Blog Post
October 27, 2009 by mramlochan
Meat has always been an important part of my diet. The smell, look, and taste of a well prepared meat dish has always and will always have my personal appeal. But since taking this course, I’ve taken a much more sympathetic view towards the animals that satiate my hunger.
In King Corn, I found that the treatment of cows was truly horrifying. They weren’t allowed to roam and feed on grass-they were instead locked up in their pens with no other choice but to eat industrialized corn. This corn is considered inedible for human beings, yet it is essentially force fed to these cows because it is cheaper to produce. As a result, the cows become obese and sick, and sending them to the slaughter house seems closer to a mercy killing.
It is upsetting to think about how these animals are treated, but in the end I much prefer this knowledge than to remain in ignorant bliss as the general public does. In this sense I feel very fortunate for taking this class, as I’m sure if more people were aware of such unethical practices they would fight to end them. I believe that the food industry is well aware of this, and purposely turns a blind eye towards the treatment of cows, and surely the treatment of other animals. They have replaced their ethics with economics; feeding the cows industrial corn and preventing them from roaming ensures they will become fat, and fatter cows means bigger profits.
It is sickening to think that as this is being written, or as it is being read, there are animals that are being treated unfairly, condemned to miserable lives. Some may say that they are being raised to be killed anyway, so why should it matter what their lives are like? While it is true that these cows are fated to become a steak on someone’s plate or part of a hamburger, that does not change the fact that they were once living creatures. All forms of life should be treated with respect, whether we eat them or not. If a person can go to jail for abusing a dog, then why shouldn’t the same standards be held for animals that we eat?