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My in-laws come from Midwestern U.S. farm families, and some raised or still raise cattle or pigs for meat. I learned that the ones who raise pigs don't like to be called pig farmers or ranchers or breeders, but pork producers. They're not the type of people you see in the undercover footage of farm workers who actually seem to hate the animals and are deliberately violent; in fact, most of my in-laws and their extended family are responsible pet owners and all are friendly and caring.
But animals raised for food are deliberately objectified as their end product: pork, beef, fryers, etc. My theory is that at least some people need this label to be able to distance themselves from the fact that the meat is made out of what was once a living, breathing creature with feelings and reactions of varying complexity. The similarity of the feelings to human emotions can be debated, but there's no denying that if they're not vegetable or mineral, they feel. Businesses are referred to as "egg producers" or "pork producers," but the real producers are animals. If we want this stuff they produce, it is hard for most of us who didn't grow up in farm country to consider its source in detail. For me, it isn't worth all the resources and dirty jobs needed to get that stuff to the grocery store, because I don't need or want to eat it. But I understand few people feel that way, and I would be very lonely if I didn't know, love and respect people who don't think the way I do about everything. They don't condemn me for not buying the products their families sell.
Dairy: breast milk from a cow or goat ("breast milk" is redundant, but by default the word "milk" without "breast" means "from a cow")
Process: slaughter and butcher
Grass-finished beef : meat from an animal who grazed on fresh forage instead of grain
Game hen: a chicken slaughtered young; to be fair, it's probably better than being an actual game bird and fighting
I'm conflicted because I'm not against having domestic animals or agriculture on a small scale, it just got out of hand and became dehumanizing. If we have to numb ourselves a little or deny ourselves information to consume what we do, maybe it's because many people are sensitive, but love or think they need meats. Maybe for others it's because they feel entitled to the products, and are uninterested in the processes that get it from farm to drive-thru. And for a lot of families it's extremely hard to afford and prepare better food. There must be a lot of things I'm ignorant about and use every day, so I'm not as different from any of those examples as I would like to think. I recently found out my synthetic leather riding boots were made from a petroleum product and their existence probably does more harm to the world that 1000 acres of Monsanto corn. It shouldn't have been a surprise - what would they be made out of, recycled tires?
You don't want to be a pig in your next life. At least, though, it would be a short life and you could move on to your next incarnation. Once the creating and killing of animals became as efficient and automated as the assembly lines in factories, we all became a little less human.
But animals raised for food are deliberately objectified as their end product: pork, beef, fryers, etc. My theory is that at least some people need this label to be able to distance themselves from the fact that the meat is made out of what was once a living, breathing creature with feelings and reactions of varying complexity. The similarity of the feelings to human emotions can be debated, but there's no denying that if they're not vegetable or mineral, they feel. Businesses are referred to as "egg producers" or "pork producers," but the real producers are animals. If we want this stuff they produce, it is hard for most of us who didn't grow up in farm country to consider its source in detail. For me, it isn't worth all the resources and dirty jobs needed to get that stuff to the grocery store, because I don't need or want to eat it. But I understand few people feel that way, and I would be very lonely if I didn't know, love and respect people who don't think the way I do about everything. They don't condemn me for not buying the products their families sell.
Dairy: breast milk from a cow or goat ("breast milk" is redundant, but by default the word "milk" without "breast" means "from a cow")
Process: slaughter and butcher
Grass-finished beef : meat from an animal who grazed on fresh forage instead of grain
Game hen: a chicken slaughtered young; to be fair, it's probably better than being an actual game bird and fighting
I'm conflicted because I'm not against having domestic animals or agriculture on a small scale, it just got out of hand and became dehumanizing. If we have to numb ourselves a little or deny ourselves information to consume what we do, maybe it's because many people are sensitive, but love or think they need meats. Maybe for others it's because they feel entitled to the products, and are uninterested in the processes that get it from farm to drive-thru. And for a lot of families it's extremely hard to afford and prepare better food. There must be a lot of things I'm ignorant about and use every day, so I'm not as different from any of those examples as I would like to think. I recently found out my synthetic leather riding boots were made from a petroleum product and their existence probably does more harm to the world that 1000 acres of Monsanto corn. It shouldn't have been a surprise - what would they be made out of, recycled tires?
You don't want to be a pig in your next life. At least, though, it would be a short life and you could move on to your next incarnation. Once the creating and killing of animals became as efficient and automated as the assembly lines in factories, we all became a little less human.
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