I sometimes wonder about this when other people in my office get sick. And they take lots of meds, but it does not seem to help them every much. Your article makes a good valid argument against such poor sick conditions for the animals and people.

of different kinds:

that so many CAFO-raised pigs have MRSA;

that the piggy bigwigs either deny or minimize the health risk (we should expect an ethical businessperson to shut down business voluntarily, if there were an indication that the business's product endangered anyone's health);

that the counterpart bigwigs in CAFOs of cattle, sheep and poultry are holding off examining the healthfulness of their own products (actually, they may already have done sufficient examinations in secret, got the bad news, and are keeping things under wraps while they prepare a defense that will help them escape having to change anything).

Underlying all three of them, of course, is the original evil of the CAFO system.

And the evil underlying the CAFO system is, not so much the carnivorous habits of most Americans (though that indeed contributes), but rather our habits as consumers in general, which in fact discourage us from asking for too much information about what we buy.

It seems still unlikely that very many Americans have a sense of how animals are treated in CAFOs, and how they are slaughtered.  Even if that knowledge becomes more widely shared, perhaps we would be naive to expect everyone suddenly to be converted to vegetarianism; indeed many may not be affected at all.  But it is reasonable to think that many others, while intending to continue to eat meat, will at least demand a radical reform of how that meat is produced -- i.e., how the animals are raised and cared for.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

I agree that animals should be raised in an open environment, and treated humanely while being raised. But the simple truth is, most people just don't care.

Victory in Pattani

Right, MAC, but there you are: having little or no hope, one must proceed on, in a virtuous cause, nonetheless.

You are a man with a sense of military virtue; surely you understand.

And as for "most people": How do you say it in northern Maine?: Je n'en fous pas la peine, par le bon Dieu!

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Twenty years ago, my father and I would dig through a trailer/dumpster behind the local IGA in northern Maine for boxes of half-rotten cabbages, apples, and cukes to feed to our pigs at home.  Half the time, we'd end up dressing up the apples a bit and making sauce or pies out of them.  But our pigs ate well and we never used chemicals on them.  It's easy enough to raise pigs...if you're gonna eat them, you should just do it yourself.

Shu pas a vende.

And I never lived in Northern Maine.

I am just pointing out the fallacy of the idea that if people knew how the animals were raised in CAFOs, that somehow they would stop eating meat produced in same and switch to more expensive products that were raised in a more natural and humane environment. Most people could not care less.

So beating the drums is not going to do much. Not that it's not worth doing, just that it's not likely to yield much in the way of results. That has to be done through unpopular legislation, which does happen sometimes (and explains why blacks are no longer slaves).

I will tell you there is something refreshing about living in a place where there is such a close connection to your food production. One of the things I really like about living here. Of course, I HATE not being able to get any kind of international cuisine. That's the big drawback. Can't have everything.

Victory in Pattani

Well, Mad Mac, that is not quite the metaphor that I would use.  The point is, NOT to communicate, "We want you meat-eaters to know that many people are angry with you," still less "We want you meat-eaters to know that many people, being angry with you, are threatening you with significant harm of one kind or another."  No no no.  That might be the implication of "beating the drums," but it is certainly nothing like what I intend.

And, as I think I said before, I quite accept that "most people just don't care."

But just because you say that, and just because it is true, RIGHT NOW, that does not at all mean that the story is over.

One of the brilliant things about people is that they talk with one another, and they get new ideas in their heads, and they decide they want to change.  I do not know if it is especially brilliant, on the other hand, to go about intentionally trying to get people to change.  Such efforts are extraordinarily arduous, most of the time (unless perhaps you are into advertising, and into discovering the new cool brand).

Remember DR's excellent Fathers' Day lesson: If you want to be a good parent, be a good person.  With the implication that the parent's personal goodness will be evident to the child.

So, to paraphrase: If you want others to learn to be kind to animals, be kind to animals -- and in such a way that now and again others know about it.  That is all.

(Ooh, isn't that smell in the background your water-buffalo-burger nearing well-done?)  : )

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

Now, I'm going down to D.J.s to get a burger and check out here blue eyes and nice rack (seriously, how many Thai women have blue eyes?)!!!!

Victory in Pattani