I am a vegetarian, for about a year and a half now. I'd seen the meat.org stuff before, but it wasn't pushed over the edge until I watched this documentary: [ame=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6361872964130308142]Earthlings[/ame]
To see what really goes on behind the gates of industrial factory farms was pretty eye-opening for me. I couldn't say to myself anymore that maybe the animals weren't treated too badly (after all, it was in the owner's interest to keep the animals healthy... right?); couldn't pretend that their deaths were always painless and mistakes didn't happen. The reality is in stark contrast to that fantasy. The way animals are treated in large industrial factory farming operations is abhorrent. Many of these animals suffer basically their entire lives. It's sick and wrong, and I can't in good conscience support such an industry.
Now, that's not to say that I am strictly against the consumption of meat (or other animal products), or even the killing of animals. For me, it's a personal choice I've made not to eat meat; I don't need to eat meat to get what nutrients I need to survive, and there are plenty of other enjoyable foods out there. I don't see the need in killing an animal just because I feel like eating its body. But I don't consider that necessarily a wrong thing for others to do. I also think it's acceptable to take an animal's life for human interests, if it's done as humanely as is reasonable.
What I do object to is the objectification and commodification of living, breathing, aware creatures, and the patent disregard for their suffering. The way humans treat animals today really is a lot like slaves have been treated in the past (and still today). In many cases though, animals are treated much worse. Somehow there's this notion that because they aren't capable of intellectualization on the level of people that they don't deserve to be respected and that whatever suffering they endure is not worthy of consideration. I think how we treat animals says a lot about humanity and our so-called "morality."
