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Animal ag claims that the animal-rights community is made up only of city folk who don't know anything about "raising" animals. (They must never have heard of Harold Brown or Howard Lyman.)
I'm wondering what result this tactic would have.
Earlier this week Chicago Tribune food writer Monica Eng brought her 7-year-old daughter to a farm in a county near mine to watch a pig being slaughtered. Other children were present.
All of these kids were cool cucumbers compared with Miranda, who sat nervously on my lap squeezing my hand and asking: "So first they'll shoot him in the head, right?"I'd first heard of Eng in 2008 when she got a Chicago restaurant to create a dish for her designed as roadkill. (It's no longer on the Trib site.) So I'm a bit biased against her.
"Right," I said, just as a shot rang from the knock bolt and pierced the pig's skull. The body continued to twitch as Sam Clark, the butcher, carried it over to a pit and sliced its neck, releasing a flood of red.
Miranda covered her eyes. One of the children gasped, "Oh my God."
As the animal was bled, skinned and eviscerated before us, the children watched closely — all except Miranda, who wept into her hands, stole quick glances and turned her gaze to a group of concerned donkeys nearby.
When she finally returned her full gaze, she saw Clark lifting the carcass off the cradle as a last gush of blood fell to the ground. He headed for the cooler.
Initially when I discovered that Eng had done this to her child, I was almost shaking with disgust. What parent would think that this was ok? Either the child reacts by crying or sitting in stunned silence, or the brutal murder doesn't affect the child at all. The latter, of course, would frighten me.
From the animals' point of view, though, maybe it's good for children to witness this horror. As disturbing and scarring as it is, hopefully the image will stay with the children and they'll decide in a few years to go vegetarian.
Although she claims to be "conflicted," Eng continues to eat animals. This despite having watched each species she eats die in 2008.
I didn't want to see a pig get killed. Heck, I don't think anyone does.Hopefully the kids who recently witnessed the pig's murder have more empathy than she does.
But I felt like I couldn't continue eating meat if I didn't. So this summer I embarked on an unpleasant pilgrimage to bear witness to the death of every kind of animal I ate. And in some cases, to kill the animal myself.
I don't actually advise parents to put their children through such a traumatic event. But if their children ask them where their "meat" came from, parents should at least be honest and tell them that an animal had to die.
I think my sister dances around the issue of my veganism with my 5-year-old niece. I doubt she says, "Tracy doesn't eat meat because she doesn't want to be part of an animal's death." Or something like that. Instead she likely says, "Tracy doesn't like meat." Or something like that.
But if parents are too uncomfortable to be honest with their children, then maybe they shouldn't be feeding their kids "foods" whose origins make them cringe.
Scare tactics
In a recent interview Sarah Hubbart, the communications coordinator of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, a pro-Big Ag group, echoed the advice of inviting the public to view one's "farm." Although I doubt she was referring to slaughtering animals during a "farm tour."
Interestingly, Chuck Jolley, an animal ag writer, used scare tactics to begin his piece.
I bet you're looking for the usual picture of the person being interviewed. You won't see it and that's a decision I made for security reasons. Sarah is a perfectly normal human being who should be able to drive home at the end of the day without worrying if someone tampered with her car or booby-trapped her front door.Yes, Jolley wants to protect Hubbart from dangerous animal advocates.
But, Chuck, have you ever heard of Google? It took me two seconds to find a video of this young woman.
Her photo is also on AAA's staff page. They don't seem too worried about animal advocates knowing what they look like, nor should they be.
Ironically the beings who should -- and do -- live in fear are the ones owned by the people Jolley and Hubbart protect, people whose livelihoods depend on the suffering and slaughter of farmed animals.
I can't begin to imagine the horror felt by the pig Monica Eng and those children watched being murdered, or the horror felt by the other (billions) of animals killed for their flesh each year.
[Abigail Faith Snyder (left), 6, covers her eyes while Tribune reporter Monica Eng holds her daughter Miranda Zanca, 7, as they watch a pig getting [his] throat cut at Faith Farm in Bonfield. (Heather Charles/Tribune / August 15, 2010)]
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9 comments:
Great post. I think that a large part of why I went vegan is seeing animals killed throughout my life. We raised pigs and cattle for food, and I saw them shot and butchered. It definitely affected me, even if I didn't know it at the time.
I have some degree of respect for Ms. Eng being honest with her child about the origins of pig flesh. However I have many questions about the moral depth of someone who appears to assign equal weight to the life of a sentient being and a desired taste sensation. There appears to more than a hint of sociopathy in such shallow worldview.
Glenn, thanks for your unique perspective. Although most of these children likely won't see a pig slaughtered again, I hope this incident will be enough to trigger some serious thought on the ethics of "meat" eating down the road.
VeganElder, you raise a good point about Eng viewing an animal's life as equal to (or perhaps even less than) taste buds.
I read this story with a mixture of anger and horror. It seems the pig wasn't the only one being abused that day.
On the other hand, perhaps childrens' natural empathy with animals and their upset over seeing one hurt speaks volumes.
As a Vietnamese American, raising animals and eating meat is a part of both my cultural heritage and family history. In the Vietnamese community, it is a point of great respect and love that a whole roasted pig be served at a great event like a graduation or wedding (My dad personally picked and butchered a pig for me when I graduated from law school as the first member of my family to finish college. This he did out of love and pride). In Vietnam pigs are seen as a symbol luck and prosperity, due to the fact that they can be raised on scraps and a small space, don't need a field for grazing and produce so many piglets. In a country as generally poor as Vietnam, these are all wonderful things and it is customary for a Vietnamese family to have a small statue of a pig and piglets in their home for luck.
It is also common in Vietnam for people to have a basic knowledge of butchering. I have seen animals butchered and my dad made it a point to teach me how to butcher chickens and ducks in the same way my grandfather taught him. My dad raised and cared meticulously for every animal he ever butchered and when he was teaching me how to butcher, he insisted that I show care and respect for the animal that we were about to eat. He also emphasized how wonderful it was to live in the United States where meat was so readily available and affordable as opposed to Vietnam where you were lucky to get a chicken once a month. My dad loved those animals and treated them well, but in his mind and in mine there was always the distinction that they were food animals.
I say this not to put you down for your beliefs, in point of fact I have great respect for vegans and their stance on animal rights. However, I want you to see that the meat issue is not at all cut and dry. Many people and cultures believe in the importance of being able to raise animals and eat meat as ardently as you hold your convictions on animal rights. The act of raising, butchering and serving a pig at a child’s graduation is as beautiful and meaningful to them as it is disgusting to you. In the end it is a matter of different faiths, and as with all differing faiths, tolerance and understanding must stand side by side with one’s beliefs and strong convictions never make up for hate, rudeness or lack of respect.
For example there is a large Vietnamese Buddhist community and a my parents have several vegetarian Buddhist friends. Whenever my parents invite these friends to our home, they always make sure that there is a non-meat option for them to enjoy. On their part, these friends never call anyone a “murderer” for eating meat or otherwise make any negative comment about the food. Although I have a great respect for vegans, in my personal experience I’ve found the one’s I’ve met to be somewhat lacking in the same grace and politeness that I saw with my parents vegetarian friends. I hope that those of you reading this understand that although our (non-vegans) believes and eating habits may flow from a different cultural and moral heritage, said heritage may be just as valid and important to us as your convictions are to you and most importantly, that there is no reason we can’t all share a meal together.
Anonymous, thank you for your comments. You're right; there's no reason we can't all share a meal together.
But I have to disagree by your characterization of carnists and vegans differing in faith. Neither is a religion.
It may be beautiful to someone to kill a pig. It also may be perfectly fine to someone to say racist things. But neither is ok, and neither should be tolerated.
Anonymous,
how could you father have loved the animals that he slaughtered? you should be very happy that he did not "love" his family in the same way as he did the pig. how can killing a healthy, sentient animal who wants nothing more than to live and enjoy life can be ever described as beautiful?
“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that's wrong with the world.”-Paul Farmer
*Sigh* So I should be thankful my father the homicidal maniac didn't kill my family and killing animals for food is like racism in that it should never be tolerated in any situation despite culture, time period or any of the other myriad of things that a reasonable person understands must be considered when distinguishing what is right from what is wrong.
I won't post anymore but with all do respect to "MG", the idea that some lives matter less than others is not root of all that is wrong in the world.
The root of all that is wrong in the world is that people so easily convince themselves that they know the what is the "root of all good" or the "root of all wrong", when in truth there are very few things that fit perfectly into either category. Once convinced, these people will listen to no one else and have a ready justification for whatever they say or do.
It is the recognition of our own fallibility and the acknowledgment of the validity of others viewpoints that makes us great. Without this conviction is merely an excuse for hate.
so by your logic slavery and the nazi holocaust should have been tolerated because they are merely different points of view than we may have. in many ways speciesism is even worse than these because the creatures being victimized cannot speak or stand up for themselves and the culture of abusing and slaughtering them is widely excepted as natural, normal and necessary. i never implied your father was a homicidal maniac i was just observing that killing something you love is not consistent or rational behavior. imo, it is not about right or wrong or hate at all-it is as simple as living the golden rule and treating
other living things how we wish to be treated. the only thing i am convinced of is that treating living things as disposable products is selfish, unnecessary, and hypocritical. as Leo Tolstoy said:
“A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite.”
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