NYT: "A Farm Boy Reflects"

[flvegan]

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: July 31, 2008

In a world in which animal rights are gaining ground, barbecue season should make me feel guilty. My hunch is that in a century or two, our descendants will look back on our factory farms with uncomprehending revulsion. But in the meantime, I love a good burger.

This comes up because the most important election this November that you’ve never heard of is a referendum on animal rights in California, the vanguard state for social movements. Proposition 2 would ban factory farms from raising chickens, calves or hogs in small pens or cages.

Livestock rights are already enshrined in the law in Florida, Arizona, Colorado and here in Oregon, but California’s referendum would go further and would be a major gain for the animal rights movement. And it’s part of a broader trend. Burger King announced last year that it would give preference to suppliers that treat animals better, and when a hamburger empire expostulates tenderly about the living conditions of cattle, you know public attitudes are changing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/opinion/31kristof.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

It's worth a read. Parts of it are a little frustrating. "An omnivores lament" it could be called. BUT, it does at least show that more and more folks that choose to eat meat are opening their minds to animals being more than just food.

[LeftyMom]

1. There's a great AbPsych paper just waiting to be written on that article.

Kids, this is what we call cognitive dissonance.