This article, by E. Schlosser, sketches in our minds an idea of what exactly occurs in the high plains where cattle are kept and raised and in the slaughterhouses where they are killed for their meat, packaged, and shipped away. he begins his article with a quite thorough overview of the history of the meat packing industry and its development since the early to mid 1900's. he establishes that the competition was high and the business was very cutthroat, which took its toll on union members and eventually consumers. He recalls interviews with several employees at a slaughterhouse, describing the low pay and poor conditions that they suffer everyday. He then twists the focus slightly and goes into intense detail on the actual slaughterhouses themselves. He gives accounts from his time spent visiting a slaughterhouse and mentions the heinous conditions that he encounters (pools of blood ankles deep, the dangerous machinery, and the disgusting nature of the killing of cattle). He finishes the article by addressing issues with the cleanliness of the meat that is being packaged.
After reading this article i was left with one question that really stood out to me... Schlosser is addressing all of these issues about meatpacking and slaughterhouses in general, but which one seems to be most important to him? or even the general public? It seems like he is trying to attack too much at once with this article (could you even say he has a little too much on his plate?) And if there is one that is more important, is it possible to go about finding a solution for that specific issue without addressing all of the issues mentioned in the article?
I think Schlosser is trying to express that the entire system of beef production is flawed, not just one aspect of it. If he were to solely focus on one issue in the meatpacking industry it would not be as effective or as compelling an argument. Because he moves through the factory along the packing lines, we are able to see that each part leads to a problem in another area.
ReplyDeleteok. so then you are saying that all the problems (poor working conditions, inhumanity of the slaughterhouses, and the uncleaniness of the meat) can all be solved at once? i find that difficult to imagine. I respectfully disagree with your statement that each problem leads to the next problem as if they are somehow connected. Although they are all related in that they involve the meatpacking industry, i believe that the issues are quite seperate from each other.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think that all these factory-related issues are linked together, I do not believe that they can all be solved at once. I sincerely doubt that any one solution would be able to fix this faulty industry.
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