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Slaughterhouse History

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The History of Slaughterhouses
It is beneficial to briefly review the history of meat consumption while also examining the establishment and development of the slaughterhouse. Fundamentally, the process of turning living animals into meat for consumption has been around for a long time, occurring as far back as our hunter-gatherer ancestors. A lifestyle which has been considered a symbiotic relationship built on trust and respect between humankind and nature (Ingold, 2011). Throughout the world and in various regions, pastoralism eventually succeeded most hunter-gatherer societies. While both hunter-gatherer and pastoral societies are currently existing in some remote locations, most of the industrialized world has transformed to domestication …show more content…

Magnifying the issue, it is the high turnover rates that aid in keeping wages low and discouraging union organizing (Broadway & Stull, 2008). In addition, migrant workers are often attracted to this work for its hyper-flexible work hours, low skills requirements, and no need of a high school diploma or ability to speak English (Lever & Milbourne, 2015). In fact, executives of the industry typically believe that minorities, women, and particularly immigrants will be less likely to insist on their rights, will tolerate substandard working conditions, and will work harder overall (Broadway & Stull, 2008). Further, the meat-processing industry is organized to strategically exploit migrant workers and position them as outsiders with fewer rights and conceal them from the rest of society (Lever & Milbourne, 2015). Ultimately, the animal agricultural industry, to include slaughterhouses, intentionally conceals their work from consumers and voters by any means possible (Wrock, 2016). This allows for the companies to maximize profits by increased productivity through unsatisfactory working …show more content…

To maximize profits, these industries have increased the speed workers are required to stun, kill, and dismember the animals. For example, the fastest average slaughter pace used to be 179 cattle per hour, whereas the current fastest pace is around 400 cattle per hour (Fitzgerald, 2010). In addition, studies have revealed that workers in the meat processing industry have had significantly higher mortality rates from all causes and all types of cancer, increased risk of all accident related deaths, mortality from ill-defined conditions, and death from respiratory diseases and symptoms when compared to the rest of the population (McLean, et al., 2004; Netto & Johnson, 2003). Moreover, beef-packing workers showed an increased prevalence of specific strains of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA; antibiotic resistant staph bacteria; Leibler et al., 2016). However, at some companies, injured employees have been enforced to report the reasons behind their injury to upper management which may lead to job loss (Broadway & Stull, 2008). Further, absence from work in slaughterhouse employees has been significantly related to the type of job within the industry, with slaughtering, dismembering, and deboning positions having significantly more absence than working in the stables, weighing/stamping, or company drivers (Kristensen,

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573 Words | 3 Pages

Sinclair exposed the problem of mutilated limbs and other horrors common to the workers. Sinclair also explained how even minor injuries could become fatal and how the labor intense work done at the factories caused workers to experience swollen joints (doc 1). Unfortunately, no laws were passed to protect workers from the awful conditions they faced. Although Sinclair’s attempt at reforming working conditions was fruitless, the public’s reaction to the truth about the meat they were purchasing sparked a nationwide attempt to enact consumer protection laws. The meat packing factories were doctoring their products with chemicals so they could profit from rotten meat.

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549 Words | 3 Pages

“- And while we are on the topic of horrible and unethical practices of the rich man taking advantage of the poor, lets discuss the conditions of the working man in the meat industry.” He continued to discuss the gruesome, shocking, and awful treatments that the men had to deal with on a daily, reading an excerpt from his article, “Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by

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550 Words | 3 Pages

“- And while we are on the topic of horrible and unethical practices of the rich man taking advantage of the poor, lets discuss the conditions of the working man in the meat industry.” He continued to discuss the gruesome, shocking, and awful treatments that the men had to deal with on a daily, reading an excerpt from his article, “Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by

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1118 Words | 5 Pages

The strongest analogy used to describe this is when comparing the description of the hogs coming through the slaughterhouse to the immigrants coming into America during the time of the novel. In the novel this event is described as, “brought about ten thousand head of cattle every day,” showing how many immigrants, represented by cattle, these factories would receive looking for work. Then there is the description of how the immigrants are used to there limits then disposed of after they have either been injured or just lost their job, this is shown when said, “They use everything about the hog except the squeal,” this represent how much of the immigrants use of before eventually firing them or losing their job. (27) With the description of how the businesses use the hogs as well as how indispensable the cattle are and that comparison with the immigrants shows how the immigrants are literal animals in the eyes of the

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764 Words | 4 Pages

In the early 1900s, there were so many unbearable conditions that needed to be reformed such as factory injuries, overcrowded cities , starvation, wages and so on. Millions of immigrants came to the United States looking for a better life. The working conditions were inhumane and brutal since there were too many labors and those big businesses’ owners were looking for a way to minimize the input and maximize the profit. The meat packing industry was exposed to the public when Upton Sinclair published his book “The Jungle”. This industry was unsanitary and hazardous to workers and consumers.

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1437 Words | 6 Pages

Eric Schlosser disproves that theory with his book titled Fast Food Nation (2001). About a hundred years after the mistreatment in the Gilded Age occured Fast Food Nation describes the same if not worse conditions of industries in America. In chapter 8, Schlosser uses rhetorical strategies to unveil the dark side of meat-packing factories. Schlosser begins by explaining what happens to the animals

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665 Words | 3 Pages

Intro: When people eat food they do not think about what is in it, or how it is made. The only thing people care about is what the food tastes like and how much they get. During the 1900’s the meat packing industry had not regulations of any kind. All that mattered to the industry was that they made as much money as possible with as little expenditure as possible. During this times people were often made sick and died either from working conditions or poor food quality.

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In the early twentieth century, Upton Sinclair, who is the author of “The Jungle”, exposed the unsanitary of the working conditions in the meat industry during the progressive era. The mass-production method was tended to replace skilled workers

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288 Words | 2 Pages

Title: Slaughterhouse-Five Author: Kurt Vonnegut Thesis: Throughout KVs SF, he describes in matter of fact way the psychological impact/effects of the devastation of war and death upon Billy Pilgrim and how he handles it. Through the exploration of Billy Pilgrim’s detached and indifferent thoughts, Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five illustrates the coping mechanisms of a World War II veteran with post traumatic stress disorder.

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History does not always convey the absolute truth. It offers only one side of the story. The strong and powerful voices always drown out the sounds of the weak and beaten. The winner’s word will always be taken over the loser’s. The content that lies within the textbooks was not written by the defeated.

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943 Words | 4 Pages

Before the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was passed many industries had bad working conditions . There would be dead rats found inside the food products even human body parts would be in the food. Even today people have to suffer physical labor because they don’t want to lose their jobs and be replaced by robotic machines . Many of them suffer back pain or pain in their hands because they have to pack meat 40 to 50 pieces of meat per minute. Back in the 1900’s they didn’t have robotic machines that could take over and do their jobs all day long.

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1541 Words | 7 Pages

Although, since each author has a different motive they expose the topic in different ways. Sinclair give more visual representation through his descriptions because he wants the work conditions to be enforced within in the audiences’ mind. This is centrally his strongest argument, therefore he compares the workers to relatable images to better present a significance of the immigrant workers in the meat factories. On the other hand, Schlosser’s motive does not lie within improving better working conditions, but it is a party of his idea surrounding the slaughterhouses in general. Therefore, he provides the audience with quick and credible data on the workers and their injuries.

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1282 Words | 6 Pages

Technological Advancements in Warfare and their Effects on Mental Health Humans are extremely social creatures. People have an unparalleled capacity to empathize and recognize the emotions of others. However, extreme trauma can severely compromise this ability, particularly trauma inflicted by warfare. As a result of his first hand experience with the government 's use of technology in warfare, Billy Pilgrim of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five loses his ability to control his social interactions, becoming apathetic and disconnected with the world around him, a phenomenon not uncommon amongst those who have seen the immediate devastation of modern warfare technology.

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This is a good way of increasing employee 's motivation and if used properly always have positive effects on the normal business

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Eating meat is beneficial to humanity, because they provide nourishment that cannot be obtained from other sources. Without the support of animals, humans lack a distinctive diet, that is essential to their well-being. However, since animals are so important to the diet, they deserve great care and respect as well. Humans were always hunters and gathers. They always knew that meat was a big source of protein that helped keep them going(Araki).

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