There is this ad that plays on the radio here all the time. It starts off with these cowboys spouting sage advice about life, and it really is good advice and kind of charming (once you peel away all the cowboy references and realize what they mean). But then it gets to the whole point of the ad, which is to recommend this antibiotic for cattle, but the really disturbing part – and here’s what always seems to be playing whenever I turn on a radio — is when the cowboy says “… must be used in an 18-day pre-slaughter time.”
I swear to God, that last part is what I hear every time I turn on the fucking radio. It’s sickening, and upsetting, and it makes me seriously consider becoming a vegetarian. The older I get, the more trouble I have eating animals (lobsters, too). It bothers me more than ever, and that antibiotic pre-slaughter ad is putting me right over the edge.
We are slowly switching over to all organic, including meat. They don’t use antibiotics or hormones in organic meat. I could almost be a vegetarian but I crave protein and it really fills me up more than carbs. I don’t crave tofu. But I do like chicken and salmon and some beef.
@ Joan – It’s not the antibiotics that bother me about meat, it’s the whole slaughtering of cattle (and don’t even talk to me about veal), and I hate the way chickens are treated, it’s all getting to be really disturbing to me. I love protein too, but I’m starting to think I might want to get it from shellfish. Except for lobsters, because the intellegence of lobsters is another thing that’s really getting to me. I don’t know, maybe the whole world is just getting to me … I don’t read the newspaper anymore because there are too many heartbreaking stories, I hate the local news programs too. Either the world is wearing me down, or I’m just becoming a nut.
A few ideas/sugs/recommendations: bison if you enjoy red meat… And, have you read The Secret Life of Lobsters? great book.
I like how nutty you are! Did you get my card yet?
I won’t eat veal. I have never even tasted it. We only eat free range chicken. I really understand how you feel about the cattle. Hopefully organic cattle are treated better though I doubt it. I don’t watch news either. I don’t even get the newspaper. The world is a fucked up place that’s why I live in my own little one.
@ Curious C – I got your card tonight! I love it, thank you!
@ Joan – I wonder about the free range stuff too, I hope they’re treated better. And I agree about making your own little world, the big one is too fucked up.
Free range animals get to sort of wander around like hippies, basking in the sunshine in a happy state of mind before they’re murdered and brought to your table.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_range
Sorry. It’s late.
Ultimately, a vegetarian diet including dairy and eggs is the best thing, on so many levels. Diet for a Small Planet, etc.
We were veggie before our kids came along, and I hope we return to it someday soon. We’ve raised our own meat at times too (chicken, lamb, rabbits) and the slaughtering process is just no fun at all.
Organic is the only way to go.
When the radio starts doing that shit to you Wendy, just put on some music instead.