MovieChat Forums > Death on a Factory Farm (2009) Discussion > In favor of the farmers

In favor of the farmers

posted 15 years ago by Mannequin
9 replies | jump to latest

I am a fairly compassionate person, but I have absolutely no sympathy for the pigs that died in this movie. Where do all these bleeding hearts come from? My favorite part in the film was when they panned across the audience in the courtroom during one of the "torture scenes" and they all had a look of complete apathy. You were expecting tears or some kind of painful/heartfelt reaction, but really, nobody cared. They all had stoned-face looks as though nothing of significance happened.

...Which is exactly the point!

I think the purpose of the film was to try and get you to feel sympathy towards these animals, and while I can empathize with their plight, I have no ill-will towards the farmers or their treatment of these animals. On farms, animals die. Sometimes, they will hang to death and struggle, and feel terrible about dying, and that is unfortunate but it's a way of life. Maybe when pigs take over the world they can do the same to us.

[–] russellsolomon 15 years ago

When the pigs do uprise and take the world, there will be a legend of their liberator. He will be known as the Great One, "Pete"!

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] russellsolomon 15 years ago

Ummm...

No.

Last time I checked "Pete" was white.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] DakotaTrepanning 15 years ago

This is not about sympathy. It is about recognizing certain guidelines that our civilization adheres to. The maltreatment and physical abuse of animals which includes hanging and striking them with blunt objects is a form of torture. What I observed was unnecessary and reckless conduct by a group of people that seem to disregard that the animals on their farm do feel pain and it is acknowledged in state guidelines that pain should be minimized in animals. Farmers who raise their animals in this manner is atypical and any farmer worth their salt doesn't operate in such a shoddy and unprofessional way. Animals do die on farms but they should not be humiliated and abused in the process. I have no issue with animals raised for food, so long as they are not exposed to needless suffering.

[–] richardmacdon 14 years ago

I don't feel bad that animals die on farms, I did feel bad that the pigs suffered.

You mention that you also empathized. If you felt bad about the pigs suffering, why would you not want them to die in the quickest, most painless way possible.

I would hope that if the pigs take over the world, and decided to euthanize us, that they'd do it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

[–] aroundaround 14 years ago

"I think the purpose of the film was to try and get you to feel sympathy towards these animals, and while I can empathize with their plight,"

You can't come close to empathizing with their plight. Were you raised your whole life in a cell so small you're not even able to turn around? When you were a child, were you tossed like a ragdoll into a bin full of other human beings?

"I have no ill-will towards the farmers or their treatment of these animals."

How can you justify treating a living creature like that? How? They have thoughts and feelings. They are living things. The comparison to a dog is normally dismissed by defenders of the farmers, but I want to know if you'd feel differently if dogs were treated this way in puppy mills. What is the difference between dogs and pigs that would make treating dogs this way unacceptable? Is the metric for "not okay for mistreatment" based on how many people raise them? How cute they are? Why is okay to treat one animal one way, but not another - if not how "cute" we perceive them to be and/or their role in society?

"On farms, animals die."

This is true!

"Sometimes, they will hang to death and struggle, and feel terrible about dying, and that is unfortunate but it's a way of life."

This is not! Pigs don't just happen to hang to death on farms, it's something people to do them.

"Maybe when pigs take over the world they can do the same to us."

Or maybe we can continue to eat meat but make sure that animals are treated in a way that's not deplorable (I eat meat and will continue to eat meat). Just because something is destined to die does not excuse treatment you wouldn't wish upon another creature that is slightly smaller and has fur.

[–] snowbum780 14 years ago

Sometimes, they will hang to death and struggle, and feel terrible about dying, and that is unfortunate but it's a way of life.

is this really a justification? This is how we do things, and this is how things have to stay, so any suffering that occurs is just an unfortunate side effect that can't be helped? The truth is, yes, it's the way of life for society now, but it wasn't always like this, factory farming is a relatively new phenomenon, and there is absolutely no reason that is has to be like this. Personally, I don't believe in eating meat, but I know that the majority of people do. However, people don't need nearly as much meat as they do in our country. People have meat at pretty much every meal because it's relatively cheap money wise, but it shouldn't be.

Animals could be treated much more humanely if meat was more expensive. The animals are paying for us to eat meat through suffering and horrible lives. If people supplemented their diets more with vegetables, beans, rice, pasta, etc., and only ate meat on occasion, there wouldn't have to be this holocaust of animal suffering.

So yes, it's a way of life, but it doesn't have to be this way. There is no sound justification for the suffering that went on in this film, or the equal suffering that goes on each day in factory farms around the world.

"The dirty sugar factory on the water, should smell sweet." -Metric

[–] poshnbecks23 13 years ago

I disagree. To me, it seemed as if the audience felt uneasy. Their body language said a lot.

If we consider life to be a blessing then we must consider death to be one as well.