Ag-Gag Laws

For awhile now I’ve been thinking about a particular counterintuitive law, but I haven’t completed my post on it yet. This is a work in progress. Perhaps you’ve heard of ag-gag laws, legislation designed to criminalize journalists who publicize the inhumane treatment of animals on commercial farms and in slaughterhouses. The counterintuitive aspect of the story is that animal respect activists were opposed to two particular laws (New Hampshire’s HB110, and Nebraska’s LB204) that would make it a crime not to report animal cruelty shortly after witnessing it.

You’ll never guess the grounds on which they objected to that law, but I’ll give you a chance to try. Here’s an article that will help you figure it out.

If you’re looking for help on rebuttals, refutations, and counterintuitivity, this fascinating proposal argument is rich with claims you can try your best to refute.

If you’re not squeamish, you might be able to watch this video shot by clandestine animal rights advocates to demonstrate cruelty inside meat processing plants. I warn you, it is hard to watch no matter how strong your stomach is.

I’ll most likely update this page before we meet again next week. Be thinking about animals, how we treat them, and to what extent we need to be honest about how we produce our food.