I’m sure you’ve seen the news that a few days ago, a plane from India crashed on its way to London, killing over 200 people. This is another tragedy in a string of air travel-related disasters over the past few years.
Why planes don’t crash very often
Air travel is often cited as the safest mode of transportation. It gets this reputation not because it’s risk-free, but because there’s an obsessive commitment to minimising risk.
Every link in the chain, from check-in to landing, is governed by surveillance, training, and accountability. The reason is simple: when things go wrong at 30,000 feet, people die.
And as if that wasn’t already enough, when people die in a plane crash, the world notices. Headlines, inquiries, lawsuits, a collapse of reputation.
Airlines, regulators, and engineers all want the same thing; an uneventful flight. They are incentivised to treat human life as an absolute priority.
But despite this intense focus, accidents still happen. Human error, mechanical faults, system failures. Nothing is ever flawless, but the system is designed to make failure as unlikely as possible.
Now Imagine the opposite
Now imagine a mirror world. In this world, the air travel industry is stripped of everything that makes it safe.
No advanced training. No simulators. No accountability. No transparency. Mistakes aren't tracked. Crashes, if they happen, are hidden.
The employees are often at the margins of society, given little support, training, or oversight.
Some may be dealing with trauma, addiction, or cognitive challenges. Not because they’re bad people, but because the system doesn’t really care about them. It just wants the job done.
Would we expect more or less crashes in this mirror world? Obviously, more.
We’d call this system criminally negligent, a betrayal of public trust, a systemic disregard for life.
This is the meat industry
When I speak up for animals and encourage people to switch to animal-free food, I’m often told animals are killed humanely. The meat industry itself promises it kills animals humanely.
For the sake of argument, let’s say I agree.
Well actually, I don’t need to agree just for the sake of argument. Of course shooting, gassing and electrically shocking animals before hacking their heads off is humane. That’s why I’m taking my dog to the slaughterhouse when it’s her time, and of course, grandma.
Let’s assume it’s humane
Being sincere now, let’s take the claim seriously. Let’s say that when a slaughterhouse operates as it should, by the book, it is humane.
The gas fills the gas chamber, entering the pigs lungs as they scream and thrash in pain and panic, before they’re eventually either dead or unconscious from asphyxiation. A worker then slits their throats.
The captive bolt gun knocks a cow unconscious. They are then hung upside down, and a worker slits their throat.
A chicken enters the electrical stunning bath and is shocked unconscious, before they reach the automated throat slitting machine.
I struggle to understand how someone could do this to an animal for a product they don’t need, but want, and call it humane.
Doing these horrible things to an animal for the sake of taste, enjoyment or convenience can never be labelled “humane” in my book.
What about when things go wrong?
Assuming that we accept this as humane, we have an important question to ask: does the slaughterhouse always operate correctly?
How many of these stunning methods fail, leaving an animal conscious and in pain, only to have someone hack their throat open, adding to their immense suffering?
How many cows are shot in the head multiple times when the bolt gun doesn’t knock them unconscious on the first attempt?
How many chickens lift their heads and avoid the electrical stunning bath, only to have their throat slit fully conscious?
How many chickens dodge both the bath and the throat slitting machine, going on to the next stage: a scolding hot water tank, fully conscious?
Well, you wouldn’t know. These places won’t release their CCTV footage, and they aren’t transparent about mistakes.
There is only one way you can find out. You can watch one of the many undercover exposés thanks to brave investigators who risked everything to get inside and expose the truth of these places.
The film Dominion, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, is a good place to start.
Who’s doing this work?
Slaughterhouses tend to employ desperate workers, including many migrants with little to no job prospects. People who are uneducated or struggle to find other work.
Slaughterhouse workers are known to suffer from PTSD, anxiety and exhibit violent anti-social behaviour due to the nature of the work. There are many examples of slaughterhouse workers mutilating and even killing humans.
Animals, in their limited understanding of the world in comparison to us, are like children. These workers are hired to kill the most innocent, defenceless beings on earth. It’s no surprise it leaves them with psychological issues.
And it gets worse, they do this work with practically no consequences for any mistake that would lead to tremendous animal suffering.
Meat is meat, whether the animal was killed “properly” or not. The product hits the shelves regardless of how painful or torturous the slaughter was.
So what should we expect?
Do you expect more or less accidents to take place in this very real life situation?
If mistakes happen in air travel, one of the most secure, regulated, authoritative industries in the world where accidents come with huge consequences, you can be damn sure they’re happening at an alarming rate in the least secure, least regulated and least governed industry in the world, where accidents come with little to no consequences.
A hard truth
Animal slaughter is bad enough when it’s all done correctly, can you imagine the pain and suffering an animal goes through when it isn’t?
An animal who is shown little mercy in their final moments. An animal who is killed and hacked into pieces by someone suffering from psychological trauma. In a place with no incentive to care about animals, but all the incentive to work as quickly as possible.
Even if someone disagrees with vegans. Even if they believe that slaughterhouses operate humanely. They have to face the reality that the meat they buy at the store likely came from an animal who was tortured to death.
They don’t have to agree with vegans. But they can’t pretend this isn’t happening.
This was such a well written, heavy hitting piece of writing. Thank you for your insights.