Violence: Hidden in Plain Sight
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Mickey Z
May 2014

What she didn’t get — what so few of us get — is how the tragic realities of the standard American diet are rendered invisible.

fish meat without feet

There I was, walking along 30th Ave. in Astoria, Queens. Just a few steps in front of me, two men and a little girl were strolling at a casual pace.

The men, in their late 20s, were deep in conversation but one was clearly keeping an eye on the girl. She was no more than five-years-old but had a precocious and confident air that you could detect in a single glance.

As we all passed one of the many Italian delis that dot the Astoria landscape, the young gal looked to her left and then turned to one of the men.

“Dad,” she said, giggling uncontrollably. “The sign on that store said ‘We carry frozen snails.’”

With comic timing that would make any Vaudevillian drool, he replied: “I bet their hands are cold.” (insert rimshot here) And dig this: his daughter got the pun. She was laughing her little head off the rest of the way down the block.

What she didn’t get — what so few of us get — is how the tragic realities of the standard American diet are rendered invisible.

As I continued my way down 30th Ave., I saw a butcher standing in front of his shop – chatting amiably with passersby — his white frock stained deep red with blood.

He was casually standing there — as he does every day — drenched in the blood of a murdered creature but essentially nobody chose to notice the crimson splatter. Those that did notice, well, they didn’t even flinch.

Behind the butcher, sheep carcasses hung from large hooks in the window… their bulging lifeless eyes seemed to stare accusingly at the butcher’s back. He didn’t appear to notice. Essentially nobody noticed and those that did, well, they didn’t even flinch.

The next block brought me in contact with a fish store. Wet cardboard boxes filled with marine corpses piled in front… the street reeking of death. Beyond the stench, essentially nobody noticed and those that did, well, they didn’t even flinch.

Looking into the fish store window, I saw a tiny aquarium tank. At least a dozen doomed lobsters were piled atop one another… their claws taped shut. Essentially nobody noticed and those that did, well, they didn’t even flinch.

What happens when someone points all this out, refuses to participate, and urges others to do the same? You can be damn sure plenty of folks will notice and, yeah… the flinching will begin in earnest.


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