Meats?

It all started yesterday when a friend of mine told me about a cat she had found dead in her yard. It appeared to have been beaten to death by someone in the neighborhood. She was crushed, and we both had the same question, "How could someone be so cruel to an animal like that?"

The question that has been stuck in my head though, is why cruelty caused to give me meat is anything different than that. There is a disconnect in America where the people who make the food aren't those who eat the food. The food makers are merchants, their meat the product. Profits come from efficiency. Efficiency does not leave room for any quality of life for the animals involved. Ever really consider the word "Livestock"? What makes food animals less worthy of life than a cat or a dog or anything else we recoil at the thought of eating because it's too cute?

I think I am gonna stop there. This is about the point in the discussions I've had where someone gets defensive. I am not trying to evangelize anything... I just want to reconcile something that's bothering me.

Amber