Flashback – Chicken Protests

Back in 2015 I wondered if Americans ever stop to appreciate how well off we must be when some people have the time and energy to demand better living conditions for chickens. We have progressed from stressing about putting food on the table to stressing about whether that food had a happy life. Americans only 50 years ago would have been scratching their heads in disbelief.

A second point is that a minority can coerce, bully and guilt the majority into acquiescence either as a PR attempt to appear kind and caring or to just put a stop to the tantrums. This tactic has grown in popularity and success over the past five years. 

Here is the original message from five years ago.

[Recently I read about people protesting for the better treatment of chickens so they can have a more pleasant life before they are killed and served up at fast food restaurants.  Here is one version.

The emphasis was on fast food industry because they have more economic clout than individuals making choices at the grocery store. It also gives protesters the opportunity to force their values on everyone else. Concerning any issue, note how easily that a minority of fanatics can impose their will on a majority of relatively indifferent citizens. They care; you don’t; you lose.

What struck me about the chicken story was a point of perspective. Does anyone, or indeed the protesters themselves sit back and think about what a luxury it is to be concerned about the living conditions of chickens? These are not your property, chickens you rely on to provide a livelihood. They are not pets, favorite chickens that live in the backyard and provide you with eggs. These are stranger chickens, ones that you never interact with until their remains appear in the freezer section of the grocery store or in the nugget box.

How many problems have we been able to solve to move the welfare of stranger chickens to the top of a priority list, important enough to change our buying habits or even give up our time to try to influence others? We must have enough food, shelter from the elements, a happy and healthy family, a wide circle of friends, job security, enough money in the bank for future emergencies and be at peace with our faith or conscience. In short, a person has to be pretty set in life to have the luxury to be able to worry about the living conditions of stranger chickens! That is pretty wonderful!

Of course, even those who are so set up in their own lives might care about the living conditions of other human beings, the poor in the inner cities and overseas, and the neighbor who needs a hand or just a kind word, before chickens. But people are free to make choices. 

It is important, though, when we make those choices, to remember how lucky we are to have the freedom and luxury to make them.]