WHY WE LOVE DOGS a EAT PIGS 7 AND WEAR COWS wetion © CARNISM rl Enables Us to Eat Some Animals and Not Others Melanie Joy, Ph.D. ®rept 201047 cnet Shee oni © 210 Maio Tine hl pacing Seaton hs For witnesses everywhere. Through your eyes, we may find our way. Urey of Compe Cogn nut Baie pon oq Gove design y Sowa A Wane “eos y Denn und nr power ig © Ec ae ep com hon Aro ends Stckpbna sams An cen acc intel he Und Ste of Ameria “The pp edn ha pdt the minima requiem ie Aer ‘atin! Sonn or nero sen Peroenc Ppt for Ped ry Mere 298.4- 1980 (R90)“The greatness of tion and its moral progress can be Judged bythe way its animals are treated. fahatia Gandhi CONTENTS Acknowledgments 9 “To Lowe or to Eat? 11 (Carnism: "Is Jos he Way Things Are” 23 “The Way Things Reclly Are 37 con tral Damage:The Other Casualties of Caristn 73 “The Mythology of Mest Justifying Carnisin 95 “Through the Carnistic Looking Gln: Itermlized Carian 115 Bearing Witness: From Carnism to Compassion 135 Resources 151 Nore 159 Bibliography 169 Indes 187ACKNOWLEDGMENTS “This books the result of« project that began! many years ago, with an ea that rurned into a doctoral dissertation, whieh then grew Into the volume it today. Over the years, many people helped shape my ideas and hone my words, and supported me as a profes: sional and a person. To them a eternally grateful ant 0 thank ‘Aimee Houser, my brillant and inspiring editor, who worked with ime every step of the ways my agent, Patti Breitman, who believed Jn my work and made mare s found a home; Erik Willams, my partner and friend, whore love sistas me; Clare Seletsky, who ‘arried this projec through the home stretch; Caroline Pincas and Bona Hamilton of Red Wheel/ Weiser, for their enthusass and support; Carolyn Zatkowski, who isated tht I write this hook; Bonnie Tardella, for her ticles editing; Janice Goldman, George Bournakis, Herb Pearce, and Susan Solomon for being my lifelines; “Anna Meigs, for her wisdom and guidance; Ruth apd Jake Tedald for helping me when I most needed it; Teri Jessen, for her vison; Bonnie and Perry Norton, for believing in me and giving me the op- portunity to carry out my work; Fred and Claudette Wiliams; Dina Aronson; John Adams; Stephen Cina: Adam Wake; Linda Riebel: Michael Greger: Zoe WeilV. K. Kool; Ken Shapiro: Stephen Shain- bart ills Rettig, Rita Agrawal Eric Prescott, Laureano Bate, Josh Baik; and Robin Stone, Talso wane to thank my frends and family who have supported me dhroughout avery long journey.TO LOVE OR TO EAT? We don’ sce things as they are; we sce them as we are. Imagine, for a moment, the following scenato: Yow are a guest at an elegant dinner parry, You're seted with the ether guetts at an or rately settable. The room is ware, candlelight Hickers across cyst wineglasss, nd the conversation i lowing freely. Mouthwatering smells of rich foods emanate tom the kitchen. You haven eaten all day, and your stomach i growling ‘AtTast afer what feels ike hours, your frend who i hosting the party emerges from the Kitchen with a seaming pot of siNory Rew ‘The aromas of meat, seasonings, and vegetables fill the room. You serve yourself a generous portion, and after eating several mouth ‘of tender meat, you ak your fiend forthe recipe “1 be happy to tll you,” she replies, "You begin with ive pounds ‘of golden retriever mest, well marinated, and then." Gallen ce tere You probably freeze midbite 3 you consider her words: the meat is your mouth fom sd. ‘What now? De you continue eating? Or ae you revolted bythe face that there's gohlen retriever on your plate, and you've jut eaten sore? Do you pick out the meat and eat the vegetables around ef you are like most Americans, hen you hearst you've been eating og, your fesings wuld automatically change rom pleasure wirege of revulsion. "You might alo become turned aff by the veg ‘etablesin the stew, aafthey were somehow tainted by the meat, But le’ suppose that your friend laugh and ays she we plying a practical joke The meat n'-goen retrieve, afer all bute How do you feel about your food now? your appetite lly restored? Do youre- ‘ame eating wih he samc enthusisn you had when you frst began your ‘meal? Chances are, even Bough you know tha the ste on your pte Is exactly the same food you were savoring just moments caer, you ‘would have some residual emotional discomfort, comfort ha might feontinue to afc oo the next ine you it down 9 bee tw ‘What going om here? Why it tha certain fods esse sch emo- tonal reactions? How can fod, given one label, be considered highly plaable and that sme food, given another, become virtually inedible? “The stew's main ingredient-mest—aldn realy change a al It wat imal flesh to begin with, nd i remained that ay jt became — ‘or seemed to, for amament meat from 3 diferent animal, Why it ‘that we have such radically diferent reactions to beef and dog mest? The answer to these questions can be summed up by 2 single sword peapeon, We reac derently to diferent types of meat not because theresa physi dflerence between them, but becite our perception ofthe different, ‘The Problem with Eating Dogs ‘och a shift in perception can fea ike a sit in anes om 8 o-ane road: crossing the yellow line radialy alters our experience. The "reason we can have sucha powerful respnte toa shift perception Tig one mang eg er a rp thee fg ‘hein don app, [isin nmr ester mening A Ie eeause our perceptions determine, in large pa, ou rely; how we perceive a situation—the meaning we make of It—determines what think and how we fel about In rn, our thoughts and feelings often determine how we will act, Most Americans perceive dog meat very diferently than they do beaf; therefore, dog mest cvokes very diferent mental, emotional, and behavioral responses” ‘One reason we have such diferent perceptions of eel and dog ‘meat is because we view cows” and dogs very diferety The mart ‘Eequent—and often the only—contact we have wi cows i when we eat (or wea) them. But for a lage number of American, our relationship with dogs i, in many ways, not terribly diferent fom, ‘our relasonship with pepe: We call them by the names, We say {goodbye when we leave and greet them when we return. We sare fur bede with them. We play with them. We buy them gift, We cary thelr pictures in our wallet, We take them to the dactor when they're sick and may spend thousands of dollars on their teatment ‘We bury them when they pase away. They make us laugh; they make us ery: They are our helpers, ob" fiends our fan, We lve them, We love dogs and eat cows not becase dogs and cows are funda smencallydiferent—cows, ike dogs, have feelings, preferences, snd ‘oneciovaness—but because our perepion of them i diferent. And, ‘consequently, our perception of their mest ie diferent a wel, ‘eta ganna mn ‘Sittin anal spn yh mses Cot "SI te ry rehome per x mr ron oe we we erin cmp hen Cini ws et hg Len) Frm Co ‘Tiasen ulns coins svoaron tay nese et Ren es ome ft sh om a so nya ye ere? ‘Seon chaser toa bres[Not only da our perceptions of meat vary base on the speces ‘of animal it came fom, bat different humane may ako perceive the same mest differently. For example, a Hind might have the same "response to bee a an American Christin would to dog meat. These variations in our perceptions ae dt to our sham, A schema ia py chological framework that shaper—and is shaped by—our bell, ess, perceptions and experiences, and it automatically organios and interprets incoming information, For example, when youhen Oe word “nurse” you probably envision a woman who weste a eal uniform and works ina hospital. Even though a aumber of irsce are mal, dress nontraionally or work outside ofa hospital, unles you ar frequently ‘exposed to nares ina variety fsetings, your schema will maintain this _genealized image. Generalzationsarcthe rer of schema dain what they're suppored to sorting though and interpreting the vst smount ‘of simul we're constantly exposed to ar then puting it int general ‘categories. Shem act at mental casein syrems ‘We have a schema fr every abject, chang animale, Av antl ‘can be cased, or nsance, a prey, pater, pest, pt, ood Howe casi an animal, in turn, determines bow we eat other se un Hoe Ft enterminate lve or ea, Some overlap ‘em oceurbesweon ators (on animal can be prey and food), when ‘it comes to meat, mor anil are cher food, ov not food tn other ‘word we have shot dat aes animale eee or ie" scp cig ae en cane Shoe hey her mb a cm And something interesting happens when we ate confronted with dhe meat from an animal we've classed a inedible: we nat ‘matically picture the Iving animal from which it came, and we tend to feel disgusted at che notion of eating it. The perceptual process follows this sequence golden arive mat (xia — inedible animal el perception) > nage of living dg boughs) —e duc feng) — tefl or retest eo (ation) Lets go back to our imagined dinner party, when you were told you were eating golden retriever. Had such 2 station actully oc: ‘arred, you wold hive smelled the sie smells and tasted the sme Favors ab you had just moments before. But now your mind probably would ave formed a picture ofa golden retriever, perhaps bounding scrousa yard chasing ball cured up nextto are, or running slong side a jogger. And with these images would likely come emotions such a empathy oF concern for the dog chat had beon killed yn thas lagu at dhe thought of eating that anual In contrast, f you ae like mos people, when you sit down te bef you don't envision the animal rom which the meat wae derived Instead, you simply ree “food," and you focus oni Havor, arom, nd texture, When confronted with beet, we generally sip the part of the perceptual proces thit makes the mental connection between ‘meat and the living animal. Sure, weal know that beef comes fom fh animal, but when ste eat it we fond fo avoid thinking about this fact. Literally howrands of people wih whom 1 have spoken, both Urough my professional work and personaly have admlted that ‘hey actualy thought shout aliving cow while exting bee they would feel vnesry and sometimes even unable to ea Thiel why many people avoid eating meat that resembles the animal from which 3was procured; rarely sour meat served with the head oF oer body por intact. one interesting ud, for instance, Danish researchers found that people were uncomfortable eating meat that resembled its animal source, preferring to eat minced mest rather than whole xls fof meat. "Yet even if we do make the contciows connection hetwoen beef and cows, we stil fee lee dished eating beet than we woald ‘ating gon retriever, since type rot meant to be eaten, Sm Ameriean clr, dogs ace How we feel about an animal and how we test it tens ont, fas much less to do with what kind of animal it than about what ‘ur perception of it, We belle is appropriate to eat cows but rot dogs, s0 we perceive cows a edible and dogs a inedible and act sccordingly. And this proces i cyclical: not ony do our belief uk ‘motel lesd to our scion, bt or actions ale rinfove our belies “The more we don’t et doge and do eat coms, the more we reinforce the bli tha dogs are inedible and cows are eile Acquired Taste ‘While human beings may have an innate tendency to favor ‘sweet Mavore(rigar having beens wieful source of calories) and to avoid those tat ae bitter and soar (rach Havors often Jndiete a poisonous substance), most of our tse isn fact, rade up. In other words, within the broad repertoite ofthe Thurman plate, we ke the Foods we've learned we're spot to like. Food, particulary animal food, is highly symbolic, and itis this symboliam, coupled with and reinforced by tra ‘icon, that i largely responsible for oar food preferences For example few people enjoy eating caviar unl they're ld ‘enough to realize that Ling caviar means they're sophisti- ‘ated and refined; nd in China, people et animals’ penises because they believe there organs afect sexta function, ' Despite the fact that taste i largely acyuired hrough culture, people around the world tend to view ther prefer: ‘ences as ational and any deviation as offensive and agus. Ing For itstance, many people are disgusted atthe thought of drinking milk thas been extracted from cows” udder. ‘Others cannot fathom eating bacon, ham, beef, or chicken ‘Some slew the consumption of eggs a akin to the consump ton of fetuses (which, technically 2). And consider hove ou might Fel atthe notion of eating deep-fried tara (air, ange, and al), av they do in Cambodis; sour, pice Jed ram's tail pit, a nome do loeand; oF duck er bryor—egge cht have been fertilized and contain partially formed birds with feathers, bones, and incipient winge— they don tome parts of Asa, When i commento anioal Toods, all tate mity be sequired taste? ‘The Missing Link [kis an od phenomenon, the way we react othe iden of eating doge ‘nd other inedible animals, Even stranger though, ie the way we en's react tothe idea of eating cows and other edible animale. There i an unexplained gap, 2 missing link, in our percepual process when ‘comes to edible species; we fil to make the connection between ‘meat and its animal soure, Have you ever wondered why, out often ‘of thousands of animal species, you probably fel digusted atthe idea ‘of eating all but a tiny handil of them? What ¢ most rrking about four selection of edible and inedible animale not the prin of fst but the absence oft. Why are we me averse to eating the very ‘mall zlection of animals we have deemed edible? “The evidence strongly iggess that our lack of dings age, ‘i no entirely, learned. We arent born with our schemas; they are constructed, Our schemas have evolved out ofa highly structuredDelle stem. This sytem dictate which animal re ele, and it ens bles us to consume them by protecting rom eling any emotions ‘or paychologial elicomfort when doing so, The system teaches us how to not fe The most obvious Feling we lowe i disgust, yet be wath our dius Hes an emotion mich more integral to our sense of self our empty. From Empathy to Apathy ‘But why must the system go to sich lengdhs te black our empathy? Why all the psychological acrobaces! The answer is simple; becanse ‘we care about animals, and we don't want them toll, beeause ‘we eat them, Our valcs and behaviors ae incongruent, and thi in ‘congruence causes usa certain degree of moral discomiore. In order fe thislscomfore, we ave three choca: we ean change our ‘ales to match our behaviors, we can change our behaviors te match ‘our values, oF we can change our perception of our behaviors ao that ‘hey appear to match our valves ts around this hed option that our schema of meat is shaped. As long at we neither value unnecessary animal sflering nor sop eating sina, our schema wil datrt axe pereeptons of animals and the meat we it so that we can fel com Fortale enough to consume them. A the system that constructs ur schema of meat equips us with che means hy which to do this ‘The primary too ofthe system i pzschic mmbing Peychic mb Ing isa psychological process by which we disconnect, mentally and ‘motionaly, from our experience; we “numb ourselves. and of ‘sel, psychic numbing # elit is norm inevitable part of daly lif, emibling us to fonction in a violent and unpredictable world ‘nd t cope with our pain if we do fil prey to violence Fr instance, you would likely be hard-pressed to drive on the highway if you were {ally cognivant ofthe fics that you were speeding down the fol in 4 small metal vehicle, surrounded by thousands of other speeding tnetal vehicles. And i you should be 40 unfortunate as to become & ‘tien ofa erth, you would probably go into shock ad remain in ‘ha state onl you were psychologically capable of handling the real sty of what hal happened. Psychic numbing is adaptive, or beneficial, shen help uta cope with lence. Butt becomes maladaptive, oF Aeseructive, when it is sed to enable violence, even that violence i ‘Taran a he factorenin which animale are turned into meat Paychie numbing is made up of complex areay of defenses and ‘other mechanisms, mechanisie which ae pervasive, powerfl, and ile and which operate en both social and paychologia levee ‘These mechaniams ditore our perceptions and dintance from tur feling, transforming our empathy into apathy—Indeed, te the procens of learning to ot es thatthe focus of eis book The _mechaniams of payehic numbing include: denial, avldance, rota “tion, jutfiation, objectification, deindividualieation, dichotom zation, rationalization, and dissociation. In the upcoming chapters, ‘we wl examine each of hese aspects of paychic numbing and decom ‘Nvuce the system that turns animal into ment and ea nt foo, 1 doing, we will examine the charactritics ofthis stem and the ways in which ensres or contnsed support Numbing Across Cultures and History: ‘Variations on a Theme One question I'm often asked ts whether poople from di ferent eutures and times alo have used paychie numbing 4m order to kill and consime animals. Do wibal huntsmen, for instance, need go numb themselves when securing thelrprey? Before the Industral Revolation, we many Amer ‘ans procured thelr own meat, did they have to emotanally tance themselves frm the animals? Fe would be impossible to argue that persons from all cultures, in all era, have employed the same peyehic rhumbing as thove of u living in contemporary intra feed societies and who don't need meat to nirvive. Con- text determines, large part, how a person will veut to eating meat. One's values, shaped largely by broader social and cultural structure, help determine how much peychologial effort must go into distancing oneself from ‘the reality of eating an animal In societies where meat as ‘cen necessary for survival, people haven't had the haxuey of reflecting om the ethics of their choice; their values ‘must support eating animals, and they would likely be les stressed atthe notion of eating meat, How animals are balled, t00, affects our psychological reaction. Cruelty i often more disturbing than killing Yet even in instances where citing meat has been & ne- ‘esi, and the animals have been Killed without the gre tultous violence that marks today’s slaughterhouses, people Ihave always avoided eating certain types of animal ad have consistently striven to reconcile the Kili and constmp ‘ton of those they do consume. Examples abound of rites, rituals, and belie systems that assuage the meat consumer's conscience: the butcher and/or meat eater may perform prification ceremonies after the eking of life, or an ani ‘al may be viewed at “nerificed” for human consumpdon, A perspective that imbues the act with spiritual meaning and Implies some choice on the part ofthe prey. Furthermore, 2% far hack 26 600 nc, individuals have coven to eschew ‘he commumption of mest on eal grounds, demonstrat Ing long-standing peychologicl and moral tension around rst cating. I is certainly posable that payehic numbing has plied a role—albel to varying degrecn and in diferent {oema—acrom culeures and throughout history “The primary defense of the sytem is ivisiiliy invisiityre= ‘ces the defenses avtdance and dena dis he foundation on which all other mechanisms stan, Invisility enables us, for example, 0 ‘consume beef without envisioning the animal we're eating, # cloaks ‘our thoughts from ourselves, Ivisbity also Keeps us safely insulated from the unpleasant proces of raising and killing animals for our food. The frst step in deconstructing mest, then, i deconstructing the invisibility ofthe system, exposing the principles and practices of system that hae since i inception been in hidingchapter? CARNISM: “IT'S JUST THE WAY THINGS ARE™ The invisible and the nonexistent look very much alike. Delos B.MeKown ‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. Ludwig Wietgenstein Im chapter 1, we did thought experiment. We imagined tht you were at dinner pary, cating » delifour meal, when your Fiend told you the stew contained dog meat. We explored your reactions to ‘tha, and then tothe fact that your fied sal she'd een jing and you were im fcr, eating bef Lev'sty another exercte. Take a moment to think, without self censoring, ofall the words that come to mad when you envision 1 dog, Next, do the same thing, bue tis time picture s pig. Now [use and compare your descriptions of then animals, What do you notice? When you thought of a dog, did you think "ute"? “Loyal"r ‘And when you imagined a pig, did you thnk ofthe word “mud or “seat? Di you think arty” If your responses were sna tthe ‘ones here, you are inthe majority. each peychology and sociology a x local university and each semester I dedicate one class season to atsitades toward animals. 1 have taught literally thousands of students over the yeas, but everytime we do this exercise, the conversition proses in exsentally the same way, with similar responses, First a6 jart had you do, atthe student to lst the chars tories OF doge, nd then the characteviatcs of pige, and 1 write teach lit on the board ar ie’ generated. For dogs, the usual adjee tives include those we've alresdy covered a well ariel" telligent."*fan-Loving,"*protecive” and yometimes langerous” [Not surprisingly, pgs get much less Matering list of deseriptives “They are "sweaty" and “dir,” as well “stp” any “a” and “ugly” Next, Ihave the students explain how they fee! toward each of these species, Again, It should come as no surprise that, gener ally, they atleast ike— and often love —dogs, and are "prose out” by pgs. nally, ask hem to describe thei relationship to dogs and 1 pigs. Dogs, of course, are our friends and family members, and pigs ae fou At this point the students start to look perplexed, wondering where our conversation sheading | then pote 3 serie of questions in response to their presous statements, sd the dialogue goes some: hing ke thi So, why do you sy pige are lay? Becese hey jut he aound ol da. Do pig in the wil do this, or only pgs ried for their meat? 1 da’ nou Maybe ben che ton farm ‘Why do you think pige om a larm-—or in «factory farm, to be ‘more accurnte—tie around? Probl bear theyre np ‘What makes pga api? Thay js ore ‘Actually, pga are considered to e even more intelligent than dope. tenner (Sometimes student chimes in, claiming to have meta pg or 9 fave known someone whe had a pig a pet, and corrabo- ‘ates thle with «tory or te) ‘Why do you sy pige ret? Did you know that, fact igs don't even ave sweat glands? Ave all pgs ugly? me ‘What about piglets? Pps ae cate, but pig at gre. Why do you ay pigs ate diay? They rll 9m Why do they rollin mud? ecu he ke dre Thy ve iy, Actually, they rollin dire co coo off when it ot, since they don't west Are dog dirty? Yeah, meiner Dag condo realy gating things ‘Wy didn’ you include "airey” tn your he for dogs? Beco thay no alway dng. Only someties. ‘Ave pig always diay? Yeah hey ae How do you know tie? ‘ecose say aay oc diy, ‘When do you oe thee? 1 don’ Ino In pcre | gues And they're always ety in pictures? Na.ne alms Pigs are’ aay dy.You said dogs are loyal, ttlligent, and cute, Why do you say ‘hit How do you how? ve een hem, re Hed with dogs Pre mat ff ge (Inevitably, one oF more students shar a story about» dog who Aid something particularly heroic, clever, a adorable) What about dogs eclings? How can you know tht they atually feel emtions? 1 meor y ag ge epee en Fn dow, ‘My dag als got chi gully lak ond hd une the ed wb she the dd omething mong Whenerer tbe my og the ret he sha b's sar (Our dog wa ex ed eaing when he tam packing get ready to ea for voation ‘Does anybody here think it's pose that dogs don’t have feel ing (Nohands ave raised.) ‘What about pigs? Do you think pig hive emotions? Su Do you think they have the same emotions at doge? Maybe, Yah, goes Actually, mos people don't know this, but pigs are so sensitive that they develop newoticbehavior, ach a selE-milation, when in captivity Do you think pig eel pn? Of our Al anima fel pai, So why do we ea pge and not dogs? ecore bun taster good (aught). Becove dae have paroles, You cane somehing that ho a pe sonal: Thy have nomer hey Indra Do you think pigs have personalities? Are dhey indus, ke tog? Yeah gues Ho gt bow hem hey probly de Have you over mets pig? (Except for a exceptional student, the majority has not) So where i you get yur information about pigs rom? Books, te 1 do's kno Sci, gus How might you feel about pigs you thoughe of ther ain teligent, sensitive individuals who are pethaps not sweaty, any, and greedy Ifyou got to know ther irsthand, ike you ow dogs? 1 fc eid ting tha. probly fel hind of gly. So why do we ext pgs and not dogs? Becose pig are bred Be eaten ‘Why do we breed pigs to eat them? 1 do's know never ough but, en, Bae jar the way ‘ings ave. Ws just the vay hinge are Take moment ro conser thi state ‘ment Realy think about if We snd one species tothe butcher aed {give our love and kindneat 9 another apparently for ne reason other than becaute he way thingy are When our attsdes and behaviors toward animale ar 0 insnsitent, and this inconsitency i 0 nesamined, we can safely sy we have bse Fed absurdities, I is absurd that we eat pigs and love dogs and don't even know why. Many of we spend long minutes in the ase of the drugstore mulling over what toothpaste to buy. Yee most of us don't spend! anytime at all think ing about what species of animal we eat and why. Ovr chotces ae consumers drive an industry that Kalle tem Billo” animal per year In the Uited Seater alone. If we choose to suppor this nds and the beet reason we an come up with is because ithe way ehinge ars cleaely something la stnie, What oul ease an entre society of [people to check thelr thinking expat the door—ondto mo vn rele theyre dong 127 Though this qusrion ks guite com ite simple: curiam, lex, the anawer Carnism Weal know what a vegetarian is—a perzon who doesn’t et mest. “Though some people may choose to become vegetirian to improve thelr health, many vegetarians stop eating meat because they don't helene fe chil to eat animals, Mot of ur realve tht vgetarian- [sm is an expression of one's ciel orientation, 30 when we think fof a vegetarian, we don't slmply think of » perzon sho’ jot ike everyone ele except that e or she doesn't eat meat, We think of person who hata certain philosophical outlook, whore choice not toreat meat ira election of a deeper belief system in which killing nimals for human ends ie considered unethical, We understand that vogetarlanim reflects not merly a detary orenttion, but away of ie. This why, for iatance, when there's vegeta move, he ot thei depicted not simply ara perton who avoids mea, character in a Ronen en eo ore ay we nt bu as someone who has a curtain st of qualities has we associate with vegetarians, such as being # nature lover or having unconwen- ional values a vegetarian c someone who believes tha it's uncthicl to eat reat, what, chen, do we eal person who believes that it etlea toreat meat? Ia vegetarian ts person who chooses not to ext meat, ‘what a person who choose ta eat meat? ‘Currently, we une the tera “meat eter” to describe anyone who {snot vegetarian. But hove accurate is this? As we entablshed, veg ctarian te not simply 4 “plant cater” Eating pnts i «behavior that sem Grom a belle system, “Vegetarian” acrurately reflects that a core belie system i at work: the sufix“arian” denotes a person who suvocates, upports, or practices a doctrine or ac of principle. In contrast, the term “mest eater” alates the price of con suming meat, a though ¢ were divorced frm a person's bee nd ‘ales Ie ips thatthe person who eats mest i acting ouside of a Deli system. But is eating meat uly a behavior that exits indepen. deat ofa blir sytem? Do we ea pigr and not dogs because we dn have belie system sehen it comes to eating nial? In much of the industrialized world, we eat mest not because swe have t0; we eat meat because we choose to, We don't need meat to-survive or even tobe healthy; mlions of healthy and longived vvetarians have proven this point. We ext animals simply becsune 1s what we've always dane, and because we ike the way they eet Mort of ws eat animale becauae is art the way things ae “We don't sce mest eating we do vegetarianiams—at# cote, ‘based on 9 set of assumptions about animal, our world, and our. selves. Rather, we te ita given the natural” thing to do, the way hinge have always been and the way dhinge will always be. We eat snimale without thinklng about what we are doing and why becaie he belle sytem tha underlies this behavior tlle. This ii fie beef yetCanis the belie ystem in which cating certain animals con sidered ethical and pproprisc, Carita people who eat meat—are ‘ot the same as carnivores. Carnivore ar animal that are dependent ‘on meat to survive. Carin are aio not merely erivores An om Yore ls an animal——hurnan or nonhunanr—that has the physiological ability to ingest oth plans and mest But, like “carnivore” "omni: vore” isa term that describes one’s biological constitution, not one's Philosophical choice. Caries et test not because they need to, but Thecus they choose to, and choles always ster rom bli ‘Carnisrsinsabilty accounts for why chooes appr motto be hoje all But why has earn remained ivi othe rst place? ‘Why haven't we named iThare'sa very god eaton fr this t's be: ‘aur canis fa particular ype of ele system, an dese, and i> also a parculr ype of deology, ane that especially resitant to ser tiny Let look a cach of thse fests of earns in arn I the problem is invisible then there willbe ethical ivi Carol J-Adoms hey. Carnism, Ideology, and the Status Quo An ideology te shard ae of elif wall ax che practoes that re ‘ce these belies For stance, fern ea Meso. Feminintxare sen and women who beleve tha women deserve to be viewed and ‘rested a equals to men, Beenvae men make up the dominant ctl _r04p—the group tha hails power in soclety —emsnits challenge ‘male dominance on every front, rom the hore othe political arena Feminist ideology Forms the bats of fein belief andl practios, es fly easy wo cco Femina an tology jut a ay to understand that vepeerianiem te simply about NO eating wea | | Both" feminist and “vegetarian” conjure up images of person who has ‘certain set of belies, someone who int just ke every le ‘Sowhat ahout"everybody lee” What abou the majority, the ma stream, al tho"mor” people? Where do dh belts come fom? We tend to vi the mainereamy way of life ava reilection of | univers valuce Yee what we consider normal i in fact nothing more than the belli and behaviors of the majority, Before thea tte revolution, for example, malnatecans European beliefs held ‘hat the sky was made up of heavenly apheres that revelved around the cart, thatthe earth war the exalted center af the universe This belief war 20 ingrained that so proslaim otherwise, a did Copernicus, and later Galileo, was to rik death. So what we refer tas mainstream iasimply another way to describe an ideology that isso widespread—soentrenchad-—that its asumpon and practices are seen a simply common zens, [ee consideted fact rather than pinion, ts practices a glven rather thin a choice. H's the norm, 1s ‘the way things are, And it's the eason carniem har not been named sul now. ‘When an ideology ix entrenched, i¢ is exentally invisible, An ‘example ofan invisible ideology parry, the ideology in which masculinity valued over femininity and where men therefore have ‘more socal power than women, Consider, or fstance, which ofthe following qualities are mot likely to make someone socially and anil successful assertiveness, passivity, competitiveness, sharing, ‘control authority, power, rationality, emotionality, independence, ‘dependence, nurtarance, vulnerability. Chances are you chose the ‘quate that are masculine, and you didnt realize that your ehoces "llet patriarchal valves; mot of us don’t sce patriarchy aan ie ‘ogy that teaches us to thin and act 2 certain way. Men and women ‘ke simply accept tha it's hetter tobe, for example, more rational tnd less emotional, even though both of these qualities are equally necessity for our well beiigPatriarchy existed for thousunds of year efore feminists nated this ideology So, too, has been the ase with cariem, Interestingly, the Hleology of vegetarianim was named more than 2,500 yeas ago, thote who chove not to eat mest were called"Pythagoreansbecnise they fellowe! the dietary philowophy ofthe ancient Greek philowo- ‘her and mathematician, Pythagoras. Later, i the inctocnth cen: tury, the term “vegetarian” was ened, Bot ony now, centuries ater Inbeling those who don't ent meat, hs the Hleclogy of mea ting been med. Tn some ways t only makes sense thet vegetaranizm war named before carnam, Is ear to recognize those Meolages that fall side the minatrars But there is another, more important, reson that vegetaraniam hasbeen labeled while carer has not. The pic mary way entrenched ideologies stay entrenched is by remaining lowinible. And the primary way they sty inv by remaining wn ramed. Mwe don't name it, we can tak about and we canal thot i, we can't question i Whatever is unnamed, undepicted in images... whatever is misnamed as something ese, made diffcule-to-come-by, whatever is Buried in the memory by the collapse ‘of meaning under an inadequate or lying language— ‘this itl become, not merely unspoken, bt unspeakable. Adrienne Rich Carnism, Ideology, and Violence ‘While ii iticul, not impossible to question an deology that we on’ even know ext, e's even tore dificult when that seology atively works to keep itil hidden, This the case with Meologis such as carnsm. refer to this articular type of Weoley as 4 lent eangy, because iis iterally organized around physica viclence, In ‘other wor if we were to remove the violence fram the system—to stop killing animals—the system wold cease to exist. Meat cannot bbe procured without slaughter, ‘Contemporary carnism is orginzed around extensive violence, “This level of violence is necessary in order to slivghter enough animals forthe meat industry to maintain its current profit mae gin.The violence of earnism ie nich that most peapleare unwilling to witness it, and those who do cin become seriously disraughe In my classes, when T show 2 Sl on meat production, t hive to take a number of measures to ensure that the psychological ‘environment iszafe enough to expote students to footage tht i> evitably causes them distress And Ihave personally worked with numerous vegetarian advocates who suffer Irom posttraumatic stress ditorder (PTSD) a6 the result of prolonged exposure to the slaughter process; they hive intrusive thoughts, nightmares, Aashbscks,efficulty concestrating, anxiety, insomnia, and host ‘of ether symptoms. in close to two decides Of speaking an tac ing about meat production, Ihave yet to see person whe doesn't cringe when aed with mages of gh. role general bate ‘Wiy do we hate to see animale in pai? Because we fel for other ‘etlent beings. Most of us, even thove who are not “animal lovers” per se, don't want to eauee anyone —hunman or animal safer, specially AF that suffering i intensive and unnecexary. for this reason that violent ideologies havea special wet of defenses that en- shle humane people to support inhumane practices and to not even alle what they're doing‘Unnatural Born Killers. “There is» substan body of evidence demonstrating hu- ‘mane’ seemingly mtural version £0 lelling. Much of the Fecvarch in ths area has been conducted by the mileary, nase have found that soldiers end to intentionally fe ‘ver the enemy's head, oF not to fe al ‘Sudies of combat activity daring the Napoleonic and (Civil Wars reveled striking statistics. Given the ability of the men, their pronimity eo the enemy, and the capacity of their weapons, the number of enemy soldiers hit sbould Ihave teen well oer 50 percent, resulting In lllng rate ‘of hundreds per rinate, Instead, however, he bit ate was fonly one or two per minate, And similar phenomenon oc- Carved during Werld War I: according to British lewenant George Roupel), the only way he could get his men to stop Bring ino the ar was by drawing his sword, walking doen the trench beating [them] on the backaide and. telling them t fre low" World Wa Il ire rates were also remark bly low: historian and U.S. Army brigadier general S. L.A. “Marshall reported that, during battle, the King rate was 2 ere 15 ¢0 20 peroent; in other words, out ofevery hundred zen engaged in firefight, only filteun to twenty actually ted their weapons. Ard in Vietnam, for every enemy 20 ‘dic ied, more than Sty uaowsand bullets were ire ‘Whe these studies ave taught che mlitary is that o er to get solders to shoot tol, zo actively partipat in ilence, the solders aust be sficently desensitized to the {ecco iling ln other word, they have to lor ut il — | and to not fel responsible—for their actions. They must be taught to overside their wn conscience, Yet these studies lho demonstrate that even in the Face af snmedinte danger, {in tation of extreme violence, most people are averse to Jeling In other words, as Marshall conc, "he vase ma Jority of combatants throughout hitory, atthe moment of truth when they could and shoul Jl the enemy, have found themsolves to be conscientious objectors: ‘As Lientoned in chapter 1, the primary defense ofthe system is lnvitilty We've already dlecutved how carn ie scilly and psy ‘hologialy nsable. But violent ideologies alee depers on phic Invisibility; shetrwolence ss well hiden rom public serutiny, Have yotever noticed that, though we breed ate, and il en billion ani ‘als per year, most of us never tee even a single part ofthe process ‘of mest prodccon? ‘Once we genuinely think about the meat we eat, once we realize that there is much more to our elinary estes than our own mara, ‘madulterated preference, thet is just he way things ar imply ot a good enough explanation for why we eat pigs but not dogs Lets turn now and havea look at the wy things really are,charrers THE WAY THINGS REALLY ARE ‘Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, ‘and eventually they will believe e Adolf Hitler I you are lke most Americane, meat is «staple of your dle You Drobably eat meat t least once a day if not more often. Think about the fords you've eaten over the past week. How many mealshave you ‘nnd that consisted of some form of chicken, beef, pork, or turkey? Have you had bacon or stusige with your breakfet? Roast beet or turkey sandwiches for inch? Rotisserie or fied chicken for dinner? How much “The U.S. Departanent of Agriclture (USDA) estimates that the aeerage American connumes 87 pounds of chicken, 17 pounds of turkey, 66 pound of heel, and $1 pounds of pork per year Add to ‘hia pound of veal and « pound of lamb and each of us eat total 10F 23 pounds of meat anny” Given that che current population ofthe United States 300 million, thats «lot of meatand a lot Fania ‘Tole exact, US. agribusiness slaughter ron Bilion sale per year and that's not inclding the eetimated ten billion fish and other en animals that are hled anneal. Thats 19,011 animals per ‘te, oF 317 animale per second. In the une Sook you to read these ‘three paragraphs, nearly 60,000 more animale wer illed ‘do you thik you've ean this week? Ths month?Jast to give you some perspective, the ten bill U.S. Farm: nim popslation is nearly double the size ofthe worlwide human population, I's 34 times larger than the population of the United States, 1250 times higher than the popelation of New York City and 2,500 times larger than the population of Los Angeles. Another way to think shout this number ie dha f we were try te pack ten billion people into 3 fotbal Fel, would take 263,000 Fectball elds—an ares shout the sie of Houston—to bold them al Or ftenbillion people stood inline, the He would be two milion ‘miles long, Tha’ long enough to reach to the moon and back, four times sls lng enough to wrap around the entire circumference ofthe earth cighty times. And we're only talking about the numberof ‘vim tle ina single year consider how these numbers increase ‘over five, ten, rwenty year Obviously, it takes lt of animals to prodice the amount of meat we, ara nation, bu, sell,and consume, Meats big busines. In Fact, men is very big business—the LS. animal ageibusiness indus ty hae combined ann! revenves approaching $125 billion * Con ‘er the counlew grocery stores, resturant, cafeteria, and homes serous the country dat are stocked with meat, Meat i erly e ‘eryoare we men ‘So where ar lhe ania? Where Are They? (OF the tem billion animale shat have been raised, transported, and slaughtered over the course of the pat year, how many have you seen? Ifyou lve in 4 cy, probably almost nono. But lets assume {you lve inthe country. Flow many cows do you see grazing on the Ilsides? Peshnps fy 4 «ime hut? And how about chickens or pgs or turkeys? De you sce anya all? How wany times have you t ‘seen these animals ontelovsion, in magernes and newpaper, nthe ‘movies? Though we may eat meat om 3 dally basis, most of ws don't, stop to consider how peculiar that we sin go through our entre lives without ever eneountering the animale that hecome ou fos Where are hey? “The vst major of the animal we eat are not, a those inthe animal agribusines industry would have us belive, contented cows and "happy hers lasing amid grey fields and open barnyard They fare no sleeping in spacious salle with fresh hay. From the moment theyre born, these animals are kept in intensive confinement where they may suffer from diate, exposure to extreme temperatures, severe overcrowding, violent haling, nd even psychosis, Despite hat the prevaling imagery of farm animal suggest, smal, fay run farms ate Largely a thing of de past toy the animal are in rmassve“confined snimal feeding operations” or CAFO (sometimes called“hetory farms", where they reside unl they are shipped to Ue saughterhoue. As with any major production Ficity, CAFOs (andthe laugh terhowes they supply) are designed with » singular intention, to Imansfacture thelr produce at the lowertcoxt and for the highest profit posible. Quite imply, the more animals killed per minute, the more money to be male. Toward this end, CAFOs may house literally handed of thowende of animale at ste, animals who are ‘viewed and treated azunite of production and whose welfare isneces sarily secondary eo the profi ther bodies will rn, From x business "andpoint animal welfare ia rir to profit a comes to mas: produce animale and discard thowe whe die prematurely than It does to care for hens adeqately. Infact it x entimated that upmatde of 500 milion animals destined to become fod dic before reaching the slaughterhouse, a fezor that abl into the cow of production. Is ‘these comt-cutingsncawes that make modern mest prodction one ‘ofthe mor inhumane practices in human history.See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil The moa ffotine way to distort reality ito deny if we tll our selves there fn problem, chen we never have to worry aout what todo sboutit And the most effective way to deny arealit isto make ‘it nviuble, As we've dzcused, silty the bulwark of the ear Im chapter 2 we deconstructed the symbolic invsbiity ofthe system, Symbolic invisibility is enabled by the defense mechanism Cridans, which i form of denial, We avoid the erath when we roid naming the system, which in turn, prevents us from realizing hot thers even ia aster, In thie chapter, we will deconstruct the prociclinvisbiity of earn, This deconstruction is necessary fa rer to truly appreciate the mechaniams and dynamics of earnism ‘As hang a we are uninformed or misinformed, we cannot under- sand the realty of meat production and move beyond carnistic Aefensée “The cetablshments that produce the bulle of the meat that mates it to our dinner plates ae, esentaly, invisible, We don’e ‘os them, We don’ ee thems because they are located in remote ‘reas where mat of ur don’t venture, We don't se them because See're not allowed accees even if we da try to get i? We don't {ce thom because their trucks are often seed) and unmarked. We don’t see them because, at Erk Schlower, investigative a thor ofthe bes-tlling Rut Food Nation, says, they have "mo wi {dows onthe front and no architectural clues to whats happening inside" He don't ve chem become ee not ruppoed a. As with any violent ideology, the populace must be shielded from direct exponure tothe victims of wesyatem, lest shey begin questioning ‘the aystem or thelr participation in it, This truth speak for eel: ‘why else would the mest industry goto such length fo keep ex practices invisible? 1 2007, journalist Daniel Zoveriing st out to welte an a= Wile on the chicken industry for Gaurmer agains. Given the indsry’sresponse to his requestor «tour of ter plans one ‘would think Zwerding was writing for egtaron Times rather than arenonned publication of aris caine. According to Zerding, whose article" View to Kil" wa pblised in the June 2007 as of Gourmet, “Spokesmnen a he ve bigest ‘companies refused to show me the farm where their spl ‘rsrase the chickens you eat, so that could se firsthand howe they reat them. They efaed eo show me the slaughterhouses, ‘0 [could see how the companies dipateh them. Executives ‘even refined to talk to me about how they raise an kl chick ‘enc And Ziering’ experience f not uncommon, Not only i eifical to obtain acces to o plans, but in a number of ses it actully agin the law to take photos oF videes inside “animal enterprise,” such a8 Taboratries, circuses, and slaughterhouses, Furthermore, the Animal Enterprise Terrriam Act of 2006—epiition that has ‘ben harshly cries as nconstetinal—rakes egal o ‘engage Behar that lin the eonomi drpson of an ei conte Because the media tx denied access to “animal cnter- ries” most of the fotage of CAFOs and saughterhoases that reaches the public comes from udercover investiga ‘ions. Such war the case withthe 2008 Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) davestigation the documented workers dragging sick daiy cows with chane and Mipping them with forklits—to be processed Inte mest destined {or publi school cafeteri—thit led to the largest recall of beef in the nation’s history‘This Little Piggy Went to Market . ‘As we dscuse in chapter 2 pig ae intelligent, cnsiive animale; pig lets young os three weeks od learn their names and respond when ‘alle. ln fic, research from Pennsylvania Seite University revealed ‘hat pigs could be trained to play computer games; using their routs to control joysticks, they wore leo hit their targets with 80 percent a curacy Pigg are slo affectionate and sociale, enjoying the company ot humans, hich why they can make excellent pets Several years 2g0, ited a sheler for rescue arm animals an he pigy colt get cnough of my seratching their bellies and behind the eas, In natral stings, pgs roan or up to they mee day and can form close honds with one another They may be able to dangith ‘between as many a thirty diferent indi pigs fn the group, and ‘wil greet and communicate with those with who they are lowe Expectant mathers are extemely conscientious; they may wander For six miles to find the perect spot to bul birthing nest and then spend wp to ten hours building before setting in to care for their rexthorns, Once the bales ae old enough to rejoin the others, hey play and explore their environmen together for months. Mort pigs, however—more than 100 milli-spend ther entice lives in intensive confinement and never see the outdoors ntl they are packed into tracks to be sent to slaghter. Shorty afer piglets are born, the ae ypeally castrated, and their ailsare xt of, wth- fut anesthesia. Ranchers are told to remove (dock) their als with blunt, side-cuting pliers because the crushing action helps to reduce ‘Bleeding Tal docking is necessary because under extreme srese and ‘when all their natural urges have been thwarted, pigs develop ne- otic laviors and can setully bite each ots tals off. This pay~ chological reaction is one of the symptoms of what is refered tain the indastry ae porcine stress syndrome (PSS), » condiion that is remarkably simular to what we cll in humans posttraumatic stress i nr eer isorder (PTSD). Other symptoms include rip, panting anxiety, blotchy shin, and sometimes sudden death, Like hamane who have ‘endured solitary confinement and other tortures in captity, pigs have engaged in selfzmotiaton, and have been found repeating the same nontensial behaviors over and ove, sometimes thousand of simeraday; che animals ate Beall riven insane.” Of Pigs and People: The Genetics of Trauma Posttraumatic tres dnorder (PTSD) and porcine srs sy “drome (PSS) seem to share a genetic bai both conditions are in part hereditary A number of studies have reveled that ‘one's genetic predapostion, combined with «traumatic ex- perience, increases the likelihood of developing PTSD; large seady of twin Vietnam veterans, for instance, led researchers to chim tha there i “x significant genetic conibucion to PTSD" Silay, the Ontario Minktry of Agriculture, Food snd Rural Afr reports tht i the combination of genetien sind serene that leads othe development of PSS in pigs” Piglets bora in confinement are allowed to suckle fr jute two te three weeks, and they do this through the bars of a erate that separate from thelr mother's. A number of piglets dle before being ‘weaned, from maladies ouch at starvation or dares, Sometines Aa piglet has managed to aquesee into the mother erate to saify his or her instinctive need for warmth and closonesr, the mother har gi harp Sp eycan accidontally crush it Regardless of the cause, infant deaths are inevitable. There a simply too many animal for workers to ee for adequately 4 typeal hog breeding plant employs teen people to manage 3,600 sows, ‘Alter weaning, forthenext sx months, te young pigrare crammed ‘nto what are often filthy pons or beds in hog factories Thee bildngs are filed with naniour gues frm the pigt excrement and the rt dene with dt and dander, Both pgy and the humans who work in ‘seine confinement buldings ale frum chronic respiratory ewes, tn x number of pig die prematurely from hing dese, When the pigs are ready tobe slaughtered, they are herded oat tractors hound for the slaughterhouse, To sive money, 8 many pige 2s posible are packed into a ruck, and this overerowding—cou- pled with the fice that the annals recxive no food, water or pro tection from extreme temperatures chring transport, which can Ibe upwards of twenty-eight hours—recols in high mortality ates, according to The Navona! Hog Fare, an industry publiation, "The ‘ational recorded incidence for dead on atival (DOA) pigs fn 2007] swat 0.2186... Based on 22 commercial ld teal the rate of non: ambulatory pige (clasifed at ftigued or injured) prior t reaching the weigh sale at the packing plant was about 0.379%. No national figures exist for non-ambulatory pigs?" Agricultural Investigator Gall Elenice, who interviewed s numberof slughterhouse worker, wa told ofthe transport proces ‘owe going to ote hogs ina seminale no matter wha. Daring the time { worked in tendering, there wa large ples of dead hogs every diy... When they ome off the tik, they're solid a Block of ice... Tent to pick wp some hope one diy for chainawing frm a ple of about thirty fo ‘zen hogs and | found two [that were) «+ foven bat ell live. I could tll ehey were alive boca they raed ‘their heads up ike, “Help me." took my axcchopper and hopped them ro death "| ‘The pigs that do survive the journey are deporte into hol fing pene to swat slaughter When is time, they ae prodded onto 1 marrow walkway of chete, on which they walle ingle fle ko the Uulling Noor The animal atthe sear of he chute hear the screams ‘of the pigs ahead, who have strived a the alaghter lnc, a well the shouts of men working on the solty production line. SeMoseer explains what he sw upon reaching thi point in his tour; "The sounds get louer—factory sounds, the note of power tools snd machinery, bursts of compressed alr... . We wal up 2 slippery ‘etal stairway and reach a small platform, where the prodction line begins. A man turns and sniler at me. He wears safety gogales tnd a hard hat. His face ie splatered with gray matter and blood 2 [Not surprisingly, many pigs ate reluctant to move forward. Av one slaughterhouse worker put it ‘When the hoge smell blood, they dont wane ro go I've seen hogs beaten, whipped kicked in the head to gether up the reseraincr: One night ls a driver gets angry at hog he broke sts back with piece ofa boat I've seen hag div fers take their prod and shove it up the ho’ ass to get the to-move. I did’ appreciate that because i made the hogs ‘vic a wild by dhe time they got to me.” Farm animale are suppoted toe stunned and rendered uncon- scfous before they are actully billed. However, some pigs remain coneious when they ae rtrung upside down by thei legs in hackle, sd they kick and wtrggle a they are moved slong the conveyor belt tohave ther throne tit, Becnone ofthe speed at which the animale sre supposed to be otunned and Killed, and becauae Haghterhooseworkers are often ineactively trained, a number of pigs may also survive throat cuting and remain conscious when they ariveat the next station, where they are dropped into scalding water —a proce- dre done to remove thelr hale: Elsie describes how squealing hogs were left dangling by one leg while workers left to take thle neh breaks, and thousands of hogs were mers inthe sang tank alive And one worker she interviewed commented: "These hogs hic the faer and start serearing nd Kicking Sometimes they thea so much they kick water out ofthe tak, There's 4 rotating arin that pushes them under, no chance fr them to get out. I'm not sare ivhey burn to death before they drown, but it takes them a couple of| minutes to stop thrshing?”™ Euaits also found thatthe stress workers face from spending hours at single station where they have to kill (or stun) one hog ‘very four seconds led to violent outbursts toward the pigs. One ‘worker deseibed sich an incident: Lite,one day the live hogs were driving me nats... [he sn animal pises you off eventhough you] are going to kill ie. Only you don’s just ill you go in hard, posh dhard, blow the windppe, make it drown in its wn blood. Split ies nose. live hog would be running sround the pt. Fe would just be looking up st me and Td be sticking and "would just take my kif and... ev its eye out while it wae jst iting there, And this hog would just scream. One time I took my knife its sharp enough —and {lice off the end of shop's nose, just ike 3 piece of bologna, The hog went eraay fora few seconds, Then it just st there looking kindof stupid So [took a handel of elt brine andl ground {into ie nove, Now shat hog rally went nuts, brushing ts ore allover the place stil hada bunch of lle on ny hand —t was wearing a rubber glove--and I stuck the salt ight up the hog’: toshi or go blind." The poor hog dida’t know whether Female pigs that are wed ax breeders eventully wind up at the slaughterhouse a well, but befor dat time they spend mich of their live in small metal cages and sls that are referred toa gestation crates” These crates are to feet wide, too small for the sows 0 ‘even turn around, and thei Moors are coveredinleces and urine. The ‘imaleslfer rom a number of problems du t this confinement, but one ofthe most painful condisione they endure fs inary tract Infections which can become so severe at to be ft. Urinary track Infections occur because when the sows le down, they ar immersed sn bacterin ridden waste that makes ts way to hei urinary tacts A sow willbe Forcbly impregnated in apid cycles of every five ors "months, unt she io longer able to reproduce, at which tie she packed onto truck headed for slaughter. “Whoever Defines the Issue Controls the Debate” pp State University, explained to a ae Aience of poultry producers that i ime to take on medlae sey animal rights acest who understand the power of {refine pan Ulan ped pe Sey 30d teat Sit fost MeL Ray ergs er tse ed Sten pen 7 tp gelanguage. "Whoever defines the isve contro the debate,” he sid.” Curmmings suggested tat “debeaking” a chicken should intead be called "beak conditioning.” making the process seem more ke aps treatment than #dafiguration, The "backup killer” (the worker responsible for slaughter: sng birds tae ae sil alive alter pausing the automatic ile) should be a “knife operator” and the term “ineanguinated” should replace “sled” to death Industry insiders have long been aware ofthe discomfort ‘consumers fel when words paint too accurate picture of how animals are turned into mest. Ax fr back as 1922, the ‘Texas Sheep and Goat Rasers' Assocation proposed repli ‘ng “goat meat” with “chevron,” arguing that: “People don't eat ground cov, pig chops, or leg of sheep... ef, pork, and mutton round mich mare appeising™" And the for ‘mer National Cattlemen's Beef Association advised its met hers to substitute proces or harvest for “slaughter” since “people react negatively to the word slaughtering” Tn the United Kingdom, to0, one can find interesting ‘examples of how the animal agrbusines indy aie la guage wo eamouage the reality of mest The Met Tes our tol advises readers t uae “mest pla or meat factory” in lieu of-aaughterhouse™ And Bitch Me eed the allow sng reatement: "Traditions retailing centres around offering ‘the public bits of animals and often identies meat with Hive stock. But modern consumer stiues shy sway from this link... There ian urgent need for new retailing phi loopy We are no longer in the busines of welling poses of ‘earcase meat, We must make our customers think forward to what they will ent rather than backwards to the ata in the fl ™ Where's the Beef? “Michaol Pollan trace the hfe of «single meer ster number $34, in ‘order to write The Omniere Dilsnne,his best seling exposé cn con ‘temporary food: production practices What Pollan found when e fa lowed stor number 534 fons bith ro death represent he fate of the 235 milion beet cate that are ile every year inthe United States Pollan describes how he was marveying herd of calves ina pen when "534 moneyed up to the ring and made eye contact He hada wide stout frame and was brockle faced. Here was ny boy" Tela surpriang that 536 vo ready approached Pollan. Bovines se communiatve, emotional, and soca ereamare, They have tl Luple vocalzattons and gestres to communteate ther fealing, and ‘vs osture environment they will ureare ongolng Friendship wich ‘one another. Bovines are naturally gentle and deci, spending most oftheir waking time eating grace and chewing cud, And babies fe {quently engage in variety of forms of py with eich other when they are not auckling from thei mother ones born into capiity are unable to saefy many of these satura instincts, However, for short te, a leat ome of ther basic needs are met, Unlike the pork and poly industries, the beef Industry keeps its animals outdoors for the ist six month oftheir les, since i cheaper to contrat independent ranchers sho own _przing Ind to manage ths prt ofthe proces, Pollan reporte“Ster rhumber 534 spent his firs six months in thet lash patures alongside is mother, 9554. Apart from the ensma of the Saturday Apr ‘when he was branded and castrated, one could imagine 534 looking back on those si months asthe good od day ‘Stcer 52 fad been burn inthe birthing shed across the street, fom the pasture, and Me all male ealves, hs castration, branding, snd “de-horning” (Qo preven hs horn fom getting stuck in fences ‘oF causing harm to other animals or humans) took place withoutanesthesia. Agrculeraits atthe Universky of Tennessee explaia the most elicit ways to perform some of the diferent methods of emtratng caves Stres rom the procedure, they #47, can be “minimized by performing the procedure when the calf small nc cxually immature” One method involves using a knife to cut off fhe leer par of the aroma: “Afar he etic are exponed, they should be prosped and extended one ata time wile pushing back the connective tue surrounding the cord. In young elves, the ‘cstile may be grasped and pulled until the cord breaks." Or op- ‘rators cam place a rubberband on the serotum sve the tet: “This cuts of the blood supply and the arotar and tsticle slough ‘off abou three weeks” However, they warn, "This the least esirable of al the Bloodless methods of cartration becauee of the ‘anger of tetanus I this method is used shouldbe uted on alee less than one month of age" Another bloodless method of cute tion involves the ate of an emercostome, an instrument with blame blades that crush the spermatic cord and sever the blood supply "The ematculatom ls left in place for approximately one minste Wisatrongly suggested thatthe emarcuatome be applied twice on cach cord: Repeat the procedure on the other se ofthe serotum, the cord hae been mised, repeat the procedure” And Folly, the agriculturaite advise that “fhe bert times £0 castrate are it the spring and fll when Bes and maggot are les ikely to Inerenc Fevtation nd infection ofthe woud ‘Given thete cartration practice, ite not surprising cht Pollan believes 534 wat raumatized Pollan chins that S34 war eum teed vecond time, a well, wher he was wend from he mother st six monthe of ages “Weaning is perhaps the mo ‘ona ranch fr animale and ranchers alike cow aeparated fom their ‘calves will bellow for day, and the calves, sresed.. are prone to getting sick ™" Weaning ls recognized a8 «major paychologial ares. forby agricultural veterinarians, who therefore recommend that the Facilities that hold both mother and eal after they have heen sepa ‘ated shouldbe strong enough vo preven he two fom reuniting The natural suckling period for ealvess hetween sx and ewelve months After weaning, 53¢ wa se off to spend the next coupleof onthe tn a"backgrounding” pen, where he wits to get used to confinement, «ating rom a eough, and consuming unnatanl fod, which were com Prited of massive quantities of drug eidden corn, and protein and ft ‘Supplements to bring him fem $0 1,000 pounds is fourteen months "Te rest of his fe would be spent in feo, an versemsed, filthy facory farm with flooring lirgly comprised of mane, where he would be confined with thousand f other ter awaiting laughter ‘When it comes tine for slaughter, cattle ae no more eager to wall the chute to the Kill oor tha are pig. They mat be prodded long, a process that Further streaes already fatal annals and workers. Though under federal law i Meg to use prod in excess offity volts, one employee Einit hte viewed commented: You can get frustrated when you're eying to move cate along... Sometimes you have to prod ther lt. Bit some ofthe drivers [people who prod cate lang the bts) burn the hell ot of them. The five oF at hothots electric prods) by the lead-up chutes are hooked directly toa 110-volt outlet ‘Run them along the floor's metal grates and dey spit parks like 2 wolding machine. Some driers would Beat cite with hotshot unt hey weres0 Wid ad panicky you conn’ dos thing with them, ight up ite the knocking box. ‘Once at the anembly lin, the cattle ae stunned, shackled, bled, Sisrboweled, and skinned. As with hogs, the lack of killed work ers and the dizying speed ofthe conveyor belt prevent precision in stunning and many eae end up being pulled along while conscious, Conscious catle on the line are particularly dangerous for workers,because, t 1,000 pounds, when they thrath ad kick, they an some: times break free from the shackles and fll headfirst onto employ ees from a height of Been fet. Even then the animal is dinecly ‘stunned, sometimes takes mpl ines forthe hit o render hime unconscious, Another employee comments 1 remember one bull with relly long horns. 1 knocked twice... Some ald white stall came out—brain, | guese—and it went down, its fice ll blood: tolled nto ‘he shackling area. That ball mrt ave fle dhe shackle going on legit got up lke nothing ever happened! oii didn ‘ven wobe, and toa off ut the hick door, started running own Route 17 snd jut woulda’t stop. They went out and shot it witha rife, dragged i back wth dhe eacto Schlosser to0, witnessed the elfocts of ialequnte stunning: A steer alipe Frm i chain, fills tothe ground, and gets ts head enght Ina comeyor belt The line stops as workers truggle to fee the seer stunned but alse, rom the machinery. ve seen enough Pollan was rot permitted entry fn the Kill Ror, 40 he awaited the arrival of his seer atthe final detinstion of his journey. There, 534 emerged ata box of steaks, No lenger even a umber, $34 had been reduced to a container of neatly packaged products destined for supermarket shelves. ‘They Die Pieoe by Piece In 2001, the Mshigton Fr printed an arse by Joby War rick entitled “They Die Piece by Piece” Warrick explsined how, though cattle were supposed to be dead before rach {ng the cutting oom, this wa often aot the reality, amon Moreno, a slaughterhouse worker who'd pent twenty years a a “second legaer"—cutuing hocks off carcaces at they spe past atthe rate of 309 per hour decribed the procest to Warrick: “They blink. They make noises, he sal sf "The head moves, the eyes are wide and looking around Sill Moreno would ent. On bad days, be says, dozens of snimals reached his station clearly alive and conscious, Some Would survive as far asthe tll eater, the Belly ripper, the hide puller. "They de ssid Moreno, “piece by piese Bird Brains? Chickens and Turkeys In chapter 2, [discussed some ofthe common szumptions we make shout pige and how these belies make it easer for us to ext her, ‘Many of us feel even more removed from chickens and turkeys a least in part because of our deep-rooted belie tha they ate supid— pethaps too stupid to even know whether they ae in pain. However, Diede ae actully quite smart; scientists now acknowledge that there animale are vary more intligent than ehey'd relied.” Chickens and turkeys are alto quite sociable, which may explain the growing tend of keeping hem as pets, Owners describe bids who play wich them, sek them out far affection, ad even cavore with the far iy dog There are alo websites dedicated exclusively to bid owner hip, For instance, a mypuchlce. com, enthusiarts can purchase xuch paraphernalia a the $495 Egla, an “urban-chic chicken coop” which ‘Comes five diferent colors, and prond owners oan post picture of their favorite chickens forall to adie, \Neverthelos, i the United States we il and consume approxs- mately nine billion birds year for their lsh or egg. “Brole” chickens fr turkeys ae ated fr their meat, and though a natural conditions they lineup ten yer CAFOs they have ae pan of sever weeks