KFC: We do Chickens Wrong!

[RGA]

Audio is a wonderful hobby, listening to tunes, listening to music or ruffling a few feathers on audio forums.

The summer time is a wonderful season to have some buddies over to and during our listening sessions we may get a little hungry and decide to order in for some lunch or dinner. I would like to make the case that you make your choice of NOT choosing KFC.

I am not an activist -- no not even for Audio Note ) -- but it bothers me to see companies, or individuals, engage in unnecessary cruelty.

This article is probably nothing new to many of you but sometimes we need a kick in our complacency. I always try and place my old Cats in the scenario. It's easier to feel compassion for that whom we know than those with whom we do not.

There are many responsible corporations out there and so many choices. Choose the ethical companies - they deserve our business in audio, to cola producers, to fast food chains. http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/index.asp

[Resident Loser]

...long enough, we really shouldn't be eating animals at all...not that I'm a Veggie, but...there ARE other ways to get the required nutrients in your diet.

When I look into my dog's eyes and realize in some quarters he'd be the blue-plate special, it kind'a makes ya' wonder...

jimHJJ(...I have tried to minimize my intake to one or two meat meals a week, but the blood-lusting carnivore is still lurking...)

[kexodusc]

C'mon guys, we don't know what those chickens said to those slaughterhouse employees...maybe they had it comin'?

On a serious note, the more I read into the practice of eating meat, the more I realize how much our diets are "industry driven". I've since lost the link, but maybe someone here has seen it too? Basially, some reputable scientist in the US have finalized years of research proving that even good ol' Milk isn't actually "good" at all for us. The harms far outweigh the benefits, and the benefits have been grossly exaggerated by the lobbyists and industry people with large vested interests...makes sense too...name 2 other animals on earth that drink milk in their natural diets beyond infancy?

I have a real weakness for bacon and steak (or baken wrapped steak...droooooollll). But I'm starting to believe that maybe we don't need to be killing everything to sustain ourselves. There's something not right about these massive meat farms - Chickens, pigs, cows - they're not animals anymore, they're made, cultivated, grown, harvested - sounds more like a vegetable to me.

I worked at a hog processing plat as a teenager (basically shoveling pig shi----nevermind)...it was years before I could eat any pork again, and if everyone saw how it was really done, not the typical PG rated tour-guide demonstration of operations, you'd never eat pork again...

[ericl]

Funny, I'm in the same position as you guys. In theory I think we shouldn't be eating animals, but I can't bring myself to stop!

I did try it for a short while when I first moved into the hippie co-op i lived in while attending US Santa Cruz. I ate huge amounts of rice and beans, plenty of tofu, nuts, corn, vegetables etc. and I was still always hungry. I had ok energy, but never felt sated (is that word ? or is it satiated?). One day I just started fantasizing about burgers. "I want a burger... with bacon... and bbq sauce... and onion rings... and fries.. and a milkshake!!!" I couldn't get stop thinking about it and I finally went down to fosters freeze and got exactly that. God, I was never so sick!!

[BillB]

I'll stick with Chick-Fil-A.

Bill

[MomurdA]

Chik fila might be worse than kfc, imo. Personally, I dont eat red meat much anymore, not since first us case of mad cow. I will occasionally eat a huge new york strip, but burgers no way. I try not to eat pork, but damn does bacon taste good with eggs, waffles, and lots of butter and syrup and a huge glass of milk.. Pork chops taste good, but a pig's a filthy animal.... haha just kidding. chicken and seafood is what i mostly eat(well chicken mostly, i dont want to start smelling like fish) and i only buy 'organic' chicken. Dont know if this is better for me or not but i buy it. I also tried the veggie only thing, and I was always hungry. I mean always. I can eat salad all day long, and still have to eat more. Plus hummus doesnt taste very good, neither do hearts of palm. I also only eat fast food once a month, when im too hungover or tired to cook.

[Woochifer]

I've read PETA's allegations as well. As much as I support the goal of ethically treating animals, even those that we will eventually meet for the first time at the receiving end of a carving knife or frying pan, I think that PETA as an organization tends to engage in a lot of sensationalism and take aim at high profile targets in order to promote itself. (At one point, they were telling people to boycott Wheaties because a bass fisherman was featured on the box cover, and in their view that meant that Wheaties was glorifying cruelty to animals.)

KFC's got a huge bullseye by virtue of their ubiquity, but they're not the ones who are farming the chickens and raising them in deplorable conditions. PETA happened to get a hidden camera into one of the supplier company's facilities. But, how do you know that this is something that's isolated to KFC's suppliers? What I know of chicken processing, there are all kinds of common practices that would make most of us puke if we saw it first hand.

So, if you boycotted KFC, what does that amount to in the end? Are you then going to go to the grocery store and buy chickens that might have been raised under identical conditions? The only way that you can know for sure that you're eating "ethically" treated chickens is to buy organic and "range fed" chickens from a grocery store. For all of the different processed food offerings, a lot of them tend to share suppliers. If these objectionable practices are happening with chickens supplied to KFC, I would guess that these abused chickens are getting supplied to other vendors as well. So, even if you boycott KFC, how do you know that whatever other chicken products you divert your spending towards don't have similar practices?

If PETA really wants to do something, why not take aim at the chicken processing industry in general, or the supplier companies in particular? By targeting KFC specifically, they are really after publicity for themselves since they know that they can raise their own profile by going after the biggest target.

If PETA was really about ethical treatment of bass, why did they start a Wheaties boycott? Why not take aim at the sportsman's associations that support and sponsor the activity? Because they know that Wheaties is the more well known target, and taking aim at it guarantees publicity.

[dean_martin]

If PETA was really about ethical treatment of bass, why did they start a Wheaties boycott? Why not take aim at the sportsman's associations that support and sponsor the activity? Because they know that Wheaties is the more well known target, and taking aim at it guarantees publicity.

Hey Wooch!

I agree with you in general regarding high-profile targets for publicity, but at the same time I'm trying to imagine the effectiveness of a PETA-led boycott of Bass Pro Shops or BassMasters and I just don't think the people associated with those entities would give a damn. I don't think a PETA protester would last 2 seconds at a bass tournament or in a Bass Pro Shop! I know a little about these folks because where I live, if you don't have a bass boat, you ain't sh*t.

[BillB]

Anyone ever seen the pictures of the little Chinese kids in sweatshops making NAD electronics??

Just kidding but really, where does it end. If we all were to boycott things not made "the right way" we'd be paying out the arse or simply wouldn't have them to buy at all.

That's not to say KFC's wrong but unfortunately I think 99% of the general public could give a crap.

Bill

[Woochifer]

Anyone ever seen the pictures of the little Chinese kids in sweatshops making NAD electronics??

Just kidding but really, where does it end. If we all were to boycott things not made "the right way" we'd be paying out the arse or simply wouldn't have them to buy at all.

That's not to say KFC's wrong but unfortunately I think 99% of the general public could give a crap.

Bill

Well, that's part of the difficulty of these consumer boycotts. There are plenty of companies out there that directly or indirectly support an activity that we are individually not cool with. If you got a bank account, do you really know where your bank's investment portfolio goes? If you buy food from a neighborhood grocery store, how do you know whether or not their office supplies come from a third world sweatshop?

What it boils down to for me is focusing on the things that mean the most to me in choosing which companies I give my money to. My problems with PETA are that they've cried wolf so many times already, targeted companies that are sometimes only tangentally involved in the cruelty that they allege, and their history of sensationalism and camera-ready publicity stunts detracts from their credibility in my view.

I've got my own list of companies that I don't do business with, and those are for my own reasons. I don't go trumpeting all of the companies that I avoid giving money to because different people might have different priorities than the ones that I focus on. One person might focus solely on labor practices, while others might not be down with companies with holdings in gaming or alcohol or tobacco, or ties to the nuclear industry, or product testing involving animals, or unsound environmental practices, or just annoying advertisements, etc.

Generally, I focus on what the companies' actual practices are, rather than anything that their suppliers might be doing. One boycott I've supported for the last 23 years has been the Nestle boycott. I support it because the focus has been on the company's third world infant formula marketing practices, which were directly sanctioned by the corporate hierarchy, and verified and condemned by UNESCO. The boycott has been effective because it targets the entire company's family of products, and holds the entire company responsible for the unethical practices of one subsidiary. (not only Nestle labeled products, but their other subsidiaries as well including Stouffer's, Carnation, Arrowhead/Black Mountain, Purina, etc.)

If PETA is really about changing industry practices rather than chasing publicity, they need to target everything down the chain. Start with the suppliers and all of the brands that use their products, and then target the entire family of restaurants that Yum Brands owns -- KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's, A&W drive-ins, etc. Are they trying to effectively bring change to an industry, or are they more after the headlines?

[BillB]

I boycott Hewlett Packard because the relocated my family (due to my dad working there) knowing they were going to lay him off in the next three months and outsource his entire department. What a crap move. Now they're expected to lay off another 5,000-25,000 people...

Bill

[FLZapped]

I've read PETA's allegations as well. As much as I support the goal of ethically treating animals, even those that we will eventually meet for the first time at the receiving end of a carving knife or frying pan, I think that PETA as an organization tends to engage in a lot of sensationalism and take aim at high profile targets in order to promote itself. (At one point, they were telling people to boycott Wheaties because a bass fisherman was featured on the box cover, and in their view that meant that Wheaties was glorifying cruelty to animals.)

If PETA was really about ethical treatment of bass, why did they start a Wheaties boycott? Why not take aim at the sportsman's associations that support and sponsor the activity? Because they know that Wheaties is the more well known target, and taking aim at it guarantees publicity.

I find it rather ironic that an organization that supposedly seeks the protection of animals against unecessary violence will resort to acts of violence against people and privately held property. Especially when those prople are not breaking any law in the first place.

They get a zero in credibility for being hippocrits in my book.

-Bruce