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Elizabeth_Cade
07-27-05, 01:39 AM
An Old and New Holocaust


Pastures of emerald-green grass, so neat it could’ve been cut by hand with scissors, are shaded in all the right areas by tall oak or walnut trees; a big red or mahogany barn sits in the center of the pasture, a perfect little square, wooden fence is on one side; and the sky is the perfect shade of blue and only a few fluffy white clouds float in the area surrounding the bright golden sun, whose rays are merrily warming the scene aforementioned.


On the pastures of the farm, standing on the emerald-green grass, are cute little cows that have been splotched with big, unique black patterns. They are eating the grass, in harmony with the atmosphere surrounding them, and talking to each other in their language. The cows are happy, giving their offspring milk when hungry, and they lazily soak up the sun. The mother cows love and nurture their babies on instinct, while the bulls protect their wives and children. And the babies are just beginning to learn ways to have fun, cause mischief, and communicate.


Inside the barn’s loft, a pile of dry, golden-white straw is cradling a white chicken with a red chin. The chicken is resting happily, ready to lay her eggs at her own pace and at her own comfort. To the chicken’s left there is a happy little mixture of cute little farm animals—a couple pigs eating out of a trough, a few chickens pecking the ground for any remainder of seed that might have dropped from the bag, and some bigger animals like cows and horses—enveloped in that square wooden fence. And, high above the farm animals’ heads, cute little blue birds chirp and sing and fly around all day before going home to their families, too.


And that’s where meat, eggs, and dairy come from. They come from cheery little picture-perfect images that are on napkins and…uh, NOT!


The cheery little napkin images are all lies from the meat industry—a cover-up of what really happens.


First of all, there is no such place. The animals don’t go to places like that to die; they go to filthy hellholes filled with cages and cruel machines. The cows aren’t free to roam a field all day, eating grass and snuggling with their loved ones; the chickens aren’t nestling in nice, high, sunny lofts in a pile of comfortable hay; and the sun certainly isn’t shining over their heads as they go through a nice long day.


That’s right. Sorry to break it to ya, but those silly little childhood images you saw in picture books weren’t really true. Are you ready to know what really happens? Well, listen up, because I’m about to give it to you straight, so forget that happy little image I just wrote about and open your mind so can better learn the truth…



The Truth We Were Bound To Find Out:


The meat industry can’t always cover up what they’re really doing.


The truth always triumphs and all that other good stuff. You can’t tell a lie without it eventually getting out; just like you can’t hide your mom’s favorite vase after you’ve broken it: Your mom is bound to find out what happened when she comes home and it is gone. So why does the meat industry believe they can cover up their lies?


What is it that they’re really doing, you ask? Well, there are two answers to that question; there is the short answer and there is the long answer. The answers will both be listed in this article, in respective orders, of course. So, then, the short answer: murder. That’s what they’re really doing. And then the long answer:


They, the workers in slaughterhouses, are doing as much as they can to slip by the rules. The slaughterers believe, as do most meat-eaters, that animals don’t feel pain or fear or anxiety or…well, you get it. In their minds, it is okay to slaughter an animal and it is even more humane to then eat it or maybe wear it. But, wait, not just any animal can be slaughtered for food or skin or hides; only the animals that have been labeled by society as objects (not living, breathing, feeling creatures) are the ones that get the honor of being slaughtered. Insert sarcasm here.


These animals that are labeled objects are usually farmed animals that one wouldn’t really keep as a cuddly pet—so, if you’re a cat or a dog or a hamster or a horse, then you can’t be slaughtered, but if you’re a cow or a pig or a chicken, people are ready to turn you into a hamburger or a hot dog or a nugget! In fact, in U.S. laws, if someone were to commit a foul act against a cat or a dog, they would receive jail time—and quite a lot of jail time, too; not just twenty-four hours. But slaughtering pigs and cows and chickens is okay—in other words, no jail; in fact, you can even go home and EAT your kill!


So, we criticize people in other countries for eating dogs and cats, but then meat-eaters come home and enjoy a nice piece of a cow’s butt with a side of bloody, feces-covered chicken. Doesn’t that sound like a great meal to you? Yeah, well, I’m going to stick to my nice, safe vegan diet, thanks.


Murder is what they’re doing behind those windowless sheds with the wire cages and other confinement systems.


Now, what are you going to do about it?


If you’re not going to do anything, be my guest and go clog your arteries until your heart stops beating, but let me tell you this: those animals cry when they’re scared, scream when the pain is unbearable for their tiny, overworked bodies, and they bleed when their throats are slit or when they’re gutted without painkillers. They bleed. They bleed and bleed and bleed until there is no more life in their broken bodies. And then what do they do? They die.


And for these animals, death is pure bliss. Death is an escape from tightly-packed wire cages, painful injections, cruel treatment from the workers, and an inhumane slaughter that is the most painful thing they do in their short lives. It’s the last thing they do. It’s the last thing they remember before dying. And it’s the last feeling they experienced, the last moment they lived. So much for a quiet, peaceful death.


In conclusion to my long rant, factory farms are not your childhood image. And the above article is just about meat. It hasn’t even hinted about the fur industry, the dairy or fishing industries, and how much animal rights activists hate circuses. So, if you are willing to choose compassion, maybe it’s time to go vegetarian.


If only slaughterhouses had glass walls…


END (for now)

epski
07-27-05, 08:08 PM
Have you submitted this for publication anywhere?

BabyDoll
07-27-05, 08:11 PM
Wonderfully written,I agree it should be published.

Elizabeth_Cade
07-28-05, 01:03 AM
Have you submitted this for publication anywhere?


No. I just wrote it out-of-the-blue because I felt like it--no reason. It took me maybe two seconds to write.

Elizabeth_Cade
07-28-05, 01:05 AM
Wonderfully written,I agree it should be published.


It's two pages long on Word :D I Not quite what I'd call a novel. :D But, thanks for the compliment (it means a great deal since I'm struggling with some of my stories right at this point in time)--both of you. :wayne:

jAded
07-28-05, 08:02 AM
It took me maybe two seconds to write.


lol, I love insincere modesty.

Otherwise :up:

Elizabeth_Cade
07-28-05, 02:01 PM
lol, I love insincere modesty.

Otherwise :up:


:D Thanks

epski
07-28-05, 09:34 PM
I was just wondering, because you called it an article. Maybe blog it?

darkangel
07-31-05, 07:37 AM
Hi, I think you have expalined this wonderfully in your text. It was for this very reason that I became vegetarian recently, when I learned what really occurred in order to put "meat" on my table. The reality of factory farming and untold cruelty that animals face left me feeling sickened and deeply ashamed to think that i was contributing to this appaling practice by being a meat eater. I think for many people "ignorance is bliss" - if they do not know or allow themselves to think about such animal cruelty, then they can buy their burgers etc. with a clear conscience. I think there is far too little media coverage given to farming practices etc, and the reality of what animals have to endure, to keep the meat eating population fed.

While I would never judge individuals on their eating habits, nor encourage them to stop eating meat, (as I believe in freedom of choice), I do feel that people should be better informed, which is why I post articles outlining animal cruely/farming practices etc at my workplace, and via email. However, many respond by telling me "i couldnt watch it/read it", and yet.... they can still bring themselves to ingest the end product of such pracice.

Well done for your article Elizabeth, which will take pride of place on my work noticeboard in the morning :)

Elizabeth_Cade
08-02-05, 04:04 PM
Hi, I think you have expalined this wonderfully in your text. It was for this very reason that I became vegetarian recently, when I learned what really occurred in order to put "meat" on my table. The reality of factory farming and untold cruelty that animals face left me feeling sickened and deeply ashamed to think that i was contributing to this appaling practice by being a meat eater. I think for many people "ignorance is bliss" - if they do not know or allow themselves to think about such animal cruelty, then they can buy their burgers etc. with a clear conscience. I think there is far too little media coverage given to farming practices etc, and the reality of what animals have to endure, to keep the meat eating population fed.

While I would never judge individuals on their eating habits, nor encourage them to stop eating meat, (as I believe in freedom of choice), I do feel that people should be better informed, which is why I post articles outlining animal cruely/farming practices etc at my workplace, and via email. However, many respond by telling me "i couldnt watch it/read it", and yet.... they can still bring themselves to ingest the end product of such pracice.

Well done for your article Elizabeth, which will take pride of place on my work noticeboard in the morning :)


I think that is really nice of you! Wow, I'm serious, that is *really* really nice. Thanks a bunch. Tell me what they say if you have the chance. :D Thanks again. :D

Elizabeth_Cade
08-02-05, 04:15 PM
I was just wondering, because you called it an article. Maybe blog it?


I'm not sure what that is. Sorry, I'm confused.

Christy26
08-02-05, 04:50 PM
Damn. I've got goosebumps.

Vegetarian_Girl
08-02-05, 05:10 PM
KOol nice article

Elizabeth_Cade
08-02-05, 05:33 PM
Damn. I've got goosebumps.

:D

Elizabeth_Cade
08-02-05, 05:34 PM
KOol nice article


Thanks :D :nigel:

Sokara
08-02-05, 05:54 PM
I think it's good, but if you to publish it, I think I'd recommend editing it a bit after you decide on a target audience. For example:

"The slaughterers believe, as do most meat-eaters, that animals don’t feel pain or fear or anxiety or…well, you get it."

I don't think this is true. (Have you read Slaughterhouse? The people who slaughter the animals might seem all cruel on the outside, but when you get them talking, they seem remorseful over the hell those animals go through - mostly, they seem to feel helpless) And, if you're trying to appeal to meat eaters, than speaking about them like they're immoral will piss them off, and they'll stop reading there. But if you say that meat eaters are good people... that perhaps should consider their choices (Not in those words, but I think you get my point), then they'll be much more receptive to your message. Often times, if you say something good about someone, they not only like you for bloating their egos, but they also want to live up to it.

Scratch
08-03-05, 06:48 AM
Blog is short for weblog. Like an online journal or something.

Elizabeth_Cade
08-03-05, 05:20 PM
I think it's good, but if you to publish it, I think I'd recommend editing it a bit after you decide on a target audience. For example:

"The slaughterers believe, as do most meat-eaters, that animals don’t feel pain or fear or anxiety or…well, you get it."

I don't think this is true. (Have you read Slaughterhouse? The people who slaughter the animals might seem all cruel on the outside, but when you get them talking, they seem remorseful over the hell those animals go through - mostly, they seem to feel helpless) And, if you're trying to appeal to meat eaters, than speaking about them like they're immoral will piss them off, and they'll stop reading there. But if you say that meat eaters are good people... that perhaps should consider their choices (Not in those words, but I think you get my point), then they'll be much more receptive to your message. Often times, if you say something good about someone, they not only like you for bloating their egos, but they also want to live up to it.


Thanks, I'm in love with constructive criticism and I thank you again for not just saying, "Well, this is stupid."

I don't I'd consider publishing it and, sinc eit only took me five seconds ot write, I didn't really look it over properly. I wasn't even planning on posting in on the message boards--that was a last-second decision.

And who wrote SLAUGHTERHOUSE? I'd be interested in reading it.

Thanks :D

Elizabeth_Cade
08-03-05, 05:21 PM
Blog is short for weblog. Like an online journal or something.

Wow, I feel stupid now. :drool:

Thanks. :D I'm going to hide in a dark corner now--just for a few hundred years.

Sokara
08-03-05, 09:00 PM
And who wrote SLAUGHTERHOUSE? I'd be interested in reading it.


Gail A Eisnitz. I think that if you purchase it after clicking the link on this list that VB gets a nice little tip: http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=26749 . It's the last one on the list. It's a pretty harsh book (Then again, it's about the slaughter industry, how could it not be?) but I'd recommend it to anyone who can stomach it. I learned a lot from it, and I already had gone through a ton of testaments about slaughterhouses online.

Elizabeth_Cade
08-08-05, 11:43 AM
Gail A Eisnitz. I think that if you purchase it after clicking the link on this list that VB gets a nice little tip: http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=26749 . It's the last one on the list. It's a pretty harsh book (Then again, it's about the slaughter industry, how could it not be?) but I'd recommend it to anyone who can stomach it. I learned a lot from it, and I already had gone through a ton of testaments about slaughterhouses online.

Thank you. :D

vegan4L
08-14-05, 06:20 AM
When I hear meaningful speeches I get the chills, when I see beautiful views I get the speeches, when I am having a deep conversations with someone I get the chills, when I listen to music that has a real meaning and connection I get the chills, basically I get the chills when something moves me emotionally. I got the chills reading your post.
amazing writer. Not to mention, it's all soo true. '

Spread the word! Everyone needs to be educated.

Elizabeth_Cade
08-14-05, 04:48 PM
When I hear meaningful speeches I get the chills, when I see beautiful views I get the speeches, when I am having a deep conversations with someone I get the chills, when I listen to music that has a real meaning and connection I get the chills, basically I get the chills when something moves me emotionally. I got the chills reading your post.
amazing writer. Not to mention, it's all soo true. '

Spread the word! Everyone needs to be educated.


Aww, thank you. :D :smitten: :nigel:

GardenGirl_15
08-15-05, 12:24 AM
wow...that was beautiful and completely true...

Elizabeth_Cade
08-15-05, 01:03 AM
wow...that was beautiful and completely true...


Wow, I'm getting comments left and right. Thanks! :sunny: :angel: :lovesign: