Which of the many anecdotes or statistics that Schlosser offers about the slaughterhouse experience did you find to be the most powerful/effective? Why? What do you think Schlosser is trying to convince you to think, or do, by presenting this evidence and how does it relate to fast food restaurants?
To receive full credit for your response, you have until 11:30pm this Saturday, September 13th. Be specific in your answers. Think athletically. Don't sit down at the starting line and draw in the the dirt. SOAR through the finish line! On your mark, get set, go.
16 comments:
One of the many anecdotes Schlosser offers about the slaughterhouse I found to be the most powerful was when he described a worker cutting the cattle in half. "A worker with a power saw slices cattle into halves as though they were two-by-fours, and then the halves swing by me into the cooler. It feels like a slaughterhouse now. Dozens of cattle, stripped of their skins, dangle on chains from their hind legs"(170). I found this anecdote powerful because when you actually eat meat, you don't really imagine what that animal went through just to become packaged and deep-freezed in the backs of grocery stores, hamburgers in fast food joints, or steak for dinner. I think Schlosser is trying to make us think twice of our lifestyle. A vegetarian lifestyle may not be for everyone, but it's good to cut down on meat every once in a while for the sake of animals or resources, even. Finally, it relates to fast food restaurants very much because every fast food restaurant practically makes and sells hamburgers, which are made out of cows. Every fast food restaurant is linked to a slaughterhouse considering that is the only way they will ever get their hamburgers. If there were no slaughterhouses, I doubt there would be as much fast food restaurants that there are now, there may not even be fast food restaurants at all.
I think Janel's post was good. It is indeed important to know whats happening in those slaughterhouses. However, I believe that what the cow was experiencing is inferior to whats happening to the workers. Janel talks about where the meat comes from but did not mention about the fact that many of the workers in there are having an even worse time than the cows. Sure they were immigrants, and mostly illegal ones, but they were human as well. The chapter mentions workers tearing muscles, breaking backs, cutting themselves with the huge knives they carry, and putting great stress on their bodies and they weren't even allowed to go to the hospital because the owners thought that would lose them money. I found this effective because it shows what kind of hurt people would inflict unto others just for money. These slaughterhouse workers are being treated like slaves in some ways. Their 'supervisors' seem like present-day slave drivers. It mentions in the chapter that someone told Schlosser that behind those gray walls is a whole other world, and Schlosser showed us that it was. I agree with Janel when she stated that Schlosser is trying to make us think twice about what we're eating but, in my opinion, we should eat less meat so that there would be less demand for them in fast food restaurants and markets. Less demand would mean less workers needed. Less workers would mean less people getting hurt over this job. This way, those workers can look for less dangerous jobs. I'm sure there's a brighter, and less bloody, future waiting for them.
I agree with both Janel and Athena's response. Out of the many anecdotes that Schlosser offers us about the slaughterhouse, I found the following to be the most powerful was when he described the late-night cleaning crews. For example, "Another employess of DCS Sanitation, Salvador Hernandez-Gonzalez, had his head crushed by a pork-loin processing machine at an IBP in Madison, Nebraska. The same machine had fatally crushed the head of another worker, Ben Barone, a few years earlier. At a National Beef plant in Liberal, Kansas, Homer Stull climbed into a blood-collection tank to clean it, a filthy tank thirty feet high. Stull was overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. Two coworkers climbed into the tank and tried to rescue him.All three men died"(178). It's not just the cows and the workers that deal with the unsatisfying job but especially the people who clean up after them. I understand the fact what we see in the daily meet aisle looks perfectly normal, but we don't know the story behind that perfectly closed packaged. We see in Costco arranging meats in a glass window but that's not the whole truth behind the meat packing. With so much high meat demand from us, especially fast food restaurants, workers put themselves in danger from a series of cuts and bruises. I think what Schlosser might want us to think is that, if we don't eat as much meat as we should be, demands would be low and workers would not put themselves in that much danger. Sure not a lot of people would be up to the change, but it still benefits the many others. Finally, fast food restaurants are linked very much to the slaughter house because both industries are in demand of meat. Fast food chains are in demand of beefs and burgers and slaughter houses have to work twice as hard to keep up with these demands. Mr. Molnar, this chapter is depressing.):
Poor animals! Well, the workers as well, of course. I think slaughterhouses are a danger to animals AND humans. Period. Few people know what it's like inside a slaughterhouse, and Schlosser took us there through his book. I agree with Athena and Andrea that not only animals get harmed, but workers also. But I'd have to disagree that the workers are treated severely than the animals. Workers die, that's true, but so do the animals. They're either slit from the throat, or cut in half, what a nice way to die. But the employees that work there, applied there and work there by choice, and they know of the consequences of what they're working for. The cows don't have a choice, they didn't MOO to be next in line to be cut in half. But either way, cows and unfortunately, sometimes humans die in slaughterhouses. I agree with Athena, once again, less demands, mean less workers, so I think we should all cut down a little.
Even though workers signed up to work in those places, they should at least have an idea of what they're doing from other people's opinion. Sometimes, it's hard to get work here in America knowing if you're an illegal immigrant so sometimes they don't even have a choice, since they're in need of money. Furthermore, I don't want to be mean, but isn't that the reason why cows exist. Sure it's sad to see cows die, dying in a conveyor belt just like pigs, but still if we weren't to eat them, what could they be used as, cowmowers?
Still, poor animals.
"Under colorado's new law , the payment of losing an armm is 36000. An amputateed finger gets you anywhere from 2200 to 4500 depending on which one is lost. And "serious permanent disfigurement about the head, face or parts of the body normaly exposed to pubbbblic view entites you to a maximum of 2000"
I just find this statistic funny. cause you really can't put a price on that it's not like you grow arm like a lizard grows of new tail. Those arre low prices anyway. I think he is tryiiiing to let you see that those meat companies know that their workers are injured and hospitalized. So instead of making their factory safer they just give you money. the money that they get proobably wont even pay for the medical bill. It's like come lose an arm for minimum wage. I bet if people knew more they woulldn't work there.
First of all i had a tough time reading the paper since the pages dont make sense in the order they are put in. But one of the many statistics Schlossers provides which i found to be very intresting was "The old meatpacking plants in chicago slaughter about 50 cattle an hour. Twenty years ago, new plants in High Plains slaughtered about 175 cattle an hour. Today some plants slaughter about 400 cattle an hour-about a half dozen animals every minute, sent down a single production line, carved by workers desperate not to fall behind"(173). This statistics shot out the most for me because it shows many other companies and how they slaughter. It also shows how 20 years ago we were doing a simple 175 slaughtering . But in those short 20 years that has passed we have gone up from 175 to 400 slaughtering in 1 hour . Now that is a big increase in such a short amount of time . It shows how far we have all come just to make some "dirty" money by killing these animals just so we can sell their meat at such a low cost . It shows what we are willing to do just so we can remain on top . This relates to fast food nation because it shows everything the meat goes through just so it can be sold in the fast food industries all over the world. It shows just how cruel people can be for money. Also Schlosser is trying to get you think that since their is such a high need for meat that he is telling how exactly we get our meat.
To Janel: You've changed my mind. Im sorry for disagreeing, my dear. Forgive me. xD
Actually, there is one tiny fact that I'd like to point out though. The cows die quick and probably painless through this process. The workers still have to work after all that pain. Im sure they suffer a lot more than the cows did.
To Andrea: I agree with your thoughts as well. This chapter was indeed depressing. In addition, LOL, cowmowers. xD
To Ramon: WOW. i cant believe i missed that statistic. ahaha!
To Otto::] I agree as well that a lot of people are a bunch of greedy monsters.
ahaha SO i guess we all basically agree that its bad for both workers AND the animals, right? so why does it still exist? People need to be educated about what they do to everyone and everything (either directly or indirectly)by doing little things like buying a burger at McDonalds. Also, these workers probably have some clue about what they're getting into which shows how much desperately they need the money. Lets not blame the workers; lets blame the big corporations, or maybe, since we've all probably ordered a burger before, lets blame ourselves. We've all taken part in this wrong doing, but we cant help it. We're human. I know I put less demand equals less workers in there, but i forgot to add that it would also mean LESS COWS being killed as well.
I thought that this chapter was really good, and i could not stop reading it. the first statistic that i really liked was were it said "Many women told me stories about fondled and grabbed on the production line, and the behavior of supervisors sets the tone for the other male workers"(176). I think that men can be big pigs that try to take advantage of women. This shows there is more than people being injured. There is a lot of of this that are happening in the slaughterhouse that Schlosser is trying to tell us about. There is an anecdote that I found strong it says "Again and again workers told me that they are under tremendous pressure not to report injuries"(175). I thought this anecdote was telling us how people cant or are scared to tell someone about there injuries. What I think that Schlosser is try to tell us that working at the slaughterhouse is so dangers. Also that we need to think how our meet gets in our plate. To hire and picture how those people work, get heart, and some die. They don't even make that much money, but they need to do it to pay the bills and other important stuff. He just want us to think about it a little more.
(i have a new e-mail= siomarareyes@ymail.com)
"About five thousand head of cattle enter it everyday, single file, and leave in a different form"(169) I think it's real effective because not only does it show some cruelty in slautherhouses, but it shows it early in the chapter so throughout the rest of the chapter you have that powerful quote in the back of your head. Also "As we approach the start of the line, for the first time I hear the steady pop pop pop of live animals being stunned."(171) I dunno about you guys, but that send chills down my spine. I think it's sensory language, but i can't remember. Anyways i think Schlosser wrote this to give us gorry thought haha i'm kidding, but i think he wrote this to let us think about how the cattel that is raised for us to eat, should be put to rest in a more respectful way. I dunno it's hard to get into the mind of an author because only he knows why he wrote it. Enjoy your vacation and i'll be back soon...hopefully.
First of all poor animals and th workers too. One of the many statistics and anecdotes is"A worker with a power saw slices cattle into halves as though they were two-by-fours, and then the halves swing by me into the cooler. It feels like a slaughterhouse now. Dozens of cattle, stripped of their skins, dangle on chains from their hind legs"(170). I found this anecdote very powerful because it makes you think when you are eating meat. It makes you realize how an anial was killed to become a burger or any other food. Many people have become vegetarians because they can't deal with the animals dying like that. most of us can't become vegetarians but we can eat less meat. this relates to fast food restaurants because almost every restaurant uses meat. Every slaughter house is helpful to a fast food restauraunt. Finally scholosser is trying to make us think about our eating lifestyle because if we are able to cut down on eating meat then we can help stop killing alot of animals.
First of all when i grow up i want to be a vetenarian and i dont want to know what goes on in a slaughterouse eehkkk!!!! I think one of the most powerful anecdotes that Schlosser uses is "Another employess of DCS Sanitation, Salvador Hernandez-Gonzalez, had his head crushed by a pork-loin processing machine at an IBP in Madison, Nebraska. The same machine had fatally crushed the head of another worker, Ben Barone, a few years earlier. At a National Beef plant in Liberal, Kansas, Homer Stull climbed into a blood-collection tank to clean it, a filthy tank thirty feet high. Stull was overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. Two coworkers climbed into the tank and tried to rescue him.All three men died"(178). I think it is powerful because it shows the harsh reality of working in a slaughterhouse and how dangerous it is to both animals and humans.IT also shows what we do with the food and left over organs and blood and what we have to do to clean it up when we are finish with the animals.And it also shows how dangerous the job is once again and how our technology is growing to slaughter even more animals than before like wat otto said.
One of the anectdotes that schlosser offers about the slaughter house, when he is describing it and what they do, gets me to thinking how inhumane this is. "They grab the the meat with their hooks and attack it grunting,the place suddenly feels different, primordial. The machinery seems beside the point, and wwhat's going on before me has been going on for thousands of years- the meat, the hook, the knife, the men straining to cut mre meat"(170). Al this in grave detail must be traumatizing. I mean how can someone really do that to a living breathing creature?? This is the starting process of meatery. And i certainly don't want to have any part of it!As janel said every fast food joint is connected to the slaughter house somehow. Without the slaughter house or even meat eaters, there woud be no fast food places. At least not as many as there are now!
SO SO SORRY ITS LATE!!!! I feel very strongly about how the company is using immigrants to work the worst jobs!!!! the take advantage of the workers because their not citizens. "They earn hourly wages that are 1/3 Lower than those of regular prodution empolyees."page176. This people work hard! it doesnt matt if ur a citizen or not. If ur working for a company they should pay u fairly. "Meatpacking is now hte most dangerous job in the united states. The injury rate in a typical american factory...Thousands of additional injuries and illnesses most likely go unrecorded"page172. I think that this statics tell us a lot about how the workers are being treated wrongly that the company is not taking this into account!! It makes me sick to think about how desperate this people have to be to come in every day and work so hard to earn 1/3. the anecdotes schlosser uses to tell the stories of these people get to me. it makes me sad. I think he is trying to make us think in a deeper level. That food doesnt just appear in ur refrigerators but some place that can make your skin craw
One of the statistics that I found most effective in
Schlosser writing was "The injury rate in a slaughterhouse is about three times higher than the rate in a typical american factory"(172).This statistic was the most effective for me because it really made me realize how dangerous the slaughterhouse really is and many people dont realize it.I think Schlosser is trying to convince people that working in a slaughterhouse is an extremely dangerous place to work in. People you sould really think twice before going to work in a place like that. This relates to fast food restaurants because this is where it all began. This is where it all started in the slaughterhouse where the meat is made, where people risk their lives to make that meat and its just not worth it.
One of the many anecdotes that Scholsser talks about in this chapter, and that i find interesting, was "The fab room is cooled to about 40 degrees, and as you head up the line, the feel of the place starts to change. The picesof meat get bigger. Workers- about half of them women, almost all of them young and Latino-slice meat with long slender knives....I notice that a few of the women near me are sweating, even though the place is freezing cold." This goes to show that the Latino race is the one doing the most part of the work in this slaughterhouse, and at a very young age. Schlosser is trying to convince us that no matter where you work(slaughterhouse,fast food restaurant,etc.), you can tell that the people that work there are actually putting effort into their job. One way that he states this, was by saying that you can tell theyre working hard, by how they sweat, no matter how hot or cold the temperature is.
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