It would be virtually impossible for us, as desensitized and disconnected as we are, to even imagine the environment of a modern slaughterhouse. As the long-time animal rights activist Laura Moretti writes: I realize it is incredibly easy to imagine the inside of a slaughterhouse and not be so affected by it — for the human grasp is limited. It can’t hear the sound of a large animal pushed against its will into a kill chute, its frantic struggles, the reverberating pop of the captive-bolt pistol, the heavy thump to the floor, the kicking against metal, the groaning of the dying, the screech of pulleys and chains, the hydraulic release hiss, the splashing blood, like water from a garden hose hitting cement. It can’t smell the stench of manure and sweat, blood and putrefying flesh and organs. It can’t feel the absolute fear, panic, terror. It can’t know the absolute will of each and every life to desperately, frantically, vainly hold on. The human mind can’t imagine the inside of a slaughterhouse; it is something one can only experience—and it is utterly shocking. Contrary to the culturally-induced illusions most of us harbor about slaughter, we should never imagine that animals go peacefully to their deaths. They are highly intuitive beings and can smell, hear and often see other animals being killed in front of them. They know death is coming, and they will fight it till their last breath. The burden then falls on the slaughterhouse workers, who must drag, beat, subdue and kill the poor creatures while they are in this frenzied state. To conceive of this physically debilitating and emotionally taxing process being repeated hundreds or even thousands of times a day is simply beyond comprehension. Violence only begets violence. The predatory mentality we inherit and promote through our animal-derived foods is a vibrational curse that radiates throughout our communities, creating generations of psychologically armored people and a world that is increasingly spiraling out of control. At the epicenter of this cycle of violence are the unfortunate men and women we pay to execute the billions of animals we consume on an annual basis. These are the lowest caste of our herder culture; the anonymous executioners to whom we pass the knives we refuse to hold in our own hands. Alas, the price they pay for our raging desire for animal foods is much more immediate and perceptible. Ultimately, the blood is on our hands as much as it is on theirs. In fact, in most courts of law, the party who wills the death of another and pays an assassin to commit the crime is more heavily accountable than the assassin. As Ralph Waldo Emerson points out, “You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.” [Laura Moretti, “Another Death in the Family,” Animals Voice; Gail Eisnitz, Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry, Prometheus Books, New York, 1997, p. 271.]
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 09:12:17 +0000
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