Factory Farming Goes Mainstream October 13, 2008

Tomorrow’s Oprah will feature an investigative report involving factory farming.   Here’s a brief description of the show:

Lisa Ling Reports: How We Treat the Animals We Eat

Have you ever wondered what cage-free or free range really means? Lisa Ling takes a rare look inside some of America’s farms. Where does our food come from?

Source

Considering how wide Oprah’s audience is, I am quite elated that she decided to do a show on factory farming.   I highly doubt if masses of people will go veg upon seeing the show, but if mainstream America finally learns where their meat comes from, perhaps there will be an outcry large enough to put a stop to the suffering of farm animals.

I will check out Oprah tomorrow after work if I can (normally, I am home when her show is half-over), but I’d love to see open discourse and reviews from others who have seen the show.  Discuss!  🙂

obama “cares about animal rights very much” January 25, 2008

This is probably old news to lots of folks — I’ve been trying to limit my consumption of election news, for my sanity — but the AP had a story on January 16 called “Obama Pledges Support for Animal Rights.” It’s a short article, but here is the relevant chunk:

Obama responded that he cares about animal rights very much, “not only because I have a 9-year-old and 6-year-old who want a dog.” He said he sponsored a bill to prevent horse slaughter in the Illinois state Senate and has been repeatedly endorsed by the Humane Society.

“I think how we treat our animals reflects how we treat each other,” he said. “And it’s very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals.”

Sounds decent at first, especially considering we’ve lost Dennis Kucinich again, & Clinton has ties to corporate agriculture.

But what does Obama mean? How far is he really willing to go on behalf of animals (& on a personal level, does he eat meat or dairy)? The Humane Society is definitely an animal welfare group — as opposed to animal rights (ie. “happy meat” is okay, even though the animal still dies unnecessarily). Hm, maybe that’s what Obama means — he’s interested in supporting small farmers who slaughter sentient beings, & not large corporate factory farms. Great. Unfortunately, the “cruelty perpetrated on animals” doesn’t stop when you give them access to the outdoors & feed them grass, instead of making them cannibals… & then still kill them at the end.

(And I hope, that if his children do persuade him to add a dog to their household, that he doesn’t buy one from a pet store — & better yet, that he adopts one that already needs a home.)