Factory Farming Exposed: Truth about animal handling
Their comment was:
What a snide attitude the narrator has! As if because those bad things don't happen on HER farm, they don't happen anywhere. Who is the one who has to wake up?
I realize that this doesn't seem like a friendly comment that I'd want to point out but there is a great point to be made here, plus a good conversation.
When I narrated this video I was apprehensive about actually posting it. The narration is, as Spikutus points out, snide and much more abrasive than my usual demeanor. I was worried that it would be taken the wrong way or that people would get upset by it or that I would look like a jerk because of it. However, I put on my big-girl panties and made a conscious decision to let my abrasive side show despite the discomfort it gives me (abrasive sides tend to be scratchy, itchy, and they chafe terribly).
The fact is, I had a point to make.
The snide-ness, as I like to call it, was in rebut to all those so-called "abuse" videos with the same exact attitude or snide-ness. In the videos that I have seen the message is clear: This abuse happens here so it must happen on every farm! This is the message I wish to refute most adamantly. Therefore, I took the same attitude, which is so prevalent in the "abuse" videos and spun it the other way.
That was my point and obviously it hit target.
I know animal abuse exists. I am not refuting that. It saddens me, upsets me, and down right pisses me off that people abuse their animals. However, the same emotional outcome applies to people that want to lump every farmer in one big abusive basket because we choose barns for our farms. That may be my new bumper sticker, by the way.
On a side note, it sickens me to watch those abuse videos that actually show abuse especially when the person filming does absolutely nothing to stop it. Does that not make them every bit as guilty? Well, in my book it makes them worse. It makes them a hypocrite of the worst kind. But I digress.
I'm glad this person commented on the video because the point of everything--the blog, the BaconCam, the social media outlets--is to open the lines of communication. To start dialogues that actually lead somewhere besides an argument. If we can understand both sides of the fence we can make changes, we can better our farming practices, or we can just agree to disagree--at least we are talking and not fighting.
So, as the title states, we are officially Open For Dialogue!
