nationwide movement aims to ban controversial conditions

[redhen]

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I just think the most powerful thing we can do is vote with our pocketbooks. Factory farming is the result of people demanding cheap food. If people demand ethically raised food and are willing to pay for it, it will happen.

Honestly..i dont think that it will happen because most people CANT afford the higher meat price... I know i cant.

 

[redux]

Quote:
I just think the most powerful thing we can do is vote with our pocketbooks. Factory farming is the result of people demanding cheap food. If people demand ethically raised food and are willing to pay for it, it will happen.

Honestly..i dont think that it will happen because most people CANT afford the higher meat price... I know i cant.

Yeah it is difficult. I rarely eat meat, and when I do, it is NOT from the factory farming industry. If I can't afford it, I eat beans.

 

[yotetrapper]

This post is making me hungry for KFC.

This post also makes me even more afraid for our country than I have been before.
I've worked in a "factory farm". It's not for the faint of heart, but it's not THAT bad, either.

 

[redux]

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I think it depends on which side of the cage you are.

 

[Tailfeathers]

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Nope. Not saying that at all. Just stating historical fact. And for the record, NOBODY here - including myself - has used "scripture as a justification to torture innocent animals." In fact if one were to read exactly what I said previously, they would see that I specifically stated just the opposite! It's just that sort of blatant misrepresentation and mischaracterization that I eluded to which I previously stated I was quite glad to see had not happened. Perhaps I should have said "yet". How unfortunate.

Again, the point I tried to make is that these "movements", to coin the phrase of the thread title, are initiated by folks with a particular belief system and one must look beneath the surface to determine what the actual agenda of these folks are. It looks like the vast majority of folks commenting on this thread have discerned exactly what the "movement" is all about and that is quite refreshing to see.

Silver stated "The reality of all of it (slaughterhouses) is carefully concealed from the public because it's too "icky", and if people had to witness the cruelty under which their meat is raised and killed, they would have trouble eating their meat." and I don't think that's true either. My Daddy worked in a meatpacking plant for 18 years and my brothers have as well. I have fished and hunted all my life and I know what it's like to be up to my armpits in blood and guts with an animal.

Those of us who have grown up and spent our entire lives around animals have experienced where the rubber meets the road so to speak. I'm talking about Country-Folk Living here. It's hard to express in words but I'm sure most, if not all, of you know what I mean. We know that killing and butchering is a natural part of the process. Is it pleasant? No. Is it an ugly thing to do? Yes. But is it a requirement? You betcha. At least for those of us who choose to eat what we kill. Many of us who have spent any time at all in the woods have also witnessed enough things to know that what goes on with our killing and butchering - and even the factories and slaughterhouses - pales in comparison to what sometimes goes on in the wild.

Now for those who have spent their entire lives in the city, far removed from the farmland and country life, I would say they probably would object to what goes on in the slaughterhouses. But only because they don't have to deal with the "icky" stuff. Their "horror" and what goes on is from nothing more than an absence of reality. I think most would agree that given a situation where they had to kill to survive, they would lose their "horror" pretty quickly. At least most would before they chose starvation in lieu thereof! The Hollywood types and celebrities that are so quick to run the commercial ads tugging on your heartstrings to send them money and urge you to join their "movement" are the same ones who have "Chef Fancy-What's-His-Name" unwrap the cellophane around the Fillet Minon and cook it to Medium Rare perfecton for them. But what do you suppose they would do if they were shipwrecked or their plane went down somewhere and they had to survive for any length of time? My guess is they'd learn to kill, clean, gut, and cook an animal pretty quickly.

So who are they to tell everyone else that a certain practice must be put to a stop when perhaps that practice is feeding a whole lot of families in the country at an affordable price? Do you think any of them have actually sat down and weighed the consequences and the negative impact their "movement" would have on actual Human Beings? I seriously doubt they have because in their eyes the animals at best are equal to humans and at worst may even have more rights because they're "innocent and can't protect themselves".

Something to think about.

God Bless,

 

[chooniecat]

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DITTO and I eat meat but I refuse to patronize facilities that think since they ARE food animals and they're SUPPOSED to die for us we can just overlook some of the occassional screw ups of the factory farms. an even bigger issue in my mind are the actual processing plants where yahoos are hired and abuse the food animals and the usda person ALWAYS turns their head. somethings gotta give and I am not soooo important that these animals have to be miserable for me.(fyi the humane society of the united states knows I raise my own nicely raised meat chickens and supports that as they do facilities that serve free range eggs/chickens/etc.) everyone lumps them with groups trying to eliminate food animal production and thats NOT the case. just the horrific conditions some of us feel(myself) these animals endure. as far as the cost difference thats where the truely concerned consumers need to step up and refuse to patronize facilities that serve these ff meats .

 

[redhen]

look..
what it all really boils down to for me is..i eat meat.. and i love it.
So i cant really say anything about factory farming since i'm sure my meat comes fromm there..*shivers*
BUT..i DO wish that the animals were treated better... it makes me really sad to see how they have to live before they die...
ANY living creature deserves better than that....period.
And you know its true....

 

[fancbrd4me02]

You don't have to give animals the same status as humans in thier rights or whatever else in order to treat them ethically. Labeling those who are interested in improving conditions in factory farms as "people who want to give animals equal rights to humans" is innacurate and just inflames the issue. Believe it or not, you can believe in compassionate treatment for animals and not actually want to give them the vote. No one here has come close to saying that they believe it. There may be some people out there like that, but there are extremists on every agenda regardless of the issue. Lets not cloud things by getting into derision and lets also try not to push our religious beliefs. I think what most of us here want to do is discuss the conditions and reasons for what is going on with factory farming. Lets look at some of the real issues: Corporate profit (which has nothing to do with preserving the traditional "family" farm), competition from other countries with no standards for enviorment, worker health & safety or the treatment of animals), the dependence on meat based protien, the effect it has on the health of humans and on animals, how the humane practices should best be persued in a way that allows farmers to compete globally and possibly increase family farming by supporting smaller or less intensive farming practices with our pocketbooks.

 

[redux]

I have no illusions that we can eat animals without slaughtering them; it's the quality of their lives before the slaughter that I am concerned with. If you want to label everyone who objects to raising food animals in horrendously cruel conditions as a city person who doesn't understand where food comes from, then there is no point discussing this. It's kind of like saying that anyone who doesn't see things the way you do just isn't looking in the right place.

There are two sides to every story.

 

[yotetrapper]

H.S.U.S. recently attacked Iowa farmers because they had chickens in cages. They also attacked poultry processing plants for stunning the birds, slitting their throats, and then scalding them. Isnt that how you kill your birds? It's how I kill mine.....

But H.S.U.S. isnt against food production? They're against hunting...