Skybird:
While your accounts of animal treatment are most disturbing, and while I don't deny that such barbarism exists, I have to say: to paint the entire industry with such a broad brush is disingenuous.
I love animals. While I'm an avid shooter, I have never been able to bring myself to hunt. I have to turn the channel whenever I see commercials displaying animal cruelty in an attempt to solicit donations (although I do donate to organizations such as the ASPCA).
I also acknowledge the fact that human beings are, by nature, omnivorous. Indeed, I enjoy most meats greatly. Furthermore, mankind is a NATURALLY EVOLVED tool-maker, so I don't fault companies for finding efficient means of slaughter...
...so long as they aren't inhumane in doing so. And, quite reasonably, most companies (at least in the US) go to great lengths in creating the most humane processes possible for animal harvesting.
My point is that there are both extremely inhumane and humane ways of providing the meat that the human body naturally hungers for. To color the entire industry (and suggest that one's own vegetarianism is an appropriate response) as one of dispicable corruption doesn't quite give the complete picture.
Nature is a harsh, unforgiving state. In our evolution, humans must not forget that we are part of that nature, and while we can work to minimize its mercilous ways, to attempt to eliminate them is pointless.
|