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The Physiology of Foie: Why Foie Gras is Not Unethical
@Sudenveri Your school analogy assumes that the foie gras industry and schools are equivalent. As if the consequences of closing a school with high failing rates and shutting down an abusive foie gras factory are somehow equal. The logic behind:
Foie gras production should be judged not by the worst farms, but by the best, because those are the ones that I'm going to choose to buy my foie from if at all.
is just risible. I understand the hope is that if we support one company's practices, the rest in the industry will follow and step up their game. Free market principles, etc. However, we can now make a much better comparison of the foie gras producers to regular old meat producers. For every cage-free, no antibiotics, generally humane producer, we have ten companies getting these animals in and out of the abattoir as fast as they can. Why is this an apt comparison? Raising farm animals for their products and then eventual slaughter wasn't structured this way initially and even up until the turn of the 1900 century. This streamlining of animal processing, by innovation as well as some corner-cutting, is only a recent phenomenon.
Now this is where my own analogy fails. The demand for foie gras will probably remain low for a long while. It's a luxury good subject to typical economic forces. I would only be speaking in hypotheticals, trying to predict the destined path of the foie gras industry if it were to grow. Externalities can certainly sway demand, so if a company abuses animals and word gets out, it can ultimately put that company out of business. But, I still think price has the final word on whether people would buy these goods. On second thought, maybe price isn't that important to the target consumers of foie gras. Anyway, people would love to buy organic, cage-free eggs every time they hit up Whole Foods but the average shopper would opt for regular blood eggs.
McDonald's Big Mac, The AHT Review
Burger enthusiast here. But, I fell hard for this joke review. I initially found the imagery a bit droll ("Byzantine basilica," "tasty mess") but brushed it aside, thinking Nick was some novelist manqué. Agreed with everything though. If it weren't for the reveal at the end, I would have gone on thinking that even AHT loves McDonald's burgers. After being fooled, feel kind of sad that this glowing review was fake. Going to rethink my direction in life and question my burger sensibilities now.
I love Big Macs.
The Original McDonald's in San Bernardino, California
Shoot. Does anyone know/remember what that Officer Big Mac playground toy did? It's in the first picture, left of center with the metal bars wrapping around it. I swore there was one in my local McDonald's but I don't think I even knew what it did when I was a child. Is it just to climb?
On topic, this shows you how far McDonald's has deviated from its original burger spot roots. At least they're not as detestable as they once were.
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Hi, @Me_So_Hungry. I was responding to Sudenveri (here, and especially here) who was talking about shutting down the bad schools. Sudenveri's argument, not mine. Unless there was some sort of law mandating ethical treatment of animals for slaughter, I don't think the other companies would willingly follow in La Belle's footsteps. The expenses associated with upgrading their facilities or the potential slowdown in output is something they would consider before a duck's well-being.