HBO's Death On A Factory Farm is not a easy film to watch but tells an important story that often gets pushed to the back-burner. The rationale is who has the time and resources to devote to the well-being of livestock on a farm when millions of human beings around the world are suffering incredible hardships - dying from poverty, famine, disease and war.
The film traces the work on an undercover animal rights investigator working on behalf of the animal rights group The Humane Farming Association (HFA). The investigator signs up to work at the Wiles Hog Farm in Ohio with the objective of gathering evidence of cruel, inhumane treatment of pigs on the farm. The mission is successful in as far as being able to file a petition and get a court case against the farm.
However, justice ends up being no more than a token acknowledgement of the wrong done to the helpless animals. The questions are deeper than merely reviewing the evidence presented to judge right and wrong. They involve public perception of farm animal as a consumable commodity and in such not meriting the same love and affection that is bestowed upon pets such as cats and dogs.
The even more significant issue is probably that of credibility and moral high ground of those who come out and make these accusations. They simply cannot win. If they are meat-eaters, they have essentially co-opted into the inhumane practices they are railing against. Just because the meat in their grocery store has been sanitized to the point where it is impossible to imagine their sordid provenance, does not make them innocent. Being part of the problem, they cannot also demand a solution - they lack the necessary moral authority to win in this debate.
If however, there are vegan and opposed to killing animals for meat, they have no credibility. The argument would then be that eating meat is a choice that people should be free to make. To impose your world-view which is colored by your dietary preferences on those who do not agree is not acceptable. If you don't eat meat you can't really participate in a discussion on the best way to get it to your table.
Unless significant number of consumers are repelled by the sights of cruelty and torture that whistle-blower organizations like HFA try to make public and eschew meat en-masse, very little is likely to change for the hapless pig or turkey on the factory farm.
The film traces the work on an undercover animal rights investigator working on behalf of the animal rights group The Humane Farming Association (HFA). The investigator signs up to work at the Wiles Hog Farm in Ohio with the objective of gathering evidence of cruel, inhumane treatment of pigs on the farm. The mission is successful in as far as being able to file a petition and get a court case against the farm.
However, justice ends up being no more than a token acknowledgement of the wrong done to the helpless animals. The questions are deeper than merely reviewing the evidence presented to judge right and wrong. They involve public perception of farm animal as a consumable commodity and in such not meriting the same love and affection that is bestowed upon pets such as cats and dogs.
The even more significant issue is probably that of credibility and moral high ground of those who come out and make these accusations. They simply cannot win. If they are meat-eaters, they have essentially co-opted into the inhumane practices they are railing against. Just because the meat in their grocery store has been sanitized to the point where it is impossible to imagine their sordid provenance, does not make them innocent. Being part of the problem, they cannot also demand a solution - they lack the necessary moral authority to win in this debate.
If however, there are vegan and opposed to killing animals for meat, they have no credibility. The argument would then be that eating meat is a choice that people should be free to make. To impose your world-view which is colored by your dietary preferences on those who do not agree is not acceptable. If you don't eat meat you can't really participate in a discussion on the best way to get it to your table.
Unless significant number of consumers are repelled by the sights of cruelty and torture that whistle-blower organizations like HFA try to make public and eschew meat en-masse, very little is likely to change for the hapless pig or turkey on the factory farm.
Comments
Thanks for inviting comment -
As long as these animals are considered a commodity and are "property" - whatever is in the best interest of the industry (profits) is what will be acceptable.
There's just no "happy" meat - all of it involves an unacceptable element of cruelty. Making the choice to go vegan eliminates this conflict...