This Damned Human Race: The United States Supreme Court and Pigs... Or: Remind me of the meaning of the word "humane" again?

Did you hear about this case going to the United States Supreme Court?

The National Meat Association is challenging a California law that says that pork producers have to "humanely euthanize nonambulatory pigs." Translation: Pigs that cannot walk.

In a universe full of bloodletting and murder, it is one teeny-tiny-itty-bitty glimmer of humanity. If a pig can't get up, find a way to put it out of its misery with minimal pain to the animal.

FOUL! cried the National Murder-er, uh, Meat Association. They say pigs are often lazy and don't like to get up, and the current California law would force them to "humanely euthanize" those beings, which would be a huge financial expense for the producers. Seven Wells, a legal eagle for the Association told the press: "Sometimes the pigs are stressed or fatigued from the trip, or they're just stubborn. Usually, they recover, and if they're fine, they go into the food supply." (Source)

"Go into the food supply." There's a euphemism, if ever there was one. If he had a shred of honesty, he'd say, "Uusually, they recover, and if they're traumatized but not so completely horrified that they can stand on their four legs, they're taken off, occasionally stunned (especially if there are meat inspectors or journalists present) and then have their cartoid artery and jugular vein severed, whereupon they flop in agony while the life blood is drained out of them, feeling excruciating pain the likes of which you and I can never imagine, and the last thing they ever see is a cold, concrete, blood-saturated world before they lose all consciousness. At which point, they go into the food supply."

On second thought, maybe the Orwellian explanation is better for the pork producers.

The state of California passed the law about three years ago to pressure the industry to euthanize sick pigs. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal welfare groups have applauded the law and they're critical of the National Murder Association (hell, I'm not even going to correct it this time) for challenging the California law before the highest court in the land.

If you think about it, this sad legal case - like the animal welfare movement in general - has taken one of the most important words in the English language - HUMANE - and made a mockery of it.

Let's break this down and see if we can understand it: So it is HUMANE to euthanize sick animals who can't walk to slaughter, but it's perfectly OK to violently butcher healthy and alert ones who can make it on their own to the gigantic mincing grinder that is the killing line?

Where's the humanity again? Someone please explain. Because in all of this madness, in all of this murder, in all of this systematic black nightmare that we human beings have created and perpetuate on a daily basis, I see NO sign of any trace of anything that could vaguely be described as HUMANE. Is it just me? Are you finding the "humane" anywhere in this equation?

Of course, the legal experts defending the California law think they're doing the "humane" thing. As California Deputy Attorney General Susan K. Smith explained: "We're not concerned about a pig who is taking a nap. Our definition of a nonambulatory pig is one who is unable to stand and walk without assistance." (Source)

In case you've missed it, the key part of that sentence there is "we're not concerned..."

"We're not concerned..."

Say it again: "We're not concerned..."

One more time: "We're not concerned..."

For good measure: "We're not concerned..."

Time to rephrase that: "I am concerned." I am concerned about pigs that are napping. I am concerned about pigs that are too sick to walk. I am concerned about pigs that are healthy and can walk and are terrified of this dark world that is the only world they'll know in the last moments of their lives. I'm so concerned, in fact, that I'll never again touch bacon, or ham, or any other product made out of pigs. I'm so concerned that I'll do everything in my power to nonviolently resist this scourge that is the pork industry, and expose their lies and their doublespeak and their violent agenda, full of death and misery and blood.

I am concerned.

This case will go to the U.S. Supreme Court. And unless the highest court in the land rules that murdering a pig is illegal as well as immoral, then - once again - the real victims of this sick and depraved and violent system will be the weakest, the most vulnerable, the voiceless - the pigs themselves.