Michael Shi Essays (618 words) - Meat Industry, Livestock

Michael Shi Reading Response 6 The readings this week focused on the relationship humans have with animals in modern industry. In Timothy Pachirat's book Every Twelve Seconds , Pachirat documents his experience as he goes undercover as a factory worker in a slaughterhouse. One of the main things Pachirat points out is how the slaughterhouse is set up to try to hide or disguise the killing of cattle. For example, "t he kill floor and front office are as far apart physically as possible without being separated into two distinct buildings " ( Pachirat , 38). In the slaughterhouse itself, "the killing process occurs in two stages, each stage located out of the di rect line of sight of the other" (53) . Walls and partitions separate each step of the killing process. Because the process of killing cattle is spread out over multiple people in multiple locations, nobody personally feels responsible for killing. The other reading this week was an essay by Alex Blanchette , Herding Species: Biosecurity, Posthuman Labor, and the American Industrial Pig and looks at the relationship humans have with pigs in industry today. Blanchette begins by discussing the issue of biosecurity as it relates to industrial pigs. A virus called PEDv had become a large issue for factory farms, killing about 10% of pigs in the United States (As cited in Blanchette , 640). Because of biosecurity measures, workers had to make changes in their lives. Slaughterhouse workers were expected to have no contact with their colleagues working with pigs. One worker was forced to live separately from his family if he were to accept a promotion. Corporate measures to protect pigs " subtly redefine what it means to be human for those who work in a world saturated by concentrated animal life " ( Blanchette , 641). The collective group of pigs is referred to as the "Herd." Statisticia ns analyze seasonal pig output, immunities to disease, and genetics of the Herd to inform their decisions going forward. This allows managers to speak for the pig as a species and " perceive a kind of swine that exists as a theoretical abstraction and an animating vitality outside of concrete forms of animal appearance such as boars " ( Blanchette , 661). After he stops working on the kill floor, Pachirat mentions a conversation with a friend where they disagree about "who was more morally responsible for the killing of the animals: those who ate the meat or the 121 workers who did the killing" ( Pachirat , 160). The Pachirat readings made me question my own moral responsibility as a consumer of industrial meat. The topic of who should assume moral responsibility is something that I've thought about before and I had come to the conclusion that it was primarily the responsibility of the consumers that support the meat industry. Industrial farms and slaughterhouses exist mainly because of the demand for them by consumers and therefore their employees also only exist because of the consumer. The practices described in the readings don't seem entirely ethical to me and even if USDA regulations were changed to be stricter, the author describes how slaughterhouse employees actively break regulations and avoid USDA inspec tors for increased efficiency. However, since I feel so far removed from the process, I don't have the same instinctive moral response about eating industrial meat that I would in other moral situations. As it is with many people, it is easier for me to just not think about the distant consequences of my actions. Pachirat , Timothy. 2011. Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight. Yale University Press. (Pp. 20-80 and 141-161) Blanchette , Alex. 2015. "Herding Species: Biosecurity, Posthuman Labor, and the American Industrial Pig." Cultural Anthropology 30 (4): 640-669