Kids Are Working in America’s Meatpacking Plants
Kids Are Working in America’s Meatpacking Plants
Migrant children are being employed at chicken plants.
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Meat is a choice and it's a bad one.
how can you look at this and not see child labor as the obvious problem?
no one should be forced to work in these conditions
The same is true of migrant workers picking vegetables in increasingly inhospitable tempertures but you draw your line wherever you like.
the first step would be to shut down animal agriculture, as a huge part of plant farming and it's inherent exploitation is in growing food to feed to the animals before they get to the slaughterhouse; we grow more than enough food to feed the planet as it is, but we waste so much of it trying to sustain animal ag, which is a failing enterprise and a massive driver of climate change
is anyone being "forced"? i agree, nobody should be forced, especially not children.
Classist as fuck. These people are poor as shit. They are most certainly not white kids from the suburbs doing it.
As someone who has been to these places, yeah, it is usually a bunch of migrant workers or children of migrant workers who already work there. I don't think I have ever seen a white kid, much less adult, fulfilling those roles. They really do give the worst jobs to the people nobody gives a shit about. So yeah, these people are definitely poor as shit.
so, you're assuming that because of their race and economic status (which you are also assuming, btw), that makes them forced labor. how is that not classist?
If you have a problem with basic socio-economic analysis, I suggest you go back to school. It is a fact that racialized people are more likely to be in lower socio-economic classes than their non-racialized counterparts, and therefore have to """choose""" more grueling and exploitative labor to survive.
Some of the worst work out there involves exploiting and killing sentient beings and it tends to leave any person, adult or child, with permanent trauma as a result.
When I have a problem with is people hijacking an post about child labor in order to soap box about eating meat. I made that pretty clear.
If you have a problem reading, then I suggest you go back to school.
Actually, you seem to have a problem pivoting from calling people classist to, when called out for being wrong about that fact,
complaining about people being on a "soap box"defending animal exploitation.The underlying problem here is exploitation. The animal ag industry is known to be one of the most exploitative industries, and it is no surprise that they have a more significant problem with child exploitation, given what they are willing to do to animals. Child labor exploitation and animal exploitation are inextricably linked. My proposal would be to address both problems, instead of whatever band-aid solutions your cognitive dissonance may lead you to.
Actually, you seem to have a problem pivoting from calling people classist to, when called out for being wrong about that fact, complaining about people being on a “soap box” defending animal exploitation.
Akchually, i didn't call anyone classist, nor did i defend "animal exploitation". if you have to lie outright in order to make your point, it can't be much of a point.
The underlying problem here is exploitation.
as i said from the start, i oppose child labor (in fact, any forced labor)-- and i find it pretty disgusting that some here are so blinded by their hatred of meat that they would overlook it in order to push their own agenda. and since you, too, would conflate the two - as if veganism would somehow magically eliminate child labor/exploitation - and are attacking me for pointing that out is preposterous.
this isn't cognitive dissonance-- it's me calling out your straw man argument for the fallacious and specious argument that it is.
This you?
so, you’re assuming that because of their race and economic status (which you are also assuming, btw), that makes them forced labor. how is that not classist?
You must have very short-term memory. Sorry if that's the case. I'm sure it was a totally genuine, good-faith question.
as i said from the start, i oppose child labor (in fact, any forced labor)-- and i find it pretty disgusting that some here are so blinded by their hatred of meat that they would overlook it in order to push their own agenda. and since you, too, would conflate the two - as if veganism would somehow magically eliminate child labor/exploitation - and are attacking me for pointing that out is preposterous.
If you opposed child labor, you should want the animal ag industry abolished. Veganism has not once been brought up by me. However, since you invoked it: yeah, actually, taking a holistic approach to addressing exploitation, including animal exploitation, would, in fact, lead to a reduction in child exploitation. The underlying thinking that enables one to think of other sentient beings as resources to be exploited, for their labor, for their bodies, their lactations, etc., is all the same. The fact is that if you banned animal ag, you would significantly reduce total child labor violations.
Any yeah, whinging about people correctly pointing out the reality that animal exploitation begets more child exploitation is an implicit defense of animal exploitation. Sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But seeing your other comments about how people in lower socio-economic strata choose some of the most grueling and exploitative labor conditions because they can just quit lul makes it pretty apparent that you aren't really equipped to have any discussion about addressing exploitation in any form.
Please read this and educate yourself: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173697113/immigrant-child-labor-crisis
lots of people are being forced, often immigrants and refugees. would you like to slash throats all day in the dismemberment factory?
you're assuming a lot here about the workers in that plant
wow, you haven't looked into this, like, at all
and you have? what, with all the evidence you have to back up your claim?
Meat packing, farming & agriculture in North America is run entirely off the backs of immigrants, poor people and people of colour. People don’t choose these jobs, they take them out of necessity. This is just a fact, and a weird hill to die on.
If you want to rebut the argument that this is unique to meat, look no further than fruit picking in the US. It’s less risk of maiming and disgusting, but still dangerous and exploitative.
from the start, i said the problem was child labor. the weird hill to die on is ignoring that to whine about people eating meat. then, ignore what i said about being against child labor to try a "gotcha". and then pretend to care only after being called out for being disingenuous.
literally the first article that came up searching for slaughterhouses https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/11/489468205/working-the-chain-slaughterhouse-workers-face-lifelong-injuries
The workers, most often immigrants and resettled refugees, slaughter and process hundreds of animals an hour, forced to work at high speeds in cold conditions, doing thousands of the same repetitions over and over, with few breaks.
not that I expect evidence to change your mind
ok, so you and the author of this article clearly have a problem understanding the word "forced"-- if they can choose to quit, they're not being "forced". yes, the job is terrible, and conditions should be improved, but it's clear that you care more about people processing/eating meat that these people's working conditions. and that's why this isn't the "gotcha" you think it is.
Geeze. You literally just refuse to acknowledge sources when they're handed to you. That is just sad.
And if you think that anyone chose to be in some of the worst working conditions known to man just because they can choose between quitting and starving to death, then I'd say that's downright ghoulish.
I never said I didn't see child labor as a problem as well, but the industry shouldn't exist in the first place.
We're all going to die unless people stop eating meat.
Make better choices and the problem goes away all on its own. Like removing streets to clear up traffic.
I never said I didn’t see child labor as a problem as well, but the industry shouldn’t exist in the first place.
you're conflating two issues here to soapbox about meat with a strawman argument-- and you still haven't said you disapprove of child labor. child labor won't magically disappear if people stop eating meat.
I don't think it's mere coincidence that an industry devoid of compassion for animals is also devoid of compassion for humans. The issues are certainly distinct, but not entirely unrelated.
It foolish to see things as so black and white when the reality is a bombastic rainbow.
Like… I see where you’re coming from, and I understand why you think that… but it’s just not that simple.
Tyson Foods, the company mentioned in the article, also has plant-based brands under its wing.
So no, it won't make a difference in this case.