Palin and the Fun of Turkey Slaughter

by Stephanie Ernst · 2008-11-21 06:48:00 UTC
Topics: show more

Update: Comments have alerted me that I failed to explain why Palin was at the turkey farm in the first place. Her original purpose in showing up was to "pardon" one of the turkeys--presumably not either of the ones who were subsequently slaughtered in the background while she carried on casual, laughing conversation.

Oh. My. God. Just when I thought I couldn't dislike Sarah Palin any more than I already do--just when I thought she couldn't be any more disrespectful of animal life than she already is--she pulls this idiotic stunt. Change.org's beloved managing editor, Josh Levy, asked me last night if I was going to post about Palin and the turkeys. And at first, I didn't know what he was talking about. I kind of wish I still didn't. If you haven't seen the video yet, here's your chance to see Palin chatting casually and happily with reporters while turkeys are being slaughtered right behind her. Indeed, my favorite part was when she said this:

It's nice to get out and do something to promote a local business and to just participate in something that isn't so heavy-handed politics that it invites criticism. Certainly will [or we'll?] probably invite criticism for even doing this too! But at least this was fun.

She said all this while a turkey behind her was thrashing around, while the life was being drained from him. Yes, such fun! More discussion after the video.

In case you're wondering what you're seeing there at the end--why you can see the turkey kicking and flailing while he's upside down in the cone that hides essentially all but his legs from view--that's him bleeding to death. You'll notice that after the worker thrust the turkey into the cone upside down, he started poking around down at the bottom of the cone--he was cutting the turkey's throat. What you see next is his effort to hold the turkey still while the turkey thrashes in pain and fear, while he fights futilely for life. And as jolting as it is to see that turkey's flailing, terrified responses to the pain of having his throat cut open and the blood drained from his body, most turkeys experience an even more horrifying slaughter. More on this later:

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Wild Horses and Madeleine Pickens
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (81)

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.