The animal farmers and their customers

428:
If we were strangers to the ways of this world we’d see a farmer as an unkind gaoler who tortured animals for a living. There’s no kinder way we could possibly see them, unless we also saw the equally cruel people who urged the farmer on so that they (the customer) could benefit.
We are not strangers to the ways of farmers, in fact every child on the planet will be made aware of the role these people play in ‘bringing food to our table’, an obviously useful and essential service to the community – thus, the child thinks well of the animal farmer and probably will carry that opinion on for the rest of his or her life ... and therefore never think ill of themselves for using what the farmer provides them with in the way of ‘animal food’.
This is their ‘living’, the business which animal farmers engage in, at the expense of their animals. The animals are their property. They own them and are free to use them to make a wage for themselves, especially in country regions where there are few other employment opportunities. If living off the land is difficult it’s even more so on marginal land where crops won’t grow profitably enough, where the farming of animals is the only way to make ‘a living’. It seems that human survival will always be more important than considering the welfare of animals, even though we know what we put them through is hateful, even though what we do to them eventually impacts badly on human health.