Listen, it takes me ALOT to get grossed out. I love Nip/Tuck, horror movies, all that stuff.
The last time I got super creeped out was when I saw the footage of that Canadian figure skater who got whacked in the face by her partner's skate blade.
Anyway, I rented Fast Food Nation. I had read most of the book, but had to put it down after reading hte chapter about how the cows are killed...not that I'm all pro-animal rights or anything, but it's pretty horrific nonetheless.
That was a few years ago and I got over it fast enough to keep eating red meat (I can't give up my chicken! As far as I'm concerned, chicken meat comes from trees). Well...for some stupid reason I decided to watch the movie.
Wait, let me backtrack. I've SEEN cows slaughtered in real life. I've been to farms in Canada and seen cows get shot and then their necks slit. I've been to Pakistan where, after Ramadan, everyone's cows and camels had their throats slit and then my family would chop up the meat in the backyard courtyard area...At age 12, I sat with a cow's head on one side of me, and a pile of MOVING meat next to me (it was explained to me that electricity still goes through meat long after the animal is chopped up). I took my cousin's broken necklace and placed the beads in the cow's eye socket.
Seriously. It takes ALOT to gross or creep me out (exclusing spiders. Spiders FREAK ME OUT big time).
So I'm watching Fast Food Nation, not really paying attention 'cause I was catching up on my magazine reading...getting kind of annoyed with the illegal aliens in the movie (don't get me started on that...WHYYYY did i pay $70 to get biometrics done AGAIN?! My fingerprints didn't change mother effers...department of Homeland Security is EFFED UP), getting annoyed with the extra random footage that wasn't needed, kind of surprised that a low-budget movie would have people like Bruce Willis, Wilmer Valderamma, Greg Kinnear, Avril Lavigne, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, which is a pretty significant list, and being reminded of my days working at McDonald's.
Finally I get to the part where they show REAL footage from slaughterhouses.
Holy CRAP. I threw everything on the ground and curled up on the couch with my shirt covering my mouth yelling "ughghg!...aaachghghghg...ughghghhhhhh". Listen, cows are kinda cute. They have those big doe eyes, they're kinda stupid, they're funny-looking...so when you see one just standing there and then a gun against its head and it gets SHOT and then it jerking around and all the blood trailing out of it and then it strung up and all the blood just pouring out and the scenes where the intestines are slopped into a big bin...seriously vomit inducing.
I do believe...I'm done eating meat*.
* for at least a week anyway.
The whole industry really IS effed up. I'm anti-illegal immigration, however I don't think that gives the right for anyone to start abusing their power over those people. I'm not okay with food being that...artificial...while trying to act relatively healthy (I don't care what anyone tells me...the lettuce at McDonald's might as well be deep fried. NONE of their salads are healthy. Their WATER isn't healthy. Basically, only eat their if you're hours away from dying of starvation). And one thing that I remember from the book was that the success of places like McDonald's is that they hire teenagers on purpose, not because they're cheap but because they don't COMPLAIN...in hindsight, I was exposed to some seriously dangerous conditions and I was burnt SOOOO many times I would go to school comparing my war wounds with the other people who worked at McD's. You think an adult will tolerate that crap? I can buy whatever I want in order to ensure proper ergonomics at my work station so that i don't get back pain. BACK PAIN. Compared to burning yourself, that's pretty minor.
Argh I don't know what my point is. Just that I don't want to eat a burger for awhile. And that I think I need to adopt a baby cow.
4 comments:
I had a burger the other day from The Works which is a small 'gourmet' burger joint (these people put peanut butter on the burgers, or KD and call it gourmet... there are other kinds but those are the ones that come pop into my head at first.) Anyhow, this place takes its time making the burgers, it's great beef and they serve the burgers in little aluminum pans with wax paper. I can't remember the last time I had a McD's burger, I did have a Harvey's burger about a month ago though and yes I don't want to know what's in the meat but I don't care how the cow was killed. For an animal who's sole purpose in life is to be eaten and such, does it really matter how they are killed? Yes it's cruel how they do it but is there really a humane way to kill an animal? Keep in mind we kill ourselves in probably less humane ways than we do animals, some even legally (thinking of the death penalty some States have, electrocution, gas chamber, fire squad (I think that's only for treason), lethal injection. Maybe lethal injection is ok but we're not consuming the dead after that we bury or cremate at that point.
If you think about it though a lot of the cow's parts are used so despite how it dies, hat's off to the industry for making the best use of every part of the cow, meat, dog/cat food, leather, the bones are probably used for glue or something, we drink it's milk.
Granted shooting it in the head isn't all that nice and slitting of the throat isn't exactly all that clean but it's certainly more humane than the bullet.
Sabina if you and Kraig come up to Ottawa this summer I'll take you guys to The Works, if that doesn't change your mind then you can stick to eating chicken. :)
BTW, have you seen how they raise chickens and kill them? That's nasty.
Uhh... I haven't seen the movie, n' I probably wont just because there are sooo many other movies on my Netflix que that I still need to watch.
I haven't had a hamburger since 6th grade camp. I only ate it because that's all we had for lunch n' I was hungry. I have no problem with other people eating burgers, but I guess I just don't care for the texture or taste of ground beef. I never really ate steak that much either, but in the past few years I have grown to love a good steak. I mostly eat chicken.
About firing squads... I know that they still do it here in the US. I think it was Utah if I remember correctly, but it's not there main form of execution, but used as a secondary method.
For a good burger go to... In-N-Out, Fatburger, or Tommy's.
Okay Sabina let me first just say that I respect you very much and know that you are a very strong, smart woman, however, I feel the need to comment on your blog. First off this is MY profession and life, has and always will be. Any slaughter in a slaughter house/packing plant is HUMANE. The USDA has strict standards , guidelines, and rules to follow. They run periodic evaluations on each and every plant. I am working/taking a class right now from world, industry and animal science renowned professionals. One of them has designed just about all of the nations holding, working and processing facilities. They are humane! As for the ways they are raised, they are not neglected or otherwise. I have to say that I was quite upset when I read this blog. I find it very offensive when those few ignorant people go off on tangents about the agricultural/animal science industry. There are always stories about the "back 40." And yes some of those things happen but those are very few and far in between. Those are the people who give this industry a bad name/reputation and we in the industry take great offense.
If you have any questions about this please let me know. If I don't know the answer I will most definitely find out for you.
Anna
Okay as far as the killing and them quivering in the chute. Yes they are quivering but this is very peaceful way to go out. I actually just witnessed this this past weekend at work, there is no pain to them. They then slit there throats to let them bleed out once they are dead, otherwise this blood would contaminate the by-products.
I hope that I have no offended you, I hope to soon watch Fast Food Nation to fully understand what you are watching. However, this is my knowledge, growing, naive and so forth.
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