Lambs to the Slaughter

1552: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

Introduction to "Lambs to the Slaughter".  

I sent this blog to CJ for editing after we'd been talking about 'barbecues' and the new (sounds horrible) programme about to air on TV - 'Aussie Barbecue Heroes'.  CJ said something that struck me as very basic - but very powerful.  "HOW can people think animals are food?"  It seemed such an obvious thing to say, and yet I'd never thought about putting it in quite that way.  I think it explains in a nutshell the main message of Vegan/Animal Rights.

Lambs to the Slaughter

 Sheep meat is a popular item on the ubiquitous Australian BBQ and the meat of lambs seems to be the favourite.  Apparently, lots of people like lamb flesh because of its 'fuller flavour' and 'tenderness'.  Nobody considers this peculiar, nor even thinks about the cruel ritual of roasting a dead lamb on an open flame!  Everybody gets excited by the smell of it cooking.  And they enjoy eating it in spite of the fact that they would probably be incapable of taking a knife to a baby lamb's throat to end its life.  To you and I - surely - the very idea is disgusting!  

If lamb-killing were ever raised to any normal level of consciousness (let alone conscience) it surely wouldn't sit well with most people.  The example of a lamb being executed, then barbecued, for the pleasure of eating parts of its body, would certainly pit their conscience against pleasure, and denial against temptation.  So most people don't dare go there.  'Out of sight, out of mind', they think.  The habit forms in childhood with the act of eating baby sheep becoming habitual.  The 'crime' of it is forgotten so the experience of it can be enjoyed.  Lambs are cute, cuddly and playful.  Lambs symbolise innocence.  By way of their actions, therefore, humans must symbolise the very opposite.  They are not cute nor playful when it comes to the serious business of meat-eating.  Indeed, they are careless, vicious and cowardly. They employ 'other people' to take the young animal and slit its throat so that it can be butchered and made ready for their barbecues.  

Could there be an uglier outcome for this sweet creature’s life, than being taken from its mother, transported to the slaughterhouse and, once dead, its little body taken to the butcher's bandsaw to be cut up into pieces to be made ready for the roasting spit? There's a cartoon which sums things up: The sheep dog is holding up a placard in front of a flock of sheep being herded into a pen. It says: "DO NOT TRUST THE HUMANS! THEY WILL EAT YOUR BABIES". Two farmers are looking on. One says to the other, "That dog's worrying the sheep again". Humans are violent creatures.  We take what we can get and aren’t used to being denied what we want.  If it’s available, the human will give into temptation and show an incredible lack of self-discipline in order to get satisfaction - even if they know they're going to be eating a baby lamb!   Surely, no one who knows what the animal has been put through, could remain unaffected by such a terrible act of cruelty.