or else just lie there like
broken beings' (161). While Scully does not believe that animals have rights he still uses this to
generate emotion responses from his audience. The vast majority of people will have strong
feelings of sorrow and guilt when hearing stories of such extreme animal cruelty, and this is
exactly what Scully needs his audience to feel in order for his argument to be effective.

After getting these emotions from the audience Scully then wants his audience to react a
certain way. With these new emotions Scully hopes that his audience will be driven to action.
Scully's hopes are that people will stop supporting 'factory-farm corporations like Smithfield
Foods, ConAgra, and Tyson Foods...[and switch to companies like] Clear Run Farms, Murphy
Family Farms, [and] Happy Valley' that are engaged in something essential, wholesome, and
honorable' (160-161). Scully has hopes that after reading his essay his audience will feel
compelled to switch to companies that he feels do things the right way. If the reader is not left
with strong feelings on the issue they will not make the change. It is Scully's job to make sure
those feelings are there because without them there will be no action, and if there is no action his
argument was for nothing.

There is clearly a group of people who may not care about certain parts of the issue so
Scully must use enargeia to make the argument appeal to them. First, there will be the group of
people who just do not care the way the livestock is raised. He then hopes to use religious
reasoning to help convince them that animals should be raised in a more dignified way. The
reason behind this is that people not care about the topic at first, but if they see the religious
reasons behind it they will be more likely to accept it. As a result of religious reasons being his
number one argument he is going to have to deal with people who do not share the same set
beliefs as he does. Scully is able to combat this by not being overly aggressive with his religious
beliefs. He makes his religion well noted but does not go overboard with it, if he was to push his
religion hard on people there would be many people who automatically discredit anything that he
says.

Overall, Scully was able to build a very strong argument in his essay, 'Fear Factories:
The Case for Compassionate Conservatism for Animals' because of the way he combined logos,
ethos, and pathos in his argument that we should stop supporting companies that use inhumane
practices when raising livestock. He uses convincing logic to help break down other possible
viewpoints, ethical reasoning based off of religious beliefs, and lastly uses the audience's
emotions to help force a reaction out of them to help his cause.
