Animal rights group sues Kansas State Fair over slaughter video

[trailmonkee]

Source: Rueters

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Reuters) - A national animal rights group filed a federal lawsuit on Monday to keep the Kansas State Fair from putting limits on the showing of a video depicting livestock slaughter.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals want the video, narrated by Paul McCartney, to be shown at its fair booth next month in Hutchinson, Kansas. But PETA said fair officials stated in an e-mail that the video must not be visible to the public passing by.

The lawsuit, filed for PETA by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, said restrictions on the video amount to a violation of free speech.

PETA is asking a judge to order the state fair to allow the video to be shown and to declare the fair a "public forum" where free speech is protected.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-animalrights-kansas-slaughter-videobre87q196-20120827,0,1432241.story

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If I have to constantly look at those awful graphic abortion signs on street corners, I have no problem with people at the state fair seeing this

[flvegan]

1. PETA? This might be fun.

"Might" is very subjective depending upon who shows up.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Agree because of your last sentence.

If they ban this video, they need to ban those horrible fetus trucks also.

[freshwest]

3. I wasn't aware the faux lifers were still using shock pictures anymore. Lucky me.

[McGee from Muskogee]

4. Animal rights is no longer a liberal issue

Liberals have officially stated "fuck wildlife" and that's been their stance for awhile now

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Back that up, and while you're at it...

what does that have to do with slaughterhouses?

[Odin2005]

9. He's an abusive troll, ignore him.

[TreasonousBastard]

23. And a dead one, too.

[life long demo]

8. I have to disagree with you

Human rights, animal rights, civil rights, environmental rights, etc. all gather under the liberal umbrella. There's an ebb and flow over time, but it's always there.

[Major Hogwash]

13. Did the pizza taste good?

Oh, sole mio!

[freshwest]

20. And was it vegan pizza? So long, 'boring summer rerun (zombie).'

[4th law of robotics]

6. Gee I wonder if it will be an accurate depiction

or will they take the worst footage smuggled out of some third world hellhole and portray that as the norm.

Not really. I know exactly what they'll do.

[LanternWaste]

7. I imagine it will depict a normal day at a normal slaughterhouse

I imagine it will depict a normal day at a normal slaughterhouse-- which may indeed be easily interpreted as "footage smuggled out of some third world hellhole" if one compares six of one and half a dozen of the other.

[4th law of robotics]

11. Not at all

in a modern and properly run slaughter house there is no abuse. The animals are quickly stunned and then efficiently taken apart.

The pictures they usually show are people (often in China) beating animals or ripping their skin off when they are still alive. Things like that.

Things that have no place in an actual slaughterhouse.

[LanternWaste]

15. Not all... many. Enough to be justified as a norm

And yet there are a number of slaughterhouse in the US which are not properly run. The videos I've seen were from Iowa and California-- much like the one that reopened in CA Monday after a video-- much like the ones you attribute to foreign third world countries surfaced sometime back illustrating the mistreatment (as they were dragged by one leg on a conveyor belt on their way to be slaughtered. "Things like that. &quot


"Things that have no place in an actual slaughterhouse..."
The irony in that statement is meshugah-- much like "there's no fighting in the war room!"

Again... simply comparing six of one and half a dozen of the other often denies the distinction without a difference.

[4th law of robotics]

19. You can always find an extreme case and present it as the norm

For instance: the average american will go in to a theater and shoot many many people. Don't believe me? I can present a story of an American doing exactly that and I will strongly insinuate that is what all Americans do.

"Things that have no place in an actual slaughterhouse..."
The irony in that statement is meshugah-- much like "there's no fighting in the war room!"

It's only ironic if you make the assumption that animal slaughter is necessarily animal torture for the enjoyment of slaughter house workers.

[flvegan]

21. Looks pretty accurate.

[4th law of robotics]

22. Yeah that's about what I expected

portray animals twitching after they're stunned as "alive".

Show the exceptions where stunning fails and present it as the norm.

Make entirely false claims that all animals are living in constant pain and disease state.

Are you aware that most meat animals if subject to stress prior to slaughter produce meat that is either useless or at best subpar (thus fetching a much lower price per pound)? If not then be aware the slaughterhouse operators are fully aware of this. They have no more reason to torture these animals prior to slaughter than a farmer has to pour salt on his fields. Not because they care about their suffering necessarily but because it affects their bottom line (surely you can agree these owners will work to maximize their own profits?).

It's been known for a century or more that pre-slaughter stress negatively impacts meat quality.

[flvegan]

24. Wild perception you have there.

"Make entirely false claims that all animals are living in constant pain and disease state." See that's where folks like you start to look silly. I don't thing the words "all animals" gets used. But perception is what it is. One person's suspected reality.

Fact is, these things happen often enough to be captured over and over in the few times folks can get in and film without being on the USDA payroll...or worse. If it happens often enough to have SO many examples from brief infiltrations, then there's a big problem that folks like to brush aside because it's inconvenient/they don't care. "Oh, it's only those few times. For reals." Yeah, we got lucky enough to catch every single one on video. Hell, we need to start playing the Powerball with those odds.

Yeah, big ag really gives a shit about meat quality. Enough suckers to overflavor it with something else...who'd notice "quality" these days.

I've visited feed lots, and have nightmares about the battery hen establishments I've been to. Purely flukes, I'm sure. Random person on the internets said so.

[Odin2005]

10. I think this is going to backlash against PETA.

[4th law of robotics]

12. That seems to be the standard operating procedure of PETA these days

Do something idiotic to get in the news and make people who weren't already members hate you. I'm not sure where they intend to go with this.

Because more and more they're coming across like the WBC nuts; just being provocative in the hopes that someone will retaliate.

[petronius]

17. Probably not, considering that more people in Kansas and beyond have probably

heard about and even watched the video than ever would have noticed it at the fair. I'm betting that the PETA strategy has worked exactly as planned.

It's an interesting suit; I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it. On the one hand, I think it's reasonable to request that potentially-shocking material be screened in some way, to make it opt-in (and it doesn't seem like the video is being barred entirely). On the other hand, a fair strikes me as public space where content-based restrictions on speech should be anathema. There are things that can be barred from public view (pornography, for example), but I'm not sure that depictions of the livestock industry - however gory or cherry-picked - automatically fall into that category, particularly at an agriculture-focused event.

So I tend to lean toward PETA here: it would be nice if they screened off the video, but I don't think they should be required to...

[Kali]

14. the kids in 4H should put together a factual video to conteract their bullshit -

easy enough. I can't imagine they are going to generate much in the way of sympathy or support at a Kansas State Fair. obvious extremism is obvious

[AngryAmish]

16. Is PETA also gonna showe some dog killing vids also?

PETA sure loves to kill dogs.

[flvegan]

25. When you post this sort of shit

you shame those of us making a difference.

Just saying, this sort of disingenuous bullshit really has no place.

But then, you knew that, but posted it anyway.

[patrice]

18. K&R