Newt Gingrich's comment reflects America's hypocrisy about animal cruelty

In an interview with Best Friends Magazine, Newt Gringrich says:

I don't think any animal should be tortured or any animal should be abused. But it doesn't offend me if I'm eating chicken nuggets, and I realize that puts me at odds with some of the more aggressive animal rights people.

No, Newt, it doesn't put you at odds with "more aggressive" activists; it puts you at odds with rational human beings. Unless you are eating chicken nuggets made from the meat of free-range chickens--and I very, very seriously doubt that you are--you are participating in some of the very worst cruelty and torture factory farming has to offer.

Gingrich, unfortunately, is typical of most Americans who say they "care" about the treatment of animals. Most Americans buy and eat factory farm meat and factory farm eggs, and do not bother to learn whether their cosmetics or other products may have been tested on animals. Many others who say they "care" about animals do not get their pets spayed and neutered or let them run free in the streets.

This is a strange kind of caring.