Warning for Animal Lovers

[Feralpeg]

Today on Oprah, they will start a week long event. They will propose a vegan challenge. To kick it off, they will be showing what happens in a meat processing plant. It sounds like this will be graphic and not something many will want to see. I won't be watching.

 

[FlyingDumbo]

I think I will watch. I need to see. Maybe if I see it I won't be able to pretend it isn't happening anymore. I waver back and forth with the meat issue.

I agee though, some people might not want to watch. From what I have read about meat packing plants, it is scary stuff. I read one book and didnt eat meat for over a year. Ick. But then it fades from your mind....

 

[WDSearcher]

Somehow I don't envision this as being an "expose" on animal abuse and meat packing. Considering how the previews look, it seems to be less about how the animals are killed or treated and more about how clean the place is, what parts are used and what actually ends up in your meat.

This is about vegan eating vs. meat-eating from a health standpoint, not from a "we love all animals" standpoint. If she was taking that stance, it would have been splashed all over the previews. It just doesn't come across as though they're trying to educate people about animal-care / handling procedures in meat packing plants. In fact, I'd be surprised if they showed much (if any) of that element at all.

 

[Feralpeg]

Somehow I don't envision this as being an "expose" on animal abuse and meat packing. Considering how the previews look, it seems to be less about how the animals are killed or treated and more about how clean the place is, what parts are used and what actually ends up in your meat.

This is about vegan eating vs. meat-eating from a health standpoint, not from a "we love all animals" standpoint. If she was taking that stance, it would have been splashed all over the previews. It just doesn't come across as though they're trying to educate people about animal-care / handling procedures in meat packing plants. In fact, I'd be surprised if they showed much (if any) of that element at all.

Perhaps that is true. The commercial I saw showed cows standing in an area eating. The lady was saying that this is their last day. Tomorrow, they will be steaks. That was enough for me. I know the reality, but I don't want it in my face.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I won't watch that, but it reminds me. I let my 10 year old DS read the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and it has really changed now he refuses to eat at Mcdonalds.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I am not going to watch, either. The puppy mill episode nearly sent me over the edge - I'm too much of an animal lover.

I'm glad she's doing the show, though, even if I can't watch it =)

 

[amyren]

I think everyone should know where their food comes from so that each person can make an informed decision about what they decide to eat or not eat. Turning a blind eye doesn't make the issue go away.
A good "PG" movie on this subject is Food Inc. It isn't very graphic but very informative and interesting.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

 

[allison443]

Somehow I don't envision this as being an "expose" on animal abuse and meat packing. Considering how the previews look, it seems to be less about how the animals are killed or treated and more about how clean the place is, what parts are used and what actually ends up in your meat.

This is about vegan eating vs. meat-eating from a health standpoint, not from a "we love all animals" standpoint. If she was taking that stance, it would have been splashed all over the previews. It just doesn't come across as though they're trying to educate people about animal-care / handling procedures in meat packing plants. In fact, I'd be surprised if they showed much (if any) of that element at all.

I think you might be right..it might be more of a health related viewpoint. The clip I heard talked about someone on the show who lost I think ten pounds in a short amount of time after going vegan.

 

[bicker]

I hope it is at least as substantial as what was given the Coming of Age class at our church a few years ago. One of the teens came back from that project and presented at church one Sunday in early April. On the way home from church, my wife and decided to become vegetarians (we had been so inclined - leaning towards making the decision - for a while, of course), and haven't looked back.

If someday the entire nature of the meat, poultry and fish industries are radically changed, returned to how they were 500 years ago, then perhaps I could fathom the idea of eating animals. At least then the meat wouldn't be a product of institutionalized cruelty. (I still probably would be a vegetarian, but in that situation my conviction wouldn't be anywhere near as strong, based in that situation only on that there is no need to use animals for food and clothing, because we have alternatives.)

Of course, if the entire nature of the meat, poultry and fish industries returned to how they were 500 years ago, we'd be eating about 1/10 of 1% as much meat as we eat today.

Regardless, I doubt that even Oprah is ready to confront the institutionalized cruelty directly and completely. We'll see.

 

[JarethDrakul]

I think it's nice that Oprah is doing this, as people really do need to know what goes into what they're eating.....as turning a blind eye doesn't really change the matter of what's happening.

I imagine she'll do it alot nicer than the documentary that made me decide to change my diet (that video of the sheep still freaks me out 5 years on). Basing it more on the health aspect is a really good way of going about it as that's one of the final reasons I became vegetarian (going vegan this year) and I've felt alot better since ^_^

 

[npmommie]

I watched a little of this today. I saw the part where Lisa Ling was in Cargill. They did make it sound like sunshine and roses to me.
the woman from cargill talking about how they respect that this is a living creature before they put the bolt in it's head
and how they have such a great system for calmly walking the cows from the feedlot to their death.
please give me a break.
cargill is a factory farm and nothing more. they have been sued over ecoli and had some of the biggest beef recalls.
granted they do have some new methods due to pressure from groups like PETA, but they are still a factory farm imo.

I realize not everyone will be vegan, my dh eats meat but I buy it from a local farmer, not the grocery store.
I try my hardest not to support factory farms.
ok rant over

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

I've always been overweight but it started coming off once I eliminated all meat and fish from my diet a few years ago. I just went vegan in September and have slowly lost 13 lbs without trying! It's a LOT easier than I thought it would be I DVR'd the episode and I can't wait to see it.

 

[threecrazykids]

Yeah, I turned it on today and all I'm going to say is there ARE parts that I would call graphic. But I'm a huge animal lover so even though I quick flipped the channel several times I still caught some scenes I thought were horrible. I don't know why but I can watch once they don't "look" like the animal...like when you see the meat on the belts moving along to packaging or through the grinders...that part interests me, how it's handled etc. But before that part...I literally get sick to my stomach.

 

[pixiewings71]

When I was in like 6th grade our class took a field trip to a meat packing plant......they showed us the whole thing, from beginning to end.....I didn't eat meat for a few years, which sucked for me because my favorite meal was tacos. It was a horrible experience for a kid, I wouldn't watch the show just from my memories...lol

 

[Feralpeg]

Yeah, I turned it on today and all I'm going to say is there ARE parts that I would call graphic. But I'm a huge animal lover so even though I quick flipped the channel several times I still caught some scenes I thought were horrible. I don't know why but I can watch once they don't "look" like the animal...like when you see the meat on the belts moving along to packaging or through the grinders...that part interests me, how it's handled etc. But before that part...I literally get sick to my stomach.

That is exactly how I feel.

 

[bumbershoot]

I think everyone should know where their food comes from so that each person can make an informed decision about what they decide to eat or not eat. Turning a blind eye doesn't make the issue go away.

Agreed.


I went vegetarian on my own, over time, and I've never felt the need to watch those shows. But I was thinking about my food even back at 11 years old, when I was eating a deli sandwich, then thought..."liverwurst, liverwurst...does that mean it's from LIVER? Nasty!" I still miss the taste of that sandwich (from one specific place), but I have NO interest in eating the detox organ of another creature... Then it happened with sea-bugs (spurred by finding out that a distant maternal relative was Jewish, and then became just an "ew gross" issue, because those critters also eat the garbage). Then veal. Until one day after I'd been in anatomy lab, finally actually LOOKING at the cadaver to learn the leg and hip muscles (already dissected at UW Medical School, then sent down to our University), and after studying it for hours, went to dinner and they were serving some sort of meat that, well, yeah, I really finally got the connection that "meat" is the muscle of the animal... (I rarely tell that story, sorry, it felt important to do so in this particular thread)

Anyway, I know that other people, many other people, do not *think* about it to the extent that I do.


So there are people who consider themselves animal lovers, but will continue to eat meat, because they refuse to think about it. To me...an animal lover who eats meat loves animals in a whole different way than I do!

An animal lover will be upset by watching the cows, etc, be killed etc, but it's *happening*, and not watching won't make it stop happening, won't change the reality.

 

[surfergirl602]

I watched it. it just reaffirmed my decision to eat a vegetarian diet.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I think it's nice that Oprah is doing this, as people really do need to know what goes into what they're eating.....as turning a blind eye doesn't really change the matter of what's happening.

I imagine she'll do it alot nicer than the documentary that made me decide to change my diet (that video of the sheep still freaks me out 5 years on). Basing it more on the health aspect is a really good way of going about it as that's one of the final reasons I became vegetarian (going vegan this year) and I've felt alot better since ^_^

What documentary was that? I just watched Food, Inc. and was horrified at what goes on in our nations' food supply. (But that is literally a separate thread).

 

[Hootiss]

I think everyone should know where their food comes from so that each person can make an informed decision about what they decide to eat or not eat. Turning a blind eye doesn't make the issue go away.
A good "PG" movie on this subject is Food Inc. It isn't very graphic but very informative and interesting.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Couldn't agree more

 

[npmommie]

What documentary was that? I just watched Food, Inc. and was horrified at what goes on in our nations' food supply. (But that is literally a separate thread).

Earthlings is a good documentary to watch.

also a short film Meet your Meat is another..........BUT it IS VERY GRAPHIC
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-513747926833909134#