In the Meatrix, Leo a poor pig on a farm is contacted by Moopheous. Moopheous offers him a choice between the red pill to see the truth or a blue pill to stay the way he is. Leo chooses the red pill and finds himself in a pig caging area. Moopheous describes the harsh living conditions that the pigs are livings in. He describes the overcrowding to have more pigs and that the pigs are fed antibiotics to avoid being sick from these overcrowded area. Moopheous also tell Leo about the massive pollution being produced by these factory farms. Leo then asks Moopheous how they are going to stop this. To which Moopheous replies “We are going to spread the word. But it’s up to you, the consumer who has the real power.”
In The Meatrix: Revolting Moopheous, Chikity, and Leo visit a factory farm where Leo is able to learn more about the harsh living conditions on the factory farm. At first, Leo thinks the farm looks great with a beautiful farmer girl milking a cow joyfully. Then Moopheous gives Leo glasses and tells him to “look through the eyes of the Meatrix.” Leo then sees the reality of the factory farms and see that the beautiful smiling farmer girl really was a machine pumping the milk out of these poor cows. While on the so called farm Leo also learns about the cows difficult living conditions. They are very similar to the pigs, however, the cows still get sick despite their daily antibiotic. The cow’s tails are also cut off. The calfs are fed waste of dead cows and this is how mad cow disease is unknowingly spread. The agents of Agri-Corp are introduced and are trying to inject Chikity, Leo, and Moopheous with rGBH a growth hormone. Leo fights them off. Despite his best efforts Moopheous is captured. He yells for Leo to “Forget about me. Stop the farming factories.”
In The Meatrix 2 ½ Chikity and Leo try to save Moopheous who has been captured by the Agri-Copr agents and has been taken to a Happy Farms factory that packages the (cow) meat. Moopheous is tied up as the agent tells him that more that the factory can process 5,000 cows in a single day just to feed out “fast food nation”.
Moopheous is exposed to the dangerous and unsanitary factory working conditions and even watches a man loose a finger as due to unnecessary speed just to make a bigger profit. When Chickity and Leo get inside the agent speeds up the line to max capacity and drop Moopheous out of the trap door and onto a line to be chopped up. Fortunately, Chikity is able to slow down the line and Moopheous is able to free himself just in time. The 3 heroes are able to get away!
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Since 1946 Industrial farms have been mixing antibiotics into their their livestock feeds. This was done as a preventative for the sickness the animal developed. According to sustainabletable.org a study was done that revealed that animals that were fed antibiotics on a routine basis, “cause animals to grow faster and put on weight more efficiently, increasing meat producers' profits.” Animals on industrial farms are getting sicker and the bacteria is able to spread faster due to the harsh living conditions and over crowding. Feeding animals on industrial farms antibiotics wrong because it is selfish and cruel.
It is a selfish descision to give animals antiobiotics because of the potential negative effects it can have on the consumer and most importantly the animal. Industrial farms were built to be money making “animal factories”. The big companies make these farms so that they can profit, and they don’t care who or what gets hurt in the process. The living conditions for these animals are very harsh. Complaints range from, not having enough room to turn around to (most importantly) lack of sanitation. Due to the lack of care, bactiral infections spread very quickly.
Unknowingly, the farmers kill the animal, and the sick animal then spreads that same disease to the consumer. Most CEOs and company excutives are aware of these issues however they just consider them “casualties of war”. The consumer then devlopes an antibiotic resistance and are then much more prone to bacterial infection.
Besides the unfair treatment animals get on industrial farms, feeding them antibiotics are cruel. They are being neglected and not givien the approrite treatment and therefore they require them. According to “The issues: Antibiotics”, “one out of six cases of campylobacter infection, (the most common case of bacterial food posioning), is resistant to the antibiotic most often uses to treat severe food poisoning.” The animals also begin to develop antibiotic resitance therefore causing death.
There is however, a soulution. As the reading says puchasing eggs, meat, and milk from sustainable farms, we not only protect ourselves from the antibiotic frenzy but we give the big industrial farmer a big “middle finger.” Once they feel that wrath of loosing their consumer, they will be left with nothing but to reevalute their stomping grounds. They will be forced to shut down leaving the smaller yet much better quality sustainable farmer to be the ones to buy from. We are the ones that hold the power. Its up to us to advocate on our own behalf. We start right now!
