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I'm not a vegetarian, but I do avoid meat.
I wouldn't preach or try to convert someone to cut down on meat or dairy products. I don't judge people for what they eat. But at the same time, I do feel it's crucial to know what we put into our bodies.
If you do eat meat, you ought to be man enough, or woman enough, to watch this video. Again, I don't necessarily advocate being a vegetarian. I advocate understanding where your food comes from. Watching this video is important, not because I think it'll turn people into vegetarians, but because it will make people more appreciative of the animals that give up their lives so that we may eat. Not appreciative of the flesh that we find so tasty, but the animals that the flesh belonged to.
As you watch this video, reflect on what the word "humane" means and from what word "humane" comes from.
If you believe in God, ask yourself if God would approve of the way we treat his creatures. What would God think of the word "humane"?
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watch more videos!
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Videos submitted by koyaanisqatsi:
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enigmasrook
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Jul 5 @ 7:53PM
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I'll give you a kudo for showing this but won't watch it....I've seen enough and read enough about what they do to animals....Michael Polan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" woke me up....but I think it is great you posted this. 
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jentoblues101
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Jul 5 @ 7:54PM
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I couldn't watch it all.
And I'm proud to be a vegetarian....though I'm going to have to investigate where I'll get my eggs for now on.
Jen
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Cynbaby
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Jul 5 @ 7:55PM
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My bf has shown this one to me many times, I go off meat for a while after I see it. I'm aware where my food comes from and I eat mostly seafood. But I'll admit I have some meat in my diet...I need my curry lamb every once in a while.
It's a good video that makes you think twice
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lacyvsq
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Jul 5 @ 9:17PM
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I grew up on a farm (where we raised chickens -- layers and fryers -- geese, turkeys, pigs, beef and dairy cattle), worked in a Campbell's Soup/Swanson's cannery eviscerating and boning chicken, and toured meat packing plants -- all more than 30-35 years ago. Things were not as portrayed in the video on my dad's farms. It was a family farm and both my dad and I nearly cried when he sold the homestead and kept the land as rental property, because it meant the end of its use as a family farm.
I have been mostly vegetarian most of my adult life, mostly because I think it healthier. My initial reaction to this video is to say it isn't so, but I am sure that the nature of food production has changed immensely since I worked with my parents on the farm. I am appalled at the inhumane treatment of the animals that currently go into our food supply.
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koyaanisqatsi
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Jul 6 @ 10:52AM
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Like I said in the video, I don't want to convert anyone to vegetarianism (I'm not one myself). I don't think humane eating an either-or condition, but a certain type of mindfulness.
Being mindful of the amount of meat we consume. Most people don't realize they eat meat with every single solitary meal. Plus snacks. I've read both sides of the "our bodies are/aren't suppose to process meat" debate, and am on the fencepost, but it's clear that our bodies aren't meant to process THAT much meat. It's too much. Too excessive.
We should think of meat as we think of dessert. Something special. A juicy cheeseburger at Teddies, Junior's, or the Broome Street bar. A steak at Peter Luger's. Maybe meatballs when we really have a craving.
I guess what I'm saying is that we should try not to have meat unceremoniously.
I believe that the horrors of butchery are due to the sheer volume they need to process. Anything that processes a lot of "stuff" is inhumane by nature. The DMV and college registrar (or almost any bureaucracy) is a perfect example.
So collectively, I think being "mindful" of the meat that we consume is a very good, very realistic way of eating humanely. And if you want to cut out meat altogether, that's great. But if you don't want to, then at least being mindful is a great way of making a difference. This won't work with one person, but if we all lived this way, it would definitely make a change for the better.
Individually, I think choosing free range animals for food is not only a healthy life-choice, but a humane life-choice as well. There are some that would disagree, like PETA itself:
http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=96
and I'm sure there's truth in there. The mistake they make is that the world is not going to put the brakes on mistreating animals destined for food.
I am a firm believer in small steps winning the marathon.
Lastly, education about the state of butchery. We should all be aware. Education is never a bad thing. Only a good thing.
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koyaanisqatsi
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Jul 6 @ 11:00AM
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Lacy, needless to say that family owned farms are a niche thing these days. Like oil and steel manufacture, farming is first and foremost a business.
That is capitalism gone wild.
Farms have investors, boards of directories, public offerings, bond issuance, CFO's, lobbyists, etc. This is what causes the horror that you see in the video.
Finance and animal slaughter go together as well as the Department of Justice goes with partisan politics.
Again, I'm not out to convert anyone. But we should at least know what goes into putting a juicy bacon cheese burger on our plate and let our conscience sort it out.
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jazmella
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Jul 6 @ 1:24PM
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I've been vegetarian for 8 years now, and over the last 3 years have converted to veganism. Why? 95% has to do with what you see in this appalling video. The other 5% has to do with health reasons.
I'm too much of an animal lover to ever resort to eating them (meat) again.
Great post, by the way.
The only thing I have to comment on is when you say, "...it will make people more appreciative of the animals that give up their lives so that we may eat."
These animals do not give up their lives. Their lives are brutally taken away from them. Do you honestly believe the pig you ate for dinner gave up his life willingly?
Anyway, to all you fellow veggies out there, God bless you.
:-)
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MissingMarble
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Jul 10 @ 5:55PM
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I can honestly say that I have personally witnessed this total disregard for life and cruelty to animals from my neighbor, a farmer. The guy is a monster, there are no buts about it. It saddens me to no end.. I eat meat, I admit, but not without wondering the entire time about the animal that unwillingly gave it's life. Eat more veggies, I say. My hat is off to all the vegetarians out there. As for my neighbor, well...I'm in the process of looking for another place to live.
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zendivamom
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Jul 11 @ 4:16PM
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I've got this video on my MySpace page.
Generations of men and women are raised to believe that animals have no rights or purpose in this world other than to serve and feed humans. It's difficult talking reason when confronted with this sort of justification.
Have you had any luck reasoning with the unreasonable...'cause I sure haven't. I just get yelled at and have to walk away...in tears.
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Hansumm
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Jul 17 @ 8:59PM
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Probably bad timming on my part, but I am a carnivor and I thanks God that I don't live in the times that i had to hunt and kill my own food with a spear. I also firmly believe that meat is vital. I have been for many years a distance runner and know that I could not have done what I did without the meat. In fact, I use to take 60 desicated liver tablets a day. Remember the days when a country in north africa, and the name eludes me for the moment, but the whole world stood up and banded together to help try and save some of the thousands of people dying daily? Well, at the time I was watching doctors being interviewed while supervising and helping however they could. Anyway...lots of food and especially soy bean was being shipped. The doctors were stating how bad things had become and needed much help and the people were dying and needed to have protein immediately to save them. The reporter said, but isn't all this soy bean helping. The doctor replied, that the people were so far gone, that the soy bean protein was not sufficient enough to help. He then stated, they need real meat, the protein for meat is much stronger and better for the body. Okay, that said, I love my vegetable like no one else, but also love my meats. I was the kind of kid, that ate spinich when I was a kid, because the whole time I was thinking how good it was for me, and the same with liver too. I don't eat fast foods, cakes, candy or hardly ever eat ice cream. However, I love my meats, vegetables, milk and only use butter when cooking. In other words, I hardly ever introduce preservatives in my food. I consider myself good at eating good foods, although everyone else in the world would probably disagree  As for my health, I don't have high colesterol, my blood pressure is perfect and have never had a back problem or ache in my life. I also don't have any allergies.
Although stories like this will always be with us, I am in favor of only humane methods to bring animals to market. Oh note, I also am a plant or gardening hobbyists, and would also like to see more humane ways of putting a head of lettuce and other vegetable than ripping them out of the ground separating them from their feet! Tell me that would hurt you?....
anyway...bye...
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koyaanisqatsi
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Aug 2 @ 1:27AM
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Hansumm, eating meat is absolutely fine. There's nothing wrong with it because it's a natural, ordinary part of life.
But it's the application of humanity to the slaughter of our food which is troubling. We subject living creatures to unnecessary pain and suffering. Pain that, for a human, would be unconscionable. Yet animals feel pain just as acutely as we do. They feel no less than we do.
And so, their lives should be made easier and slaughter more humane.
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johnnysacs
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Aug 6 @ 11:30AM
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i won't watch it,,,pointless,,,,i don't need to see human cruelness in a video,i just turn on the news or pick up a book or hear about it any number of different venues,,,,,,,,
even if this video showed the slaughter of animals in a nice way,,would it make any difference?,,,,,,,,it's still going to happen,,,,
but i'm all for the humane killing of animals,,,,,i don't think you need to do anything in a cruel manner,,,,
just for perspective,,we slaughter thousands of our fellow human beings everytime we participate in a war,and not always in a humane way,and don't we always seem to find a war that we just have to get involved in? ,,,,,
always seems to be a reason,,,,,what was it this time,,terrorist attacks? ok,,,
maybe there's just alot of us who like killing and not all of them like being humane about it,,
maybe thinking about how bad we treat the animals is a way of not facing what we do to each other,,,,,just a thought,,,,,,
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shawnward
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Aug 30 @ 2:47AM
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this was total awsome id pay to see this it was cool i love animals though but still it was awesome
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