Kristof writes an op-ed for Prop. 2.

[Idhan]

Kristof recounts his own farmboy experience (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/opinion/31kristof.html) and his thoughts on California's proposition 2, animals, etc.

I know it's not a perfect column, but given that it's on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, I think it's one of the better perspectives to achieve that level of exposure. Kristof may eat meat, and certain doesn't advocate anything radical, but he still does bring up the idea that there's something wrong about killing animals even if it's done on a "nice" little family farm, and not just if it takes place in a big evil corporate factory farm. (He doesn't explicitly condemn small farm animal agriculture, but I think that his account of the geese brings more of the reality intrinsic to slaughter to readers' minds than typical romanticized "Nice small farms filled with happy meat animals vs. evil factory farming corporate agribusiness" narratives.)

[Mr. Sun]

This part gave me goosebumps (no pun intended):


Once a month or so, we would slaughter the geese. When I was 10 years old, my job was to lock the geese in the barn and then rush and grab one. Then I would take it out and hold it by its wings on the chopping block while my Dad or someone else swung the ax.

The 150 geese knew that something dreadful was happening and would cower in a far corner of the barn, and run away in terror as I approached. Then I would grab one and carry it away as it screeched and struggled in my arms.

Very often, one goose would bravely step away from the panicked flock and walk tremulously toward me. It would be the mate of the one I had caught, male or female, and it would step right up to me, protesting pitifully. It would be frightened out of its wits, but still determined to stand with and comfort its lover.

We eventually grew so impressed with our geese — they had virtually become family friends — that we gave the remaining ones to a local park. (Unfortunately, some entrepreneurial thief took advantage of their friendliness by kidnapping them all — just before the next Thanksgiving.)


But the next paragraph:


So, yes, I eat meat (even, hesitantly, goose). But I draw the line at animals being raised in cruel conditions. The law punishes teenage boys who tie up and abuse a stray cat. So why allow industrialists to run factory farms that keep pigs almost all their lives in tiny pens that are barely bigger than they are?