60 Minutes had a
story this week about a man who escaped from North Korea’s Prison Camp 14, and
while being interviewed by Anderson Cooper, the escapee said that he dreamed of
eating chicken and pork in captivity, and when Anderson Cooper remarked that
he’d never heard of freedom being defined as being able to eat chicken and
pork, the man said that being able to eat what you like is “God’s gift”, and in
his case, it’s roast chicken and roast pork. And I couldn’t help but think of
what an ad this would make for the meat industry, where vegan groups are
currently running ads making them look like sadistic monsters for raising
animals for food. And what a counter to that argument this guy would be! Oh,
but then I guess PeTA could say
that the animals are being held in a prison camp too, and shame on this guy for
subjecting animals to what he went through. But then I suppose he could claim
that being slaughtered is a welcome release from such an experience for the
animals, and think of all the pleasure it gives people to eat them, and what a
waste it would be not to eat them. And then I suppose he could say that not
letting people eat meat is like condemning everyone to an experience like
living in a prison camp, at least as far as the food is concerned. And like
they say, you are what you eat, and if you eat like a prisoner, then you are a
prisoner. Or something like that, I guess, depending on how you want to spin
it. But it might make an effective advertising strategy for the meat industry to make it into a matter of freedom and human rights and stuff to be able to eat meat, and therefore act as though they are the liberators of the human spirit, providing for everyone “God’s gift” of delicious meat to eat.
