What solution do you propose?
Can you cite some of this progress?
What I have personally seen is an increased awareness of all the issues you mentioned and a response. It may not be the response you want but I have seen great improvements in the way animals are treated, the use of drugs and pollution issues. These are things I've seen, not just read about or "googled". Admittedly, my sphere of activity does not include all facets of the industry, nor the entire country, but I have spoke with many farmers and middlemen and they are aware of the issues and make visible efforts to correct problems. This has been done to death in other threads, but.....anyway, the agri industry in the US outgrew itself when our population took off and freezing meat became possible. We grew way too fast and unregulated, many mistakes and outright deplorable conditions resulted from the strictly profit driven market. Most of those old grainy atrocious PETA films are from the '70s when things were terrible attest to that fact. As more conscious people have been placed in lower management of these businesses things have slowly improved. You and I are obviously not looking in the same places because I see improvements occurring. Do bad things still happen? sure. Do waste lagoons still break or leak? sure. But what you are not reporting (because it doesn't support your agenda) is how many lagoons don't leak or break, how many healthy animals there are, how many farms like mine their are who don't pump water and use non tillable land as pasture....ect.... The ratio of good to bad is never mentioned, only the things that support the anti-meat campaign, of course this is natural to only present evidence for one side of a case...jus don't pretend their isn't another side. It just doesn't make the news because it's not newsworthy.
There are happy healthy vegan athletes, weight-lifters, scientists, and average people.
Seems like the only limiting factor is whether a person believes they can do it or not. I think that is a beautiful statement...it could equally be prefaced with, "There is a way to solve this so the people who want to eat meat can and those of us who don't , won't."
If you can provide me with an explanation on why everyone can't thrive on a veggie diet, I am all ears. I have been unable to find proof of this, other than a few unscientific personal anecdotes. Logically it does not make sense. I don't know of any other species of animals that needs such extremely specialized diets for every individual animal.
I don't want to eat a vegetarian diet. Next everyone will be saying "step away from the veggies, a little sun-gazing is all you need" Seriously, I didn't even look it up because I know, statistically, it is very improbable that 'everyone' would thrive on a V diet.
Some people love the taste of meat and are also polarized, so they're blind to all the baggage that comes along with a meat diet.
That is true, but as awareness increases people are getting the message that moderation is important.
I don't have a problem with killing animals that need to be killed. I work at an animal shelter, and I'm the badguy there who has to order the euthanasias. But what we're taking about isn't killing an animal. It's about cramming 10,000 birds in a dark shed to inhale their own ammonia, keep them alive enough with antibiotics long enough to make it to slaughter, butcher these weak/sick animals & give the meat to people to eat, and spread all the rest of the waste out in the open environment. Keep in mind you are what you eat. Can eating sick animals really give you health?
It's in the farmers interest to keep animals healthy and generally they do. Tell me where you have personally seen 10,000 birds in a "shed" . We did actually raise 100's of thousands of laying hens when I was young but I don't really remember much about it as I was tiny. I do know that my cattle are healthier than a lot of peoples children are, probably given more attention too. They bring more money when they are clean and healthy, all the way to the last stage of the game. The sick and diseased animals exist, just like they do in our population, but, they are in the minority, especially beef cattle.
To be fair, you're not offering a compromise either.
The left of what?
I don't see myself as an extremist. The extremists are those who want to ban pet ownership, have all domesticated animals go extinct, and isolate us from all contact with animals. I see myself as someone who just woke up one day and asked myself why we do all this if none of it is necessary? It's such a waste.
I see your position as extreme mainly because you desire to impose your will on others by eliminating choice. I think you do not have an accurate view of the overall state of things either. The fact that you work in a shelter puts you into close, constant contact with the sort of things that would naturally turn you that way. I worked in a hospital for 17 years and then just quit, my view of things changed dramatically when I realized half the world was not sick, just 90% of the people I interacted with were.
I think you're being unfair. I was raised to eat meat, and I'm flooded with messages each day perpetuating the meat culture. I get to hear how great meat is from everyone I meet, from TV, from outdated health books, Dairy Board happy cow ads, you name it.
I see the others' point all too well. I see as their manure runs off and closes beaches I personally visit in the summer. I see their point when fishkills and deadzones empty large areas of my Chesapeake Bay of life. Excessive fertilizer use. A serious source of methane. Groundwater & ponds contaminated with antibiotics & farm run-off. E Coli on veggies or in drinking water. These are real-world facts. I live in farm country, and I see it every day. I'm happy to point people to the news stories and studies, but if you're in denial that it's 'no big deal', then there's no point.
I guess you're not trying to be funny when you basically say "There is no other side to this, no good thing exist in the farming industry, it is all bad." By making your point you actually proved mine.