BBC Slaughterhouse programme

[realfood neil]

Just watched 10 minutes of the Slaughterhouse programme on BBC2. Couldn't stomach anymore of the morons who worked at the murder factory.
One of the good things about the programme was the morons who were being interviewed. They seemed to relish killing the animals. If anyone watching that programme still eats animal flesh after, then they are sick, no excuses for them anymore and no hope.
The graphic scenes of the men murdering the animals (and one of the murderers did admit it was murder) should have put people off, lets hope loads of people were eating a late meal, and their meal came back up.



Neil

[Cherry]

You beat me to it! I only managed about 90 seconds and then had to switch the computer on and log on here just to vent my horror!

Roar roar roar

I am SO glad I'm vegan, but it just doesn't seem to be enough......
WHY??? Why isn't everyone vegetarian???

You're so right - I don't know how people can see images like that and still eat meat.

[Kumem]

I can't watch it. Didn't realise it was on tonight, but can't bear to turn over; I'll have nightmares

[Cherry]

Wise, I think. I'm still trying to get the images out of my head before I go to bed.

However I do feel newly motivated to DO something. Not sure what.

I actually almost felt guilty for turning it off. I don't want to be in denial, it was just too horrible.

[Kumem]

I know what you mean about feeling like you should watch and do something.
I just fall into a wreck though when I see/hear about cruelty and don't want to spend all night crying.
I do admire people that watch these things. I won't watch Meet your Meat either for the same reasons.

[Nivvie]

Don't feel guilty, it's not like you aren't doing anything about it.

I think these programs are for meat eaters. We know the score and have taken action.
I had no intention of watching it as I'd like to sleep tonight.
Making myself miserable won't help the cause.

[Caitlin]

Wow, they showed something like that on TV? Was this in the US? I couldn't bear to watch it, I can't even watch Meet Your Meat. I know what you mean Cherry, being vegan doesn't feel like enough sometimes and it still astounds me why no one else is vegan after watching what animals go through in slaughterhouses!

[realfood neil]

I agree we have done something by becoming vegan. However we do need to do more. If you work go into work tomorrow bring up the subject with your work collegues. Stare at them if or when they start to eat their butties with dead animals squshed in them. Remind them about the programme and see how they react. Do it in a non aggressive manner, let's see them try and take the piss out of you being a vegan then.
Then this weekend go out leafletting. Ring up the Vegan Society and Viva for leaflets and put up a paste table. Let's see a paste table out in every town and city in the UK. People who watched the programme will flock to your stall and want more information.
Remind them that they can get information and a mentor about going vegan from the vegan buddies site.
Let's get out there and use the progamme as a launching pad to persuade more people to at least go veggie. Once people are veggie there is nothing to stop them going vegan.

[Cherry]

[QUOTE=Nivvie]Don't feel guilty, it's not like you aren't doing anything about it.

Yes, thanks, that's comforting. Perhaps I should be persuading more people though. I tend to try and play down the vegan thing so people don't think I'm weird!

No Caitlin, it was a BBC2 (British) thing. They don't show things like that too often. It wasn't just a normal slaughterhouse though it was a halal one. I won't go into details but it was gruesome.

[Cherry]

Hmm. (Simultaneous posts).

Yep. There's definitely more to be done. I'll have a go at being more direct with people for a start.

[Cherry]

Really????

Well, yes I guess twinkly music toned it down slightly, but the sight of all that blood spurting?!!!!!! I only watched that bit, but it really disturbed me.
And the cows looking so scared.

It is annoying that people often ignore things they know that they shouldn't. Perhaps your family were secretly paying attention and it has had some effect?? I hope so.

Good they are showing things like that, even if it's not good that it is happening. Maybe there'll be some new members on the vegan forum tomorrow morning.

[realfood neil]

A few years ago the Manchester Animal Protection group did a day light inspection of the animal murder plant with video cameras and note pads.
I was the driver - someone had to stay in the van for a quick getaway as we did expect the reception we got.

After a few minutes the people who had gone to the plant came running back with some of those idiots with cleavers in their hands threatening to kill them. I believe they would have done so. Killing animals everyday must desensitise them to the act of killing and they would feel nothing killing a human as well.

If any of you UK people saw a documentary about Keith Mann made after he was sentenced to 14 years for arsen. The place was the one where they accused keith of jumping up and down on the murderers cars with a sledgehammer smashing the cars up. Even though there are houses over the road and no one heard him. They must be very good sleepers in Oldham or the programme was making it all up - they wouldn't do that would they?

[St George]

I watched the whole thing, and actually it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was weird. The people working there were weird. But maybe they'd cleaned up for the camera, or maybe small businesses really are better, I don't know, but it didn't horrify me in the way most undercover stuff does. Perhaps I'm just used to hearing the worst stories from all the animal rights research vegans tend to do.

Anyway I watched it in the same room as my family who were sitting at the table trying to ignore the TV and pretend what was going on had no connection to what was on their plates. So they didn't see the whole thing, all they probably heard was a load Northern accents saying racist shit. That's the annoying thing, the bit when there should be animal noises of pain, and terror, and humans shouting, they played twinkly baby music. It was like really toned down. My family didn't hear any of the killing scenes, just interviews with dipshits interspersed with twinkly music. It's probably made a lot of people think 'slaughterhouses really aren't so bad'.

If you thought it wasnt that shocking,then fine.I cant argue with that,but let me tell you that even if you are de-sensitized to it that i was the most disgusting,appaling programme that i have ever seen.

If that didnt ram the full horror of the meat industry home to the ignorant people out there then nothing will.

The fact that that particular bastard kicked a dying pig in the head before it was finally put out of its misery and the way that he,and others spoke when they were killing the animals when the cameras were rolling made me wonder what exactly goes on when the cameras arent there.

I have no doubt that,whilst what we saw tonight was sickening,that it was nothing compared to what routinely goes on day to day.

These people were ill-educated pieces of scum. Any meat eater who watched that show and still continues eating meat is an utter disgrace.

[Realfood Mary]

Well said St George!!! You read my mind.

[Mozbee]

The first slaughterman shown on face value looked sinister, then he started talking and sounded worse (a bit masochistic even!) , then we were shown how he treated the animals when they were still alive - clearly sadistic and then we saw his interactions with other workers - what an ignorant bully!

That guy (not the owner) who appeared to be in charge getting new murdermen to write down that quote - what a joke! I suppose it got filled away and forgotten about he could remember it after all.

The slaughter which involved the eruption of blood was the Jewish type (no stun included). The man murdering these innocent cows seemed to have the most respect for his victims out of all the humans shown. He also said (if I'm remembering right) that he'd questioned actions of others at the slaughterhouse.

But yes the animals needed to be heard by the public and it's pathetic that the beeb can't afford to show a full program in colour isn't it!

Maybe slaughterhouses are just all a big meat industry experient - who could employ the most insensitive, unquestioning,ignorant, naive youngsters!

[screamingcarrot]

i watched the whole thing aswell and what i found the scariest was the sadistic approach of some of the slaughterhouse workers one of whom openly admitted to enjoying killing, and growled like a tiger before pouncing on those poor sheep with the stunner. other scenes showed him joyfully slinging live animals about like they were already dead, and speaking to them in mocking tones, cracking jokes about their death. he made my skin crawl. had he been driven this way by a job which requires him to murder hundreds of times a day, or was he attracted to this job because of its bloody nature in the first place?

i agree that the kosher and halal slaughterers seemed to have a bit more respect for the lives that they were taking, but that scene with the blood spurting out all over the wall will stay with me forever.

i watched the show with my omnivorous boyfriend who ive been with for three years, i know this topic has proboably already been discussed..but i found myself angry with him after the documentary, because although he seemed upset by the cruelty and violence depicted in the show, he continues to eat meat and dairy. i feel torn sometimes between my beliefs and my deep love for my other half..any thoughts or advice from people in same situation?

[Mozbee]

i watched the show with my omnivorous boyfriend who ive been with for three years, i know this topic has proboably already been discussed..but i found myself angry with him after the documentary, because although he seemed upset by the cruelty and violence depicted in the show, he continues to eat meat and dairy. i feel torn sometimes between my beliefs and my deep love for my other half..any thoughts or advice from people in same situation?

Hi ScreamingC check this link out about partners/relationships it may be relevant.

[screamingcarrot]

Hi ScreamingC check this link out about partners/relationships it may be relevant.

thanks mozbee!

[forest]

That's the annoying thing, the bit when there should be animal noises of pain, and terror, and humans shouting, they played twinkly baby music. It was like really toned down. My family didn't hear any of the killing scenes, just interviews with dipshits interspersed with twinkly music. It's probably made a lot of people think 'slaughterhouses really aren't so bad'.

Most unthinking morons who weren't moved to change their eating habits after watching this film probably thought every slaughterhouse has a resident concert pianist.

I was really annoyed with a write-up on the programme in the Radio Times by the aptly named David Butcher. Obviously the music and black and white footage was done on purpose to bring some sort of surrealist quality to the subject.

The saying goes that if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we'd all be vegetarians. So here, veteran film-maker Brian Hill puts the ideas to the test by visiting an abattoir in Oldham and showing us it's grisly workings. The scenes of dead pigs and sheep sliced up on a "dis-assembly line" are not for the squimish, obviously, but filmed in black and white and set to piano music they have a strange, balletic beauty. In the end what emerges isn't quite as liable to put you off eating meat as Hill seems to think.

Balletic beauty! What an a*se.

[Franny]

I wish that was shown on major network during prime time here. It's amazing we have all of these moronic "reality' shows, but a real reality show such as that won't be aired.

[St George]

I dont remember noticing that parts where in black and white and i dont remember the music,either.
It doesnt make any difference to either way. The footage that was shown carried enough weight to shock any right thinking person.
As i said before,i dread to think what goes on when the cameras are not there.
It is not often that i feel hate,but i truly hate that cretin with the tattoos who mocked the animals and clearly mis-treated them.

[St George]

Shisha Fiend, i agree with you that they should have shown the whole story, right from arrival to death,but i am still sure that the programme went as far as it needed to.
The objective of the programme wasnt to turn people into vegetarians/vegans. It was to show what goes on in an abbatoir and to get an idea about the type of people who work there.

I think it succeeded. And i still maintain that compassionate meat eaters who were previously ignorant,but who cannot claim such a defence, would be put right off eating meat after seeing that. But i dont think that anyone who was likely to be swayed would have even watched the programme as they knew that they would be faced with something that would have shocked them to the core and forced them into changing. And people dont like change.

[Nivvie]

The problem is people are so disconnected from life these days, so used to seeing shocking things on TV, that they can't draw the connection. I spoke to someone today who saw it and said she had to turn it off, but it hasn't effected her meat consumption.

If we killed our own meat, grew out own veg, drew our own water, buried our own dead, life would seem very different.
I'm not suggesting we should return to a more simple state completely, but the fact is many people claim to care and are shocked, but don't equate it to the meat on their plate.

Life just so unreal for much of the world.

I remember my mother ordering some lamb in Egypt. A man brought a dead lamb to the door. She ended up burying it, she couldn't, with her own hands, cut it up, skin it, prepare it. She didn't eat lamb again, now if only she could have had that contact with other animals.

I respect people who kill their own meat more than those who consume blindly, and regarding mass slaughterhouse killings, I read about the ceremony and gratitute a tribe expresses to it's kill. I think that amount of death would shock even someone used to 'survival' killing everyday.

[Glen]

I'm rather divided on my opinion about the program. Ultimately, I found it shocking and disgusting, but not for the reasons I expected.

I feel that the slaughter of the animals could have been documented better, as somebody else said; showing the whole process. I also agree that the twinkly music was a bit of a farce, but at the end of the day, the images were graphic and horrific and essentially got the message across; this is cold, heartless murder.

What shocked me the most was probably a) the lack of intelligence amongst the workers and b) the treatment, or more to the point torture, of the animals before slaughter.

The men working in that place were possibly the most uneducated, ethically challenged people I have ever seen. None of the people there took an interest in current affairs and only one of them had ever voted. The one man even said he thought the elections took place once a year. I am 16 and I take a far greater interest in politics than any of them.

The one man clearly just loved to hurt things; not only did he kill for a living, but he would unnecessarily prod, kick and shout at the animals. When a pig was having an attack from stress he said, "Arrr, the poor b**tard. Haha, yeah right". He then proceeded to kick, shoot, and poke the pig in the eye. He was a bully, making other staffs lives hell. On top of all this, he liked to cause himself pain; he had tattoos all over his body and all because he liked the pain. Clearly a very strange man.

Overall, I don't think this was a bad documentary. It could have focused more on the animals, but it did open my eyes to how odd the places were. I also felt that the animals weren't shown as animals, more as just items to be processed. But I don't know how they could have filmed it any better because that is exactly how the meat industry sees animals. I am not sure that it will change the way people see it, my Dad watched some of it and seem frighteningly unperturbed by it. On a personal note, it just reinforced why I no longer eat meat and made me feel even more inclined to go out there and do everything I can to change it.

[Realfood Mary]

We won't know for another few days, until people either do (or don't) start approaching the vegetarian society, the vegan society, Viva or ourselves at vegan buddies for help to cut animal products out of our diet.

It will have changed some people, but was still a wasted opportunity in many ways.

My son (who wasn't allowed to watch it) has just gone to bed. He read part of this thread, and I thought I would leave you with his goodnight comments.

"If slaughter houses were made of glass, I'd smash them."

I wish I was nine again at times...

[St George]

my Dad watched some of it and seem frighteningly unperturbed by it. On a personal note, it just reinforced why I no longer eat meat and made me feel even more inclined to go out there and do everything I can to change it.

That demonstrates the point,though. Anybody who has any compassion towards animals would hve been shocked into some form of change by the programme.
It strengthened my convictions,but someone who didnt care wouldnt have batted an eyelid.

But as i have said,most compassionately minded meat-eaters wouldnt have watched it anyway.

My Mom eats meat(although she is reducing her consumption) and refused point blank to watch it. She knew that she would be appalled and made to think,and shied away from it.

When i started talking about the programme today she told me she didnt want to talk about it!!!

Ignorance is bliss to some people!

[Gliondrach]

I watched the last ten minutes or so of it. That scum with the tattoos would have been a concentration camp guard if he'd lived in Europe 60-odd years ago. There are some humans who are so devoid of any finer feelings, that sometimes I despair that anything will change. As long as there are people like that willing to carry out the dirty work, the rest of the people who eat meat can go about their daily lives without having to think about the cruelty involved in providing food for them. But, there's a risk in trying to educate them: go about it in the wrong way and they will just ignore what you are trying to tell them. They can also become overloaded with information and can become accustomed to attempts to educate them, so that they think 'it's that same old message again'. People can become entrenched in their beliefs even when all the evidence points the other way. There's a fine line between giving enough information to nudge someone's conscience and giving too much so that they switch of and just become annoyed. It took me quite some time to decide to become a vegetarian - and that was after I'd experienced first hand the horrors of a slaughterhouse. I wish I could recall exactly what my thoughts and feelings were as I wrestled with my conscience.

[Stu]

It's funny that this programme has been on. I was recently wondering to myself whether or not a TV station would consider showing 'Meet Your Meat' or something similar.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see something like that cropping up on Channel 4, what with their reputation for pushing the boundaries of TV. What do you think? Could it happen?

Maybe we should suggest it to them...

[essence_uk]

I'd argue that animals weren't shown individually or in the stages before slaughter to afford them any personhood. Otherwise just seemed to confirm what we already know and vegans needn't watch it whereas omnivores don't have/want to, so unlikely we awoke to a revolution and new world the morning after.

Religious slaughter is not to be commended, all their reasoning comes from outdated texts not ethics and it's religion that wrongly places humans above their animal kin (Note the jew's speech about humans on higher level so it must be done etc) in the first place.

The kosher slaughterer claims respect and calm solo slaughter with full pain and consciousness whereas regular slaughter is fear abuse and chaos but with some sort of stunning. Both are pathetic and unsatisfactory obviously and the abuses carried out even in front of the camera just go to show welfarist procedures and so called safeguards will never be taken seriously while non-human animals are things to be owned.

I doubt the main abusers (i.e. the sado-masochist with tattoos) will even be sacked as a result. By the way what was the purpose of that contraption they threw some pigs on? Was rotating blades that bounced the carcases up and down. I couldn't see a purpose unless it was some kind of skin stripper.

[Realfood Mary]

Here is the review that was posted on the vegan buddies website.

Slaughterhouse-the Task of Blood

Many vegans watched this particular programme, hoping beyond hope that some of the other people watching the show would realise the true horror that goes on in killing factories, and stop eating dead animals.

Although the documentary did show scenes of non human animals being killed, sliced up, their skin peeled from their muscle and bone as though they were nothing other than ripe fruit, the documentary shied away from the true horror at the heart of every slaughter house.

This was obvious from the first moments. We were told that "thousands" of animals are slaughtered in the UK for their flesh every day. The true figure stands in the millions. The scenes of slaughter were for the most part filmed in black and white - the glistening pools on the floor in these scenes could have been water, not blood. There was an inappropriate emphasis on the murderers, not the victims. We were constantly being invited to listen to their political, philosophical, spiritual insights. Some of these men seemed mentally ill, fundemetally lacking in any compassion. Yet others seemed utterly normal, friendly, almost decent. Until you remembered what they did.

And this is the important thing. What these men do. They kill for money. They kill because there is nothing else they can be bothered to do. The cleaners look up to the killers, as they are at the top of the pyramid. The killers look down on the cleaners as "scum."

What a warped world these men live in.

These murderers were the subject of the film, not the victimised animals. Does anyone really believe that the BBC would have shown an honest film about slaughter houses? This film got through precisely because it was dishonest, overly arty, and human centred.

This preview in the Radio Times shows exactly what we mean.

"The saying goes that if slaughterhouses had glass walls, we'd all be vegetarians. So here, veteran film-maker Brian Hill puts the ideas to the test by visiting an abattoir in Oldham and showing us it's grisly workings. The scenes of dead pigs and sheep sliced up on a "dis-assembly line" are not for the squimish, obviously, but filmed in black and white and set to piano music they have a strange, balletic beauty. In the end what emerges isn't quite as liable to put you off eating meat as Hill seems to think."

Absolutely. However, many people who did watch it will have seen through the finished glossy product. The animals' screams may have been drowned out by piano music, their blood may have looked on the screen like water, but there will be people who looked into the eyes of these victims, on the few occasions the camera dwelt on them, and seen the truth.

These individuals, herded, beaten, kicked, murdered, do not want to die. We don't have to be party to their death. If you don't like what slaughtermen do, don't pay their wages.

The director may have felt that the only way to get this story on screen was to concentrate on the slaughterers. Let us hope that despite the watering down of his message many will still have understood enough to change.

Thanks to those who contributed to this thread - the review is better for your input!

[Realfood Mary]

By the way what was the purpose of that contraption they threw some pigs on? Was rotating blades that bounced the carcases up and down. I couldn't see a purpose unless it was some kind of skin stripper.

It was a thing to get their hairs off them. Pigs have thick wiry hair. Sometimes pigs are still conscious when they are thrown onto that thing. As you can imagine, they can break bones on that thing.

I presume Mr Butcher thought that was "balletic."

[essence_uk]

It was a thing to get their hairs off them. Pigs have thick wiry hair. Sometimes pigs are still conscious when they are thrown onto that thing. As you can imagine, they can break bones on that thing.

I presume Mr Butcher thought that was "balletic."

Thanks, I pretty much agree with all of the review above, pretty perceptive and realistic. I read in the Guardian that the show undertook many edits and changes before they put it on TV, because animal-abuse is the main cause of television related complaints (The dead hamster advert, the chewing gum one about dog coming out man's mouth etc).

It's wrong to say we have a choice in not paying the slaughterhouse workers wages though. Afterall the government massively subsidises these "farms" so they turn profit. That's your taxes being spent on slaughter whether you like it or not.

[Realfood Mary]

I agree we have no choice where our taxes go, but if we go vegan then we put our money where our mouth is, and don't give them our cash directly. Which has to be a good thing!

I don't know who sickened me more, the obvious psychopath, the tattooed freak, or the Jewish guy, who had so many justifications, and called himself an "animal lover."

The *****y poem at the end made me want to heave. And as someone said, it was almost jokey when the "little pig" ran "wee, wee, wee" trying to escape at the end.

If I didn't keep busy all the time I swear I would go insane just thinking about the scale of the abuse. Maybe this is why so many flesh eaters just won't think about it.

Someone is going to post the entire film online at some point soon. I will let you know when they do.

[Mozbee]

A meat eating friend of mine found the biggest shock to be the attitudes of the workers.
(Come on if you want to murder and then handle the bodies of innocent victims all day long, there must be something lacking up top!)

[kriz]

Since I live in US I haven't seen the programme, but I wish they could show something like this here too. But since the media here is so censored already (they recently tried to get rid of public television because it's 'too leftist'), I think the chances are small they would ever show it.

The sad thing is that I've shown "Meet Your Meat" and "Peaceable Kingdom" to friends of mine, but I got very little feedback (one said "Peaceable Kingdom" was not as sad as she thought it would be and not too bad)... I no longer know what to do or say to help people realize the problems with the meat industry. I can't just go about my life and say nothing, either, it's not my style.

[St George]

The nagativity that vegans on here are coming out with is wrong in my opinion.
The programme makers were not vegan and under no obligation to sway meat eaters to veganism.

The succesfuly showed the workings of a slaughterhouse and allowed us to get to know the people who work there.

No matter what any of you say,the programme showed,in detail, the horror of what goes on there.

Any meat eater who is inclined to become vegetarian and who watched that show,will have been sufficently shocked into making a change.

It was an excellent programme.

Top marks,BBC.

[Kumem]

I think the negativity is simply because people feel so passionately about veganism that they want people to see what really goes on, as opposed to a watered down version, which makes sense to me.
I didn't watch the programme, but from what others have said, it does not look like it showed the real picture.
However, I agree that the BBC should be commended for showing it in the first place. It may not have been exactly what people want, but it is a step in the right direction.
I would be interested in finding out who they felt their target audience was and what their reasons and goals were in showing it in the first place.

Liz

[Nivvie]

It's one of the few good things about a licence fee.

No commercial station would show that, as who the hell would pay to advertise during it except Quorn and Linda MacCartney?!

They'll always stick with Stars In Your Deluded Eyes and Linda Barker flogging sofas.

[St George]

It's one of the few good things about a licence fee.

No commercial station would show that, as who the hell would pay to advertise during it except Quorn and Linda MacCartney?!

They'll always stick with Stars In Your Deluded Eyes and Linda Barker flogging sofas.

You are spot-on with that post.

[essence_uk]

You are spot-on with that post.

I don't think it's black/white or either/or. You can state it's a good thing the tv show aired giving a much needed view inside an ignored industry. Then also hold it to account and rightfully point out perceived flaws and acknowledge the heavy handed editing/sanitisation process which is recorded as having taken place before it was deemed suitable for airing.

[DoveInGreyClothing]

I missed it- does anyone know if and when they'll be airing a repeat? Does sound a little disappointing though.

[essence_uk]

For all those interested in viewing, no matter the location you can download it from UKNova, a website that hosts UK TV shows. Also a section of feedback from viewers in which one claims the guy with tattoos has been sacked, as if the management weren't already aware of his actions before the show aired.

Anyway, this link should get you there directly, pass it around: http://www.uknova.com/browse.php?sea...t=0&incldead=1

[DoveInGreyClothing]

I tried -it said this site is not open for public use.

[essence_uk]

I tried -it said this site is not open for public use.

Works okay for me, takes me directly to the file. Maybe you have to register first?

[Mozbee]

Yes you do have to register essence_uk

[essence_uk]

Yes you do have to register essence_uk

Cool, it's a good website for catching up on shows you may have missed/want to keep anyway. Already 199 people have downloaded Slaughterhouse.

[Realfood Mary]

It isn't that surprising that the documentary the BBC showed was glossy, unrealistic, and softened the blow. Read the following link - the film maker was not a vegetarian. And what kind of hospitals has this guy been to?
Slaughterhouse fears closure

[Mozbee]

Gave The Rochdale Observer a message, ended it with meat is murder.

[tasha]

Ok, I know I am going to drive you folks nuts with my paper, buuuuuut....another question!

I have lots of quotes from Canadian and US slaughterhouse workers and I'd like to be able to reprt where all of these interviews took place.

Does anyone know if the slaughterhouse workers interviewed in this documentry aired on BBC worked in the US or The UK?

Thanks, you have all been great...I'll definitly post my paper once I'm done

[essence_uk]

Not sure what you are asking. The BBC documentary was set in a slaughterhouse in Oldham, England and I doubt any of the slaughtermen featured have plied their trade abroad.