Bacon

[avevale_intelligencer]

A while back, in that haven of reasoned discussion and dispassionate debate we call Facebook, I advanced the argument (in response to a quoted statement that the world would be better if we all became vegetarian) that if we all became vegetarian (which I think is unlikely) then all the animals in the world would suddenly be between us and the food, which historically has not been a very good place to be. I was roundly chastised for daring to argue with a Self-Evident Truth, and specifically for erecting a straw man.

Well, I'm not sure. I think there were bones in that straw. However, I went away and thought about other things, and then this morning what do I see but a basket of adorable little piglets and the caption "Seven reasons to ditch bacon."

Okay, let's try erecting this man one limb at a time, like Hangman in reverse, and we'll see if he's all straw or something a bit more solid.

Left Leg: Every person who ditches bacon is one less person buying bacon.

Right Leg: Every person not buying bacon is one less reason for shops to stock bacon.

Left Arm: Every shop not stocking bacon is one less reason for suppliers to pay for bacon.

Right Arm: Every supplier not paying for bacon is one less reason for farmers to raise pigs.

Torso: Farmers, believe me, do not do anything they do not need to do, i.e. that will not support the farm and their family. Farming's bloody hard work enough, no room for passengers.

Head: The more people ditch bacon, the fewer farmers will raise pigs, the fewer pigs there will be.

So those seven adorable little piglets (unless they are some family's pets, which would be absolutely marvellous as long as they know a pig is for life and not just for Christmas) are actually seven reasons not to ditch bacon.

I am very strongly in favour of animals being more humanely treated. I sign petitions to that effect, if I had spare money I would give to appropriate charities, when I buy meat I look for meat from farms that adhere to standards of animal welfare. And I continue to love pigs and to eat bacon, because whether it's a straw man or a slippery slope or an excluded middle or any other logical buzzword, I do not trust my species to keep animals alive just because some of us think they look nice.

So that's that.

Comments

[eoforyth.livejournal.com]

Can I just add, about pigs in particular, that pigs are large and intelligent omnivores, much like ourselves. They also have a tendency to run in packs and tear up and destroy their immediate environment before moving on to the next patch *whistles* They don't stay a basketful of cute pink things for long, so what do we do, create a preserve?

From previous experiments, the pigs will root up everything, rut with impunity and produce large litters, and take out any kind of fencing that is put up if a constant check and repair system isn't adhered to.

I mentioned omnivorous - have you ever considered the teeth and jaw of a pig? I'm not kidding when I say the average sized animal is quite capable of severing a human limb or crushing a skull with a single bite - and will enjoy snacking on it, too.

And just to put the lid on the can - shall we start the mass euthanasia of all those cwute widdle kittens and puppies, the majority of which really can't produce the necessary enzymes and the like to digest a totally vegetarian diet - is it somehow more humane to keep animals for slaughter so long as we only feed them to the animals we choose to keep in our homes, gardens, and handbgs?

Cutting back on meat and encouraging general humane treatment is a far more sensible attitude than showing a basket of pigs, especially as they'd like to chow down on a nice hamburger or something themselves.

[legoline.livejournal.com]

There is a reason that in quite a few tv shows I've seen bodies disappeared because they were fed to pigs. I love pigs, I think they're wonderful, intelligent creatures, but they're not half as cutesy as people make them out to be.