Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 09:27 AM Apr 2013

Open the Slaughterhouses

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/opinion/open-the-slaughterhouses.html?hp



Open the Slaughterhouses
By JEDEDIAH PURDY
Published: April 8, 2013

WASHINGTON - IN 1999, as a writer for The American Prospect, I went into a slaughterhouse undercover, with the help of some rebellious employees. The floor was slick with the residue of blood and suet, and the air smelled like iron. A part of my brain spent the whole time trying to remember which of Dante’s circles this scene most resembled.

Today, under legislation being pushed by business interests, that bit of journalistic adventure could earn me a criminal conviction and land me on a registry of “animal and ecological terrorists.” So-called ag-gag laws, proposed or enacted in about a dozen states, make, or would make, criminals of animal-rights activists who take covert pictures and videos of conditions on industrial farms and slaughterhouses. Some would even classify the activists as terrorists.

The agriculture industry says the images are unfair. They seem to show cruelty and brutality, but the eye can be deceiving. The most humane way of slaughtering an animal, or dealing with a sick one, may look pretty horrible. But so does open-heart surgery. The problem with making moral arguments by appealing to revulsion is that some beneficial and indispensable acts can also be revolting. With gruesome shots of cadavers, a skilled amateur could make a strong emotional case against using them to teach anatomy in medical school.

Moreover, the industry says, the activists are trespassers, or, when they’re employees working undercover for an animal-rights group or news organization, they’re going beyond the terms of their employment. Slaughterhouses and confined-feeding operations can be dangerous places. Although the industry surely exaggerates the risk, guerrilla actions are not the safest or best way to spur reflection on how we treat animals.
1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Open the Slaughterhouses (Original Post) unhappycamper Apr 2013 OP
They should install cameras, but it's not a substitute for the work of undercover snoopists. limpyhobbler Apr 2013 #1

limpyhobbler

(8,244 posts)
1. They should install cameras, but it's not a substitute for the work of undercover snoopists.
Thu Apr 11, 2013, 11:54 AM
Apr 2013

Workers in the industry may see and record things that happen off-camera.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Open the Slaughterhouses