Blog post 7 Shiffrin

Taylor Shiffrin

WRIT 1133

Blog Post 7

It was certainly a good thing that I was not eating any meat product while I was reading through both Pollan’s and Cook’s article on food production and methods used in a factory abattoir. For that matter it was probably a good that I was not eating anything period. The description used by Pollan to depict the process by which animals produced for food are treated in such an inhumane manner is sickening. Furthermore the arguments that Pollan quotes from Singer’s book are even more disturbing as anyone who is capable logical reasoning cannot refute them. Luckily I am able to take consolation in the counter arguments presented by Pollan in his backtrace of the history and production of food in our agriculturally dominated society. For instance, in the end of his article Pollan refers to the domestication of animals and how it inevitably increased their likelihood of survival and enjoyment in life. He then contrasts this evolutionary irony with a current day free-range farm called “Polyface Farm” which is run by Joel Salatin. He proposes that as a result of the historical evolutionary development of domesticated animals it is now more human to raise these animals in “Good Farms” so they may live an enjoyable life though it may be short-lived. In addition to living a relatively happy life these animals are provided with what some regard as a privilege of a swift and painless death as opposed to the alternative found in nature where being eaten alive is most likely the cause of their demise. Take this example presented by a sheep farmer, “a bear will eat a lactating ewe alive, starting with her udders. ‘as a rule,' he explained, 'animals don't get 'good deaths' surrounded by their loved ones.'” He even found studies stating that if humans were to entirely convert to a vegan diet and cease any animal producing farm/factories it may actually increase the number of animals killed per year as the land and machinery used to harvest wheat and crops kill thousands of animals every year as is.”

            When relating Pollan’s piece to the info-graphic by Cook I immediately noticed that they each spent a significant amount of time focusing on the production of chickens. However Pollan’s article used a much wider variety of animal examples to bring to attention the up and coming movement for animal rights just as previous civil rights movements have been passed. Whereas Cook’s infographic’s primary objective is to illuminate the grotesqueries involved in the kill-line and processing within a chicken production plant. He then relates it to the jobs and injuries involved with each of those jobs throughout the kill-line. In reality he does not really go into the history of this particular production of food.