- Oct 13, 2008
- 1,020
- 285
- 369
Your empathy and compassion are admirable. It can be most tempting to give in to denial about just how cruel those parts of the food industry are and just eat the stuff anyway.
But like you, I agree that that is not appropriate: by buying the stuff and supporting the production, one assumes a share of the blame. And of course as you so rightly observed, it is damaging to the health of the consumer also directly.
Humane concerns are the number one reason we raise my own animals, and slaughter them at home--its one of the few ways to make sure it is done right (that is, according to our standards). In other words, compassion and empathy for animals itself is the primary motivation. Nor are we alone--as household level food production is no longer a simple survival necessity in many places and factory farming continues to fester in ever more horrible directions, it is an increasingly common story.
A lot of it has to do with the attitude you approach it with: i think a lot of peopl make it unnecessarily hard on themselves by fixating on the discomfort surrounding the death/killing of the animal. Afterall, everything eventually dies/is killed by something, and all any creature can ask for before then is a pleasant, fulfilling life. We give our livestock a fabulous life overall, for days, weeks, months or years--then the death itself quick, sudden, and calculated to involve the least amount of suffering possible and over in an instant. "a great life and one bad day" as they say (tho really only one bad few seconds).
it is normal to be uncomfortable with the idea and act of killing something. Most Everyone feels this in some way--not to feel anything makes one by definition a sociopath. Its what we do with the feelings that matter, and whether we let it make us less or more human, whether we either suppress the feelings or become too overwhelmed by them, or whether we use compassion as a tool for minimizing suffering while doing what we acknowledge as necessary.
That said, raising and processing animals can be involved, exhausting, and draining work. If you are short on helpers and/or of limited physical abilities it may be wiser to look around for a farmer you can support who shares your concern for welfare or partner with someone in taking on such an endeavor.
Regardless, in a world of so many animal welfare hypocrits, allow me to say again that i admire your sincerity and concern for food-producing animals--and wish you and your family the best of luck!
But like you, I agree that that is not appropriate: by buying the stuff and supporting the production, one assumes a share of the blame. And of course as you so rightly observed, it is damaging to the health of the consumer also directly.
Humane concerns are the number one reason we raise my own animals, and slaughter them at home--its one of the few ways to make sure it is done right (that is, according to our standards). In other words, compassion and empathy for animals itself is the primary motivation. Nor are we alone--as household level food production is no longer a simple survival necessity in many places and factory farming continues to fester in ever more horrible directions, it is an increasingly common story.
A lot of it has to do with the attitude you approach it with: i think a lot of peopl make it unnecessarily hard on themselves by fixating on the discomfort surrounding the death/killing of the animal. Afterall, everything eventually dies/is killed by something, and all any creature can ask for before then is a pleasant, fulfilling life. We give our livestock a fabulous life overall, for days, weeks, months or years--then the death itself quick, sudden, and calculated to involve the least amount of suffering possible and over in an instant. "a great life and one bad day" as they say (tho really only one bad few seconds).
it is normal to be uncomfortable with the idea and act of killing something. Most Everyone feels this in some way--not to feel anything makes one by definition a sociopath. Its what we do with the feelings that matter, and whether we let it make us less or more human, whether we either suppress the feelings or become too overwhelmed by them, or whether we use compassion as a tool for minimizing suffering while doing what we acknowledge as necessary.
That said, raising and processing animals can be involved, exhausting, and draining work. If you are short on helpers and/or of limited physical abilities it may be wiser to look around for a farmer you can support who shares your concern for welfare or partner with someone in taking on such an endeavor.
Regardless, in a world of so many animal welfare hypocrits, allow me to say again that i admire your sincerity and concern for food-producing animals--and wish you and your family the best of luck!
Last edited:
