Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My Stomach Is Turning

Some nights I take my mound of laundry downstairs and watch some Oprah. We do have Tivo, so this is good. Tonight, Scott has a late soccer game and I needed to just chill and do some folding.

I was totally excited when I found that today's show was about Lisa Ling going in and observing what was going on within different farms. Oprah today was entering the arena of California politics by devoting her entire show to Yes on Prop 2, the farm animal protection act. Oprah was asking viewers to think about where our food comes from and what happens before it comes to our plates.

I was both sad and anxious as the discussions and footage showed the truth of what I know about factory farming. The living space for these creatures is terrible. My heart broke the entire show. Did you see the show? Did you know that animals live in those tiny spaces almost their whole life on factory farms? I am interested in your feedback.

I was encouraged to see free range and free raise farmers on the show. The clips from their farms seemed peaceful and natural.

I don't have the entire show to share with you. I wish I could somehow share it with all of you because I think it was tastefully done. I do have the little You Tube clip of what the show was all about. Let me just say that I am thankful for how Oprah brings awareness to her viewers. Before today, I wasn't really thinking about the factory farmer. Today I was able to hear from him. I learned that he may lose his job because California may put heavier guidelines on his farm that he can't afford. I hadn't really been that thoughtful about the factory farmer's life. However, I have to agree with this Prop 2 policy that voters in CA get to vote for in a couple of weeks. I totally agree that animals that are being raised, just to feed Americans, deserve space to turn around, lay down, and spread their wings. Actually, I think they deserve more. Two big thumbs up for the free range and free raise farmers out there.

3 comments:

Laura said...

Yes! was able to catch just the middle section of the show and agree that when those guys were saying the animals were happy living their entire lives that way, what?? crazy. it was very disturbing, i agree.

Jules said...

I was so wanting to watch it and just didn't get a chance to (no Tivo here). When I saw commercials for it on Monday afternoon, you came to mind immediately! :) Definitely food (ha - no pun intended!) for thought...

Anonymous said...

I've been a vegan ever since college animal science classes taught me how "modern" farm animals live. We can't possibly remain healthy when eating "food" kept in such unnatural conditions. I'm glad Oprah tackled the topic.