People eat meat. They’ve been eating meat since the beginning of time, and they’re gonna keep on doing it. That’s fine with me. I’m not making a pitch for a vegetarian lifestyle, and I’m not condemning meat eaters. I’m one of them.
If I were going to be a vegetarian I would likely make that choice on moral grounds. I fully appreciate that living, feeling creatures are killed to make hamburger patties and southern fried chicken. I wish they weren’t, but I know they are. Maybe someday I’ll achieve some higher state of consciousness which will compel me to limit breakfast to granola and supper to Soyawannaburgers, but that day hasn’t come yet.
Having said all of that, now let me say that there is a right way and a wrong way to do just about anything. It seems to be a natural law that the wrong way is cheaper, and it is for this reason that the wrong way is, invariably, the capitalist way.
Killing is a necessary step in bringing top sirloin to the table. Torture, on the other hand, is not a necessary part of killing. If we’ve just got to kill things to eat them, it would seem that we could carry that out without torturing and needlessly inflicting fear and agony on our victims—even if behaving decently adds a penny to the price of a chicken nugget.
McDonald’s®, it seems, may feel otherwise. Capitalist affections seem to be winning out over decency at Mickey D’s where the bean counters continue to buy chicken from suppliers who needlessly torture the birds they slaughter.
Watch the video to the right of this article. It isn’t pretty, and it isn’t for the squeamish. I take that back. It is for the squeamish. If you are squeamish about cutting the throat of a terrified bird while it remains conscious, the video is for you. If you are squeamish about dragging fully conscious, living birds through scalding hot water to de-feather them, then you need to watch. If you’re not squeamish about these things, you needn’t read any further.
This sort of thing needs to stop. It needs to stop now. McDonald’s® needs to demand that its suppliers stop mutilating and scalding live birds. As consumers, we need to demand that McDonald’s® stop serving up unhappy meals with meat from abused and tortured animals.
Join PETA’s effort to persuade McDonald’s® to do the responsible and humane thing. No amount of honey mustard can disguise the taint of cruelty.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, I want to watch the vid, for further info on this sorry subject. But I’m squeamish — just reading about what they do to the birds almost made me throw up. And I’m seriously probably not going to order a Chicken McNugget anytime soon! (Actually, with the beef — no pun intended — I’ve had with Mickey D’s for years, the ONLY thing I’ll order there is a very occasional Big Mac.) Neither will I be patronizing Chik-Fil-A or Church’s soon.
Cutting to the chase, I’ cannot bring my squeamish self to view the vid.
On a humorous note, since you end withr eference to PETA — after commencing with confession of your carnivorous lifestyle, Prentice, I must share what I’ve seen recently a couple times. At the Vanderbilt D-Sch. library I often see a big “good-ol’-boy” who a couple times has worn a tee-shirt which says People Enjoying Tasty Animals. LOL
Commercially farmed chicken is sold to more than just McDonalds…..commerically raised animals don’t have a cruelty free life or an end to it. Factory farming is hideous and it meets the demand of Americans who consume so much of it on a daily basis.
Factory farming is a grizzly industry at nest, but not all factory farming operations engage in “worst practices.” McDonald’s hss the puchasing power to bring any of its supplier in line.