Dark red blood drips from the head of the still conscious steer, he has already been shocked with a high-volt electric stunner but, especially for the larger steer, this is simply not enough. You can see the panic in his large brown eyes, he would struggle if he had any strength left, but days of continual stress and fear have taken their toll. Finally, after his throat is cut and he is hung by his hind legs to bleed out, his eyes roll back in his head and his last labored breath drifts from his lungs.
Day after day, the majority of animals we eat are killed in a similar fashion to this steer, frightened, agonized, and confused. Yet, we still have no issue consuming all kinds of meat every day. Little thought is given to the cruelty and suffering we are encouraging by eating animal muscle. What is the solution to this awful conundrum?
Vegetarianism seems to pose an obvious answer, but many people enjoy eating meat. Bacon has a virtually religious following. And we need meat to live a
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He posits that, as a culture we have almost completely eliminated the hospitable and social aspect of eating, opting to gorge on fast food while watching TV or working. Further he mentions that all the reasons for killing and eating animals stem from the social benefit we get from sharing food and laughter with others. He challenges us to re-think the way we eat, and travel back to our roots, of filling our stomachs with good food and at the same time filling our hearts with community (Scruton 659-665). America would be a completely different society if we spent time with the people who matter, and use the hours we spend eating to fill needs greater than our stomachs. This is not an easy change to enforce or apply, our lives become incredibly “busy” and we validate our time spent alone with our workload and responsibility. But even small efforts, in time, produce great