I have a 12 year old son who has taken an interest in a vegan lifestyle since I changed about 4 months ago. I would like to give some "brain food" about why and how to make the change without being overbearing or preachy. I fully support his decision, whether it be omni or veg*n. He recently has cut down considerably on animal products, and I would like to encourage him in this path, so my question is: At what age is it OK to see Meet Your Meat, Peaceable Kingdom, etc.? also, are there any other videos that promote a veg*n lifestyle that would be appropriate for a 12 year old? Thanks for any advice!!!!

Sean

This looks like kind of a neat game for kids.
http://www.petacatalog.org/prodinfo.asp?number=COM110&variation=&aitem=5&mitem=43

Maybe you can check out some of the things on this page geared towards kids.
http://www.petatv.com/kids.html

If he's ready to decide not to eat meat, I think he's ready to watch "Meet Your Meat". But in the end, the decision is yours to make based on whether or not you think he's mature enough.

[Edit: I think I used "mature" five times in two sentences... had to fix that. :think: ]

I think 12 is old enough to see Meet Your Meat and Peaceable Kingdom (I also think that if he's taken an interest in these issues, and he has access to a computer, he's going to find Meet Your Meat on his own soon enough anyway - so it sounds like a great idea to watch it with him and talk about it together).

Peaceable Kingdom, definitely. I would show my 12 year-old son Meet Your Meat, if I had one, but I project back to when I was 12, and wish I had seen it then. Might have saved me nearly 20 years of animal eating. While it is intense, it's not like he'd be watching the glorification of violence.

I saw meet your meat when I was 12, I personally found the Free Me video on PETA affected me more. I wasnt horribly scarred from it or anything. It all depends on his maturity and ability to handle stuff like that.

I guess he is plenty mature enough, I just wanted a few others opinions on it. Thanks for all the input!! Once again, I get many encouraging and helpful comments from like-minded people. You guys are awesome!!!! THanks again!!

Sean

I think it would depend how much he has been exposed to other forms of violence. Some parents are very strict as to what their children watch on TV and the games they play on their computers. If he's never been exposed to any form of on-line violence (by this I mean through the intermediary of a screen of some sort), I think Meat Your Meat could be pretty traumatising for a 12 year old.

If he's street-wise, has seen pictures of children dying of hunger, has played lots of shoot-em-ups on his computer and PlayStation or whatever, has been able to see some proper war movies (like Soldier Ryan for instance), then I think he would cope okay with Meat Your Meat.

It really is a judgement call. I know someone (an adult vegetarian) who had bad nightmares after being told about PK (she refused to watch it).

On the whole I would say PK is OK but not MYM. I won't watch MYM. And I won't watch people being beheaded on the net. Strange me.

It really is a judgement call. I know someone (an adult vegetarian) who had bad nightmares after being told about PK (she refused to watch it).

On the whole I would say PK is OK but not MYM. I won't watch MYM. And I won't watch people being beheaded on the net. Strange me.

I would say 12 is old enough- MYM is very disturbing, but I think its best that you watch it with him and are ablt to talk to him about it, rather than him stumbling upon it in another way. I would personally have him watch like, one clip of it and then talk to him about it, pausing the movie and making sure he isn't uncomfortable. I've never seen PK but I would like to.

Well, I thought I would post back and let you all know that he tolerated it quite well. He did face away a couple times, just about the same times I was getting teary eyed. I have watched it 3 times now, and it gets worse every time! Maybe the first time was too shocking to really believe what was going on.... Anyway, I dont have PK yet, but it is on order. I am really looking forward to it!! Thanks again for the input!!

Sean

The video that made me cry was 7 minutes of reality and free me. i was crying for 7 minutes of reality, I teared up for free me. I dpnt have peacable kingdom either but I've heard nothing but wonderful things about it

Hey, here's a novel idea.

Take him to a real slaughter house. Take him in the afternoon, they'll be happy to give you a tour as long as you're polite, remember the guys you talk to only work there.

The videos peta puts out are either staged (yes they have paid people to perform certain cruel acts in front of the camera) or film in foreign countries decades ago.

You asked what age is OK. Well, what age did you allow your children to watch other works of fiction?

The videos peta puts out are either staged (yes they have paid people to perform certain cruel acts in front of the camera) or film in foreign countries decades ago.Sources?

Sources?

Three years working in a slaughter house through college.

And the place you worked in was representative of American slaughterhouses in general?

Oh, and what are the sources for your claim "yes they have paid people to perform certain cruel acts in front of the camera"?

Common sense,

Torturing animals the way peta claims is counter-productive. These are businesses, they are only interested in making money.

The claims peta makes are rediculous. First of all, torturing would lead to an overproduction of adrenalin in the muscle tissue, resulting in a very foul tasting product. Bad taste=poor sales.

Second, these facilities are monitored by the USDA and monitored very thouroughly. If what they claimed had happened, then there would have been very, very substantial penalties.

Castor <<<< A meat industry rep?

Common sense,
Sometimes that is a fancy way of saying "my ass".

Torturing animals the way peta claims is counter-productive. These are businesses, they are only interested in making money.They also have people working for them who are interested in "blowing off some steam" from time to time (not surprising, given the nature of the job). Since the non-humans are treated as anonymous exploited objects from the start, they are a convenient target. (I'm referring to things like kicking etc. that can be seen in PETA material.)

First of all, torturing would lead to an overproduction of adrenalin in the muscle tissue, resulting in a very foul tasting product. Bad taste=poor sales.What do you mean by torturing? It's clear that one kind of ceaseless torture, the confinement in extreme conditions, is very commonplace. Where do you get that adrenalin theory from, btw? Not doubting it per se, but I've seen it so often that I'm becoming interested in its origins.

Second, these facilities are monitored by the USDA and monitored very thouroughly. If what they claimed had happened, then there would have been very, very substantial penalties.This is the most standard defence you can get. (But others with more knowledge about the "thorough" monitoring by the USDA should respond to this point.)

I really don't think that a slaughterhouse will let a random Joe take a tour of it's facility.

[QUOTE=Castor]
The claims peta makes are rediculous. First of all, torturing would lead to an overproduction of adrenalin in the muscle tissue, resulting in a very foul tasting product. Bad taste=poor sales.
[QUOTE]

Ive actualyl heard reports of cows having large amounts of adrenalin in their systems recently (or people have only notiched recently). This dosent mean they are activley "torturing" them, but the animal would obviously be afraid. It would be animal to smell blood and hear and see other animals beign killed. What kind of animal woudl evolve to ignore signs of death? The fact that these animals are begin killed, and know, if not how, that something bad will happen to them is torture enough. I have also heard people who work at slaughter houses talking about "letting off stream" by harming the animals

Hey, here's a novel idea.

Take him to a real slaughter house. Take him in the afternoon, they'll be happy to give you a tour as long as you're polite, remember the guys you talk to only work there.

The videos peta puts out are either staged (yes they have paid people to perform certain cruel acts in front of the camera) or film in foreign countries decades ago.

You asked what age is OK. Well, what age did you allow your children to watch other works of fiction?

I think you'd find that slaughter facilities vary with respect to welfare. You may have worked at a plant with good management whereas some plants do indeed produce images like those in Meet Your Meat. Please check this out. There are updates, too, but this first survey has more information: http://www.grandin.com/survey/usdarpt.html

The videos peta puts out are either staged (yes they have paid people to perform certain cruel acts in front of the camera) or film in foreign countries decades ago.



LOL!!!! I missed this when it was first posted. This has really made my day. I needed a good laugh. :hamster:

Peta's videos are staged. Now that is the funniest thing I've heard for a long time.

Oh, Castor, do you not like PETA or something? :naughty: And did you really work in a slaughter-house? Did you stop when you became a vegetarian? (Or are you maybe not a vegetarian? :notvegan: )

I would say 12 is old enough- MYM is very disturbing, but I think its best that you watch it with him and are ablt to talk to him about it, rather than him stumbling upon it in another way. I would personally have him watch like, one clip of it and then talk to him about it, pausing the movie and making sure he isn't uncomfortable. I've never seen PK but I would like to.

I just find that PK is very balanced. It shows the difference between people who love animals and people who are indifferent. It has some gross scenes in it so viewers know that the industry is horrible but it shows that there is hope for humanity. :)

Torturing animals the way peta claims is counter-productive. These are businesses, they are only interested in making money.




This is interesting. Making money. What do they do with the extra money they earn? Judging from their financials, employees don't make a whole lot at all - not even Ingrid. As a non-profit they are accountable for where the donations go.