Which is a disappointment, because I wanted to express my disagreement with the way this whole thread has been structured.
The title would lead one to believe that the thread is an intelligent inquiry about whether eating meat is ethically appropriate, but instead the original poster did nothing but talk about the grotesquenesses of the actual slaughtering of chickens.
So, to that effect, I'm going to give my input on both subjects: eating meat and commercially slaughtered animals.
Eating Meat:
It's natural. Whether humans were originally herbivores, or whether we evolved into an omnivorous state over time from eating meat is completely irrelevant. The fact that carnivores exist in nature means that eating the meat of another animal is a natural thing. And something done to sustain life. At the same time, back to the possibility that humans have only evolved into omnivores, no matter how we came about to be a meat eating animal, we -are- a meat eating animal. Making it natural for us to do the same.
I'm sure we aren't the only creature on the planet whose diet has changed over the course of evolution.
DISCLAIMER: The majority of my statements in the above paragraph are only to entertain the Original Poster's (I think it was his) theory that humans may have evolved into Omnivores.
Slaughtering Animals:
This opinion is much more short and concise. This is how I see it. Whether I agree with the methods used for mass slaughtering animals, it happens. And will continue to happen until society completely weeds out these people. Which will likely happen eventually. People feeling sick about how their food is killed have already caused the emergence of chickens and other animals are being raised free range and out in fields instead of in small cages. Eventually, I imagine all meat will come from naturally raised animals, as society will have put enough pressure on the suppliers to treat the animals in a humane way ("Humane Way" made me crack up a little bit.)
That's assuming that the government doesn't cut in somewhere and pass a law against raising animals in small, dark cages to be slaughtered.
But as it is, no matter how heartless my opinion may seem, I just don't get that heartsick over thinking about how my food was prepared.
Free range, naturally raised or pumped full of chemicals, hung upside down and plucked alive with a slit throat doesn't really matter to me.
It's food.
The animal has already died by the time it gets into my house. Or even by the time it gets into the store. And if I refuse to eat it at that point, it might just go to waste. Then that chicken died 100% in vain.
Surely none of you will actually take my last comment as a serious argument. I'll be thoroughly displeased with anyone who does.
