Humans, Also in Shit

I've been vaguely following the Chino, CA slaughterhouse fiasco, but frankly it can't hold my attention for very long. It's hard to get outraged by the slaughter of 20 "downer cattle" or the ease with which USDA inspection rules are sidestepped. That's like getting worked up about falling test scores. The real problem is in the system, not the result.

What they don't mention in the media coverage of this SHOCKING PORTRAYAL is that all the cows are ill. It's really not just the ones falling over half-dead. Why else is the livestock industry something like the fourth largest consumer of antibiotics in America? (I don't have the exact numbers.) Believe me, it's not to make sure we get extra-healthy cows. It's to sneak really sick cows into the supermarket. The health of the animal goes beyond Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. Whether we're eating Mad Cows or just disgusting ones, there's a lot more to be concerned about than... how easy it is for the inspectors to check out the crowded, disease-ridden Cows in Shit. Shouldn't the inspectors be, like, making sure the cows aren't crowded, disease-ridden, or in shit at all?

It's all about money, after all, so I guess that's not a concern. Recall the beef, do some damage by laying off a few slaughterhouse employees (who are doing a job nobody in their right mind would want to do anyway,) and soon enough everything will right itself... Right?

My moral outrage and bitterness about Big Business is really secondary. Because I care most about what my food tastes like, and how it makes me feel when I eat it. I try to buy grass-fed, free-range beef whenever I can. When you eat enough really good food, you can very easily recognize really bad food, and I've come to the conclusion that cheaply fattened, Big Business, grain-gorged beef is really not very good. Tastes like margarine. Most of life is shitty anyway, whether you're a cow or a human, and the one thing I, being poor, helpless, and psychologically damaged, can do is make one little bit of my life as good as it can possibly be: the things I eat. The things I serve to my family.