I find Ag-Gag laws absolutely ridiculous. There are many ag-gag laws in effect already but the most recent laws are making it illegal to videotape animal abuse in facilities that raise livestock for meat. Ag-Gag laws are just another way for big business to avoid the law, or change the law for their own benefit. They can now keep on abusing animals without being videotaped. If you do witness animal abuse and videotape it, you could face jail time with newly proposed Ag-Gag bills. This to me seems more illegal (the abuse) than videotaping it without their acknowledgment. Also what happened to free speech? Especially when it is true and not just libel? Why can’t we talk bad about a company when they are doing harm?
It just proves that money trumps all and the truth can be buried when money is involved. Changes in our food system are not going to happen if we cannot investigate the truth. Without documentation how can we prove that CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) are worse for animals than pasture raising? Or that chickens should not be kept in cages but instead should be allowed to roam in their own spacious coop.
These types of laws/cases are not new. Remember Oprah and the whole mad cow disease lawsuit? It would be awful if we all ate less beef (sarcasm font), well at least for the beef industry it would be. But it turns out Oprah didn’t make an impact with her statements, or so the jury thought.
I find certain parts of corporate America shameful and disgusting and this just exacerbates those feelings. I just hope that in the very near future we can live in a world where the truth is allowed and accepted; where it can change our food system and other systems that are struggling; where eventually we don’t give into big corporations and their agendas, but that would mean a change in our current capitalistic system.
