The truth about factory-farmed meat

Daozen

If you eat factory-farmed (ie non-organic) meat, you need to understand the truth about the industry you are supporting:

http://www.rollingstone.com/feature/belly-beast-meat-factory-farms-animal-activists

Peace to ALL animals on earth.

Namaste

Invincible_summer

Earthlings is also a very good documentary on this topic, as well as how animals are used/abused in other industries.

Jeffrey

How can we 'out' the offenders of poor animal treatment? A LOT of people wouldn't be willing to become vegetarians. But in a 'relative good' they would like to support efforts to make the animals life (while alive) more safe and enjoyable.

Surely if all were vegetarians that would be an accomplishment, but a reachable goal would be to guarantee the animal a quality life.

BhikkhuJayasara

:coffee:

cvalue

My friends told me they don't want to hear anything about this because it spoils their good meals. So many people pretend not to know, look the other way so they can enjoy their delicious meat dishes. My friends said they want to have a good life. So am I, I want to have a good life too but not on the incredible suffering of other sentient beings. People don't want to know because what they don't know can't hurt them. They know vaguely that animals were treated cruelly, they hope maybe there is some regulation from the government somehow that can ease their conscience on this matter. In the mean time, they just close their eyes and savor a juicy great steak or tasty spare ribs... Oh! life is good! why worry about animal suffering? after all, animals are created for human consumption. Right?

MaryAnne

Right.

Jainarayan

Jeffrey said:

How can we 'out' the offenders of poor animal treatment? A LOT of people wouldn't be willing to become vegetarians. But in a 'relative good' they would like to support efforts to make the animals life (while alive) more safe and enjoyable.

Surely if all were vegetarians that would be an accomplishment, but a reachable goal would be to guarantee the animal a quality life.

This is one of the reasons I've wanted to become vegetarian, and I may yet, though I'd be a hypocrite because I wear leather.

Anywayzz...

The Humane Society of the United States makes a valiant effort to improve the situation. I don't know if it was because of the HSUS's efforts or a combination of efforts, but NJ is one state out of several to require gestational crates for pigs to be big enough for the sow to get up and move around. Previously they could not move at all. Similar requirements were enacted as laws for battery farm raised chickens, giving them more room. It's not perfect, but to paraphrase what J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, the rolling of small pebbles begins a landslide.

cvalue

I am sorry I sounded a little bit heated up earlier on. I violated my vow of speaking gently always. I should repent tonight in front of Amitabha picture. For every violation of the vows, the punishment is 108 prostrations to Amitabha Buddha.

BhikkhuJayasara

cvalue said:

I am sorry I sounded a little bit heated up earlier on. I violated my vow of speaking gently always. I should repent tonight in front of Amitabha picture. For every violation of the vows, the punishment is 108 prostrations to Amitabha Buddha.

I should do this myself, I would be extremely fit with ripped abs with all the prostrations I'd have to do :P

matthewmartin

Jainarayan said:

This is one of the reasons I've wanted to become vegetarian, and I may yet, though I'd be a hypocrite because I wear leather.

Start where you are. If the moral principle is bunk, no problem, don't bother with it. But if you think it is valid, don't let the fact that it is a long process deter you. After all, the basic project of Buddhism-- to reach enlightenment takes a long time. Its like when we berate & call hypocritical some one who says they are Buddhist but does something unskillful-- they aren't hypocritical, they are on a long path.

Switching away from factory farmed food is good (but imagining that you can believe marketing labels isn't... those humanely raised chickens sold at 7-11 are factory farmed... it's really hard to find human meat, it's less than 1% of the total output)

Meatless Mondays is good, that 1/7 less samsara.

Giving up veal or foi gras or down is good (production entails torture of various sorts).

Invincible_summer

matthewmartin said:

it's really hard to find human meat, it's less than 1% of the total output)

... do you have something you'd like to share with the rest of us?

Jainarayan

matthewmartin said:

Jainarayan said:

This is one of the reasons I've wanted to become vegetarian, and I may yet, though I'd be a hypocrite because I wear leather.

Start where you are. If the moral principle is bunk, no problem, don't bother with it. But if you think it is valid, don't let the fact that it is a long process deter you. After all, the basic project of Buddhism-- to reach enlightenment takes a long time. Its like when we berate & call hypocritical some one who says they are Buddhist but does something unskillful-- they aren't hypocritical, they are on a long path.

Switching away from factory farmed food is good (but imagining that you can believe marketing labels isn't... those humanely raised chickens sold at 7-11 are factory farmed... it's really hard to find human meat, it's less than 1% of the total output)

Meatless Mondays is good, that 1/7 less samsara.

Giving up veal or foi gras or down is good (production entails torture of various sorts).

It's definitely a process, requiring planning for the long term. I've tried to jump into it with jackboots, but it never worked. A good start, which I could do is a meatless day. In the past I went months without eating anything that had fur or mammary glands, so it can be done.

anataman

Everyone who eats meat knows the industry - they just turn a blind third eye!

seeker242

Jainarayan said:

I don't know if it was because of the HSUS's efforts or a combination of efforts, but NJ is one state out of several to require gestational crates for pigs to be big enough for the sow to get up and move around.

Some states, nine in total I think, have even gone so far as to ban gestation crates altogether. If I remember correctly, Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would ban them in NJ recently, even though the bill to ban them passed both the state Assembly and Senate by an overwhelming majority. Thanks Chris Christie!...The senate recently voted to override the veto with a super majority but fell 2 votes short. Apparently there is another vote sometime this month. I believe the law that required animals to have enough room to turn around, was the same law that was vetoed by the Governor, so it never went into effect.

The New Jersey Legislature got on board this spring, overwhelmingly approving bills to require breeding pigs have enough room to stand up, turn around, extend their limbs, and lie down. The votes were 60 to five in the Assembly and 29 to four in the state Senate.

Then presidential politics seems to have intervened.

In June, Christie vetoed the legislation.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/11/15/monday-s-override-vote-seeks-to-free-female-pigs-from-cramped-cages/?p=all

Nice guy...

MaryAnne

Christie is nothing but a corporate whore.... I would really hate him, except it's against my Buddhist beliefs.

Daozen

Invincible_summer said:

Earthlings is also a very good documentary on this topic, as well as how animals are used/abused in other industries.

Thanks, hadn't heard about that, will check it out.

Jeffrey said:

Surely if all were vegetarians that would be an accomplishment, but a reachable goal would be to guarantee the animal a quality life.

Totally agree. Even die-hard meat-eaters should be persuaded that better conditions for livestock is not only better for the animal's welfare, but it creates less for a health risk to humans. (Because the current system is a serious health risk, with antibiotic abuse etc etc). Ending factory farms makes sense in every way - ethically for the animals, for human health, and for the planet.

matthewmartin said:

Switching away from factory farmed food is good (but imagining that you can believe marketing labels isn't... those humanely raised chickens sold at 7-11 are factory farmed... it's really hard to find human meat, it's less than 1% of the total output).

Meatless Mondays is good, that 1/7 less samsara. Giving up veal or foi gras or down is good (production entails torture of various sorts).

:thumbsup:

BhikkhuJayasara

Invincible_summer said:

matthewmartin said:

it's really hard to find human meat, it's less than 1% of the total output)

... do you have something you'd like to share with the rest of us?

I've actually heard that human mean is actually quite healthy for humans, having in it all the nutrients that humans need and none they dont. Think i saw it on some history channel show about tribes years ago lol. it may be the anthropologist in me but if i were with a tribe and offered the meat, I would eat it. We are after all just animals/

In my favorite show Futurama, which is 1000 years in the future.. they outwardly sell "soilent green" products.. some will get the drift lol.

Jeffrey

No true good
can arise from
any true harm.

– Stonepeace |
According to the Matakabhatta Jataka, when the Buddha was in Jetavana, some monks asked if there was any benefit in sacrificing animals as offerings for the departed, to which he replied that no good ever comes from such killing. As he recalled, a long time ago, when Brahmadatta ruled Varanasi, a brahmin wanted to offer a 'feast for the deceased'. He bought a sacrificial goat and asked his disciples to bathe him by the river, before grooming, adorning and feeding him. While doing so, he began to laugh with the sound of a pot smashing, before weeping just as suddenly. Amazed at this, they asked him for the reasons for the strange behaviour. The goat requested that they repeat the question when they return to their teacher, to whom they hurried back and recollected what happened. The master thus personally asked the goat why he laughed and wept.

The goat replied that in the past, he too was a brahmin, who taught the Vedas, and sacrificed a goat for a 'feast for the deceased'. Having killed that one goat, he have had his head severed 499 times. He laughed aloud as he realised this would be his last life as a sacrificial animal, after which he would be free from such misery. Yet, he also wept – out of empathy as he realised that due to killing him, the brahmin too may lose his head 500 times. Hearing this, the brahmin announced that he will not kill him. However, the goat exclaimed that whether he kills him or not, he could not escape death that day. To that, the brahmin asked him not to worry, as he would protect him. The goat replied that such protection is weak, while the force of his negative karma is strong. Still determined, the brahmin ordered his disciples not to let anyone harm the goat. While grazing under the disciples' supervision, he stretched his neck to reach the leaves on a bush near the top of a rock.

There and then, out of the blue, a bolt of lightning struck the rock. A sharp sliver chipped off and flew through the air… before cleanly cutting off the goat's head! A crowd gathered and began to discuss excitedly about the amazing incident. Having witnessed it all, a tree deva (terrestrial god) told everyone that if only they knew such horrible karmic effects of being reborn into sorrow, they would cease from killing. Wary of such hellish retribution, they gave up their traditional sacrificing of animals entirely. He also further instructed on observation of the moral precepts and encouraged them to do good. Faithfully doing so for several generations, they lived charitably and had favourable rebirths. The Buddha then revealed that the deva was himself as a Bodhisattva. Just as the deva was no ordinary god, the wise talking goat was probably a skilful teaching Bodhisattva too?

Unrepented negative karma created can have its effects magnified, though new positive karma repentantly created has mitigating effects too. Having fallen into the lower realms of hell-beings, hungry ghosts and animals, it is seldom easy to exit, with many rebirths there until the corresponding karma depletes. Although the lightning seemed like an 'accident', it was the deliberation of the law of karma exacting through nature. When conditions are ripe, karma finds its way! The Buddha also taught that it is much nobler to sacrifice one's harmful spiritual defilements than others' precious lives. In the Ksitigarbha Sutra, it was advised that to relieve suffering and facilitate better rebirths, merits for sharing with the recently deceased should be created by making meat-free offerings to the Buddha and monastics [before the deceased, during funerals and for at least 49 days, during which rebirth can occur]. Those who do so, and go vegetarian or (even more ideally) vegan personally, even if only for this period will receive much blessings too.

Instead of ending others' physical lives,
Bodhisattvas facilitate the beginning
and furthering of their spiritual lives.

riverflow

cvalue said:

People don't want to know because what they don't know can't hurt them.

But what they don't know does hurt them (the animals, I mean).

I don't think there was anything wrong with your post-- your intention here stems from compassion. I think this strange (but unsurprising) avoidance is one of the chief reasons why the industry has continued as it has, just as people for centuries turned a blind eye to slavery and many other harmful institutions ("officially endorsed" or otherwise).

Collectively we humans are like the Fonz, unable to admit it when we've make a terrible mistake:

Jainarayan

seeker242 said:

Jainarayan said:

I don't know if it was because of the HSUS's efforts or a combination of efforts, but NJ is one state out of several to require gestational crates for pigs to be big enough for the sow to get up and move around.

Some states, nine in total I think, have even gone so far as to ban gestation crates altogether. If I remember correctly, Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would ban them in NJ recently, even though the bill to ban them passed both the state Assembly and Senate by an overwhelming majority. Thanks Chris Christie!...The senate recently voted to override the veto with a super majority but fell 2 votes short. Apparently there is another vote sometime this month. I believe the law that required animals to have enough room to turn around, was the same law that was vetoed by the Governor, so it never went into effect.

The New Jersey Legislature got on board this spring, overwhelmingly approving bills to require breeding pigs have enough room to stand up, turn around, extend their limbs, and lie down. The votes were 60 to five in the Assembly and 29 to four in the state Senate.

Then presidential politics seems to have intervened.

In June, Christie vetoed the legislation.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/11/15/monday-s-override-vote-seeks-to-free-female-pigs-from-cramped-cages/?p=all

Nice guy...



Thanks for the update. I must have gotten trapped in a time warp when the bill was in the legislature, thinking it was a done deal. I have my own thoughts about Christie on this and other matters, which in the interest of right speech, I shall keep to myself. I hope the bill passes.

Jainarayan

MaryAnne said:

Christie is nothing but a corporate whore.... I would really hate him, except it's against my Buddhist beliefs.

Tell me about it... see my comment above about right speech.

BhikkhuJayasara

Jainarayan said:

MaryAnne said:

Christie is nothing but a corporate whore.... I would really hate him, except it's against my Buddhist beliefs.

Tell me about it... see my comment above about right speech.

Yes he is a corporate whore, but he is no worse then the other governors of the last 40 years here in NJ. In fact I'd say he is much better then most on fiscal issues, but nothing can fix this state, its doomed to be the highest taxed state forever.

I will not miss it one bit when i go to the monastery in west Virginia.

Jonathands

I know I know, but they are so delicious and i'm so weak

DairyLama

riverflow said:

I think this strange (but unsurprising) avoidance is one of the chief reasons why the industry has continued as it has, just as people for centuries turned a blind eye to slavery and many other harmful institutions ("officially endorsed" or otherwise).

Yes, lots of people just like eating meat, and really don't want to know where it comes from. Years ago I was hill-walking and it was lambing season, lots of children watching these cute lambs in the fields, then they were dragged off by their parents to the local pub for a lamb dinner. :-/

cvalue

When I was very young and still lived in my original country - the three generations living under the same roof in a big house. The main house and the kitchen are separated by a courtyard. In the courtyard, we raised chickens for meat. My very young 5-year old cousin made friend with a chicken. The adults didn't pay any attention to this. One day, he came home after kindergarten and looked for his friend, he called Chick Chick Chick where are you. He cried and my aunt just realized too late that her son had developed a friendship with a chicken. His friend was roasted and lied on the table waiting to be eaten. My little cousin ran into his room, cried all his heart out and refused to eat anything that day. Very sad!

Jainarayan

Jayantha said:

Yes he is a corporate whore, but he is no worse then the other governors of the last 40 years here in NJ. In fact I'd say he is much better then most on fiscal issues, but nothing can fix this state, its doomed to be the highest taxed state forever

Yeah, we've had more than our share of dooshes for governors: McGreevey was a twit; Whitman turned on the State Police; Corzine was a spendthrift; the list goes on as you well know (well, there goes right speech out the window ). Christie generated some controversy over his plans for school program fundings, but it was short-lived, especially in light of Hurricane Sandy. I do have to give him credit for jumping in boots-and-all. However, if you noticed his campaign ads, he spoke against the background of a ferris wheel at the shore.