Skip to content

On the PR Dilemma of People Who Slaughter Animals

It seems the animal exploitation and slaughter business is in a bit of a bind. They’ve realized that consumers are finally developing a moral limb about the animals they eat, and experiencing the epiphany that a dog isn’t all that much different from a chicken.

Hmmmmm–what to do.

For the consumer, it’s easy. Stop eating chickens forever. And any other sentient being. Done.

For the industry, however, it’s not so easy. In "Farmers face dilemma: Animals as meat or pets," Morgan Jarema writes of the image problem the industry has developed. Wes Jamison, a University of Florida public relations researcher and professor, said, "Most consumers are profound hypocrites. They want to have their meat and take it to the vet, too." He notes that class trips for children might be to farms, but they’re never to slaughterhouses.

"Why? Because we intuitively know society has changed, and we try to hide what we do from society," he said.

"We need to reassert our right as agriculturalists and say we’re proud of what we do. We need to say ‘You know what? It takes the death of something for you to live, and we are unashamed.’"

I think that’s a great idea. In fact, I think everyone who eats animals should have to see how they’re killed and maybe even do it themselves. I think every child, if she is participating in the kind of violence and suffering inherent in even the least-offensive form of animal agriculture, should be required to know where her food comes from. We owe our children honesty.

What, or whom, you ask, has spooked the industry into even pondering telling the truth? In "Lobbyist tells farmers to fight abuse claims," by Nancy Cole, we learn that none other than Wayne Pacelle is responsible. An industry spokesperson/lobbyist, Steve Kopperud, said that the goal of HSUS "is to put animal agriculture out of business." The funny thing, as we know, is that that is NOT the goal of HSUS. And in fact Pacelle himself, in the same article, says:

To us it’s not about animal rights, it’s about human responsibility. These animals are killed for human consumption, and the least we can do is give them a decent life and not subject them to torment and privation that causes them enormous distress.

Are those the words of someone who wants to put animal agriculture out of business? HSUS promotes animal products that are sold at a premium, for heaven’s sake. He’s practically working for animal agriculture.

The most telling moment in this article, for me is Kopperud’s quote:

“Everyone in the animal-rights movement likes to quote Mahatma Gandhi: ‘Society shall be judged by the way it treats its animals.’ That’s swell. I think we’re fine.”

Really?

Here’s the problem, as I see it, and Kopperud is certainly not alone. There is something in the way he was indoctrinated into American society–maybe it was religion, maybe it was the idea that we’re the smartest beings on the planet therefore we’re allowed to do whatever we want to the "lesser" beings–and that deeply-held belief creates the perfect environment to participate in a violent, oppressive business, yet feel quite at ease doing so.

We were all similarly indoctrinated, yet some of us were made aware that questioning authority and formulating our own opinions was a valuable, not to mention responsible thing to do. Those who can actually say the way we treat animals is fine, with a straight face, clearly need to learn some critical thinking.  But if their livelihood involves believing what they say, it’s that much less likely that critical thinking will ever enter the picture.

Finally, and I’ll write about this more tomorrow, there certainly is a growing awareness of how animals are treated, but it’s up to us to listen to that piece of the conversation, then take it back to its foundation: whether or not it’s ethical to even use other sentient beings in the first place.

No comments yet

Leave a Reply

You may use basic HTML in your comments. Your email address will not be published.

Subscribe to this comment feed via RSS