Meat Eaters as Hypocrites

That according to Wes Jamison, a University of Florida public relations researcher speaking at Michigan Farm Bureau’s (MFB) 88th Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids MI.

"Most consumers are profound hypocrites. They want to have their meat and take it to the vet, too," he says.

The danger for agriculture lurks in how these people who’d prefer to view farm animals as Disney cartoon characters but don’t intend to give up eating meat or drinking milk deal with this paradox, says Jamison.

He says that consumers "buy off their guilt" by supporting initiatives that seem harmless to them and that they don’t see as putting an end to meat and dairy production completely. These may include animal rights-led initiatives to ban the use of gestation crates for sows or efforts to limit how soon a calf can be weaned from a cow.