Working to stop factory farming is the passion that I have
that I would like to dedicate my life toward, whether it is "realistic" or not.
If you ask ten people what factory farming is, nine are not
going to have an answer for you. Or at
least not a full answer. Some may have
seen a news video on the subject -- occasionally there is the video taken by
brave activists who trespass on a facility that raises animals for food. Like a large shed that has 90,000 egg laying
hens in it. The word is now "trespass"
because the animal industries try to keep what is going on far outside of
public consumption. Laws have been
passed, including in Pennsylvania, imposing strict criminal penalties on those
who get into these high-security facilities.
Activists sometimes apply to work at these factory farms, just to
videotape what happens there. Laws are
now being passed against this as well.
Activists are still willing to break the law and risk severe
punishment, including incarceration, just to document and show the American
public what goes on, year after year. So
much of it is gruesome, and I'm tempted to go into some of the details here,
but I won't. Many people are shocked and
many more simply close their ears, because they don't want to know. Those who don't want to know are that way
probably for a few reasons.
One of these has to do with their thinking that just by
knowing they are giving up too much. In
that way of thinking, some simply can't afford to know about it. For so many in this country, especially lower
down in the income spectrum, the
community demands conformity to its practices and customs. But that can't be the only reason. Customs can change unless there is good
reason for them not to.
What if people actually need meat to be healthy? Not just want it. Not just arrogantly say, "I'm eating it
because it's my damn right to, so there."
No, actually need it.
I can't say for sure if that is the case. I can say that I was vegan for most of 20
years and nothing especially abhorrent happened to me. I can also say that I was often hungry or
tired, but I still for periods of my life lifted weights, exercised every day
and was overall healthier than the average.
Is all that because I was vegan, or was there some other reason? But it was Lierre Keith in her landmark book
"The Vegetarian Myth" that offered strong and compelling arguments
that an animal-based diet was a healthier diet in many respects. I did go back to eating meat -- seafood, in particular,
and I can't say it didn't help me. I am
less spacey, for one thing.
I read at about the same time Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating
Animals. Generally, I recommend that
people read both books at the same time -- both are must-reads. They're on opposite ends of the spectrum,
both equally valid. Foer's book
documents the destructiveness of every element of the animal production
industry. Even what I eat supports this
(I typically eat farmed salmon) and that brings me to my main point.
I no longer believe that the issue should be looked at in
the context of consumer choices. I have
reached a point where I'm not really at all concerned what people eat. (Repeat:
I don't care what you eat). I now
see this as a political problem. People
whose diet is overall vegetarian make up
less than 10% of the population, and that doesn't seem to be enough for a
successful movement. Instead, we might
think about actually how to expose factory farming for what it is. For everyone to see it with open eyes. To actually find ways to reduce the supply --
not necessarily the demand. There is a
good deal of free-range agriculture -- agriculture where animals are allowed to
live lives approaching what is normal and which might be more palatable -- but
I don't want to get into the animal "rights" vs. animal "welfare"
debates. Taking a side on that isn't my
goal.
Being fully aware and making moral and political choices
about whether we should allow factory farms to even exist -- by regulation
(regulating the treatment of animals), legislation (passing laws regarding the
treatment of animals) and transparency (exposing the treatment of animals) -- that
is what I want. For everybody to know
what it is -- and, if we are decent people -- to be outraged.
