Food Inc.

I'm sitting in my apartment (well lying down) watching Food Inc. I had been wanting to see this movie since before it was in theatres as two of the primary contributors in it wrote the two books that finally made me a vegetarian. Michael Pollan is the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, a book which outlines and explores the path four meals took to get to his dinner plate. The second book is Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which takes a deep look at the fast food industry. If any of the people who read this are at all interested in reading these books I have copies of both and would gladly lend anyone a copy.

This movie is making extremely uncomfortable at some points, and incredibly frustrated the entire time. I try to not be the person who analyzes what everyone is eating and tell them why they shouldn't be eating it. But seeing the way the animals in the feedlots and in the slaughterhouses are treated and raised is making me want to scream at people as they pick up a package of boneless/skinless chicken breasts from the shelves at Smiths. Chickens who are genetically modified to grow so big so fast they can't even stand up to walk and get a drink of water, cows who have been antibiotic laced corn their entire lives who form abscessed rumens that are so sick they become unable to make the walk to the lines to be killed so they are shove (not lifted) by forklifts into the correct area, are just a few of the signs that we are abusing our abilities as intelligent animals.

I am 100% behind people being omnivorous, it's what we have evolved to be, but it should never be at the expense of another living creature's suffering. Yes, we have to kill to eat meat, but do we have to make these cows, chickens, and pigs live tortured lives only to end up on our plate? People choose to ignore how badly their meal suffered. It's is illegal to torture human beings; Is that because they're humans just like we are, or because they have the capacity to be mentally and physically scarred by it? If it's the former, than we have fallen into a role of being disgustingly arrogant creatures who see themselves as being superior to every single living creature on the planet. If it's the latter, then we have the same obligation to treat animals with respect that we do humans. They suffer, mentally and physically, the same ways we would if we were forced to live in the conditions we force them to live in.

I know that few people will read this, and even fewer will be inspired to look further into their food as a result... But for me it's something that gets me going. I feel disgusted by the way we treat other creatures. I choose to watch the videos of the inhumanity because I need to know where my food comes from, others don't feel the same. And as badly as I want everyone to be exposed to this, I will continue to respect people's decision to remain blind to it all.

The only way things will be changed is if more people care, if less people accept the inhumanity. But this won't happen. The most I can do is live my life the way I think is best, and be ready to explain and share when people are honestly curious.