If I had to pick living the rest of my life in the “chicken factory” seen in this video or held captive as a POW, to be honest, I’m sure these chickens, no matter how awful their condition and lives… would count themselves lucky as would I. It’s important to keep things in perspective and not using blanket statements, not the ENTIRE industry is like this, just like not EVERYBODY is evil to our fellow creatures just because they happen to eat their kin.

Saying that “veganism” (if that is a word) or “vegetarianism” is the only solution to animal cruelty not only dumbs down the debate but makes your whole position seem all the more extreme, thus discounted from the get-go. To me, it’s the equivalent of saying that the answer to every scientific inquiry is “God made it that way” thus closing critical thinking processes needed for a real debate, keeping people ignorant as to what the truth really is.

The only solution is punishing those who do bad things to animals (including our species) while opening the lines of discussing regarding the ethical manner of producing a viable and necessary food product. We are omnivores, we require meat as much as we do vegetables, fruits and nuts… it’s the way we have evolved and denying this is doing nobody any good service. You will die a rather slow death if we still lived out in nature cutting meat out completely (including poultry). We need it to stay mentally and physically balanced, our bodies need it to keep functioning at peak intensity… and this is why we crave it.

That being said, I’m more then happy enough to punish those who hurt animals of all kinds with the same treatment reflected in kind to them… regardless of the animal they struck terror into. I feel no shame in eating a chicken anymore than I do a carrot, I’m not about denying what I am, simply understanding my origins and acknowledging them.

Thanks for your comment Susan,

Jon