Comments from our Readers
Last week we ran an article titled City kids
get lesson in bacon, bloodshed and asked for your comments.
Thank you to all who shared their views on this controversial issue.
Here are some of the responses:
“Seeing where bacon actually comes from can be an important and
valuable lesson, but the most important thing is how the parents handle
it. If they respectfully listen to the child and acknowledge the child’s
feelings, they can contribute to the emotional and intellectual growth
of the child. Many such children will choose to go veg, but not all.
Most parents tell their kids that they must be “tough” and “realistic,”
and they demand that their children eat animal flesh and other animal
products. Children who abstain are often punished, e.g., not given
dessert. The children repress their natural affinity for animals and
must re-orient their sense of justice from what is fair and kind to what
is the rule. The harm to these children is great, and society-at-large
pays an ultimate price by having citizens who care more about following
socially sanctioned rules that endorse violence and victimization than
about the actual feelings of other individuals.”
~ Steve
“In my opinion, this is another example of eco-parent foolishness.
Because this family can visit ONE farm that treats their animals
decently, they mislead themselves into generalizing that situation to
all animal products they consume, regardless of the source.
These children are not hearing or seeing the real story of 99% of the
bacon, beef, dairy, eggs or any other animal product that's produced in
this country, because they were taken to a farm where slaughter takes
place on site, and where the animals were not routinely mistreated. But
that farm is one in a million. So they missed out on witnessing the true
story of animal agriculture: the industrial sheds where most animals
live in warehouse style forced to breathe air so full of ammonia and
other pollutants that it stings the eyes, not to mention what it must do
to the lungs; transport to the slaughterhouse where the animals are
rounded up, many unable to walk after being forced to repeatedly
reproduce, and stuffed into trucks where they barrel down the
interstates at 70mph in the dead of winter or height of summer for
hundreds of miles without any protection from the cold; to the final
destination of the slaughterhouse, where line speeds almost guarantee a
tortuous death. Instead, this family got one more lesson in eating
animal products guilt-free.
So unfortunately, the children in this story will eat animal products
in the future, under the impression they came from the bodies of animals
who lived happy lives and died in painless manners. But they'll only be
deceiving themselves."
~ Julia
“The article was upsetting re: kids watching slaughter but at least
the parents had the guts. I would hope that such an experience would
encourage all who witnessed the slaughter to embrace compassion and turn
away from the violence."
~ Kimberly
"One of the things that solidified my status as Vegan was that I
started having flashbacks of the screams of pigs being slaughtered on
our small family farm. I could actually hear them in my mind. But,
compassion preceded my receiving those."
~ David.
Your question and comments are welcome