AG ADVOCATE TURNS ANTI-ANIMAL AGRICULTURE ACTIVIST
I know this photo has nothing to do with the blog post below, but a warm photo of some cattle running toward something seemed fitting for the title.
As of today, April 20, 2020, I can matter-of-factly say that I am paying more attention to national and global news now more than ever. I’m watching the news more, I’m reading news outlets online that I’d always heard about but never really paid attention to, and I’m doing something which is exceptionally out of character for me and that’s offering my political opinions to anyone who even hints at asking.
Because of the Coronavirus, I’ve tried to stay up to date with everything going on around the world and through that, I have engaged in conversation about the pandemic with multiple people. One common thing I’ve heard in conversation is the fact that the media is “blowing Coronavirus out of proportion.” After hearing this multiple times, it got me thinking that I’d heard this statement before, and then it hit me: I’ve said it before.
If you’ve paid attention to AvA for some time now, you know that I have said many times, “PETA isn’t telling the truth, they’re just screaming louder than farmers and ranchers.” I stand by that statement 100 percent, and I believe it to be true for more than just agriculture.
I, like many of you, have watched the White House press conferences with updates from the Coronavirus Task Force. And I, like many of you, have seen what some news outlets report. I am the first to admit that I do not agree with everything our president has ever said or done, but I can see his frustrations with the media at this specific point in time. President Trump will say something, during a White House press conference, then the media will twist his words or only report the first half of his point, making him look like a terrible leader of our nation.
I would also like to point out, that as a journalist who’s had interviews with people who don’t share the same opinions of agriculture as me, sometimes you ask a question to challenge the person who you’re interviewing. However, some of the questions asked by these reporters during these Coronavirus Task Force Updates are absolutely traps to “poke the bear” on a whole new level. Of course, these actions are not a shock to me, because being in these anti-ag Facebook groups has made me realize that any media platform can manipulate any story to fit their narrative.
If you’re a feedlot owner, you will relate to this especially; but I want you to think of a feedlot ad, specifically the image which is used on most of these ads. You’re probably thinking of a photo taken from one end of the feed trough, this photo contains a seemingly endless line of steers eating with their head through a fence. It’s a great photo, and when agriculturists see it, it appeals to us, aesthetically speaking. However, after hearing someone in an anti-ag Facebook group claim that these animals are “placed in a small pen to keep them trapped between a fence and their ‘dinner plate’ [feed bunk],” I decided to look at these photos a little differently.
You see, a feedlot’s target market is people in the cattle industry – why wouldn’t it be? But to those outside of the agricultural bubble, this picturesque photo every single agricultural photographer has shot (myself included) just paints the industry in a bad light. Quite frankly, if I were PETA and had their same moral values, I would use one of those photos for a marketing campaign against the beef industry.
Please do not think I’m coming for feedlots and their marketing strategies; this photo defiantly appeals to their target market – but this is just one item on the long list of things in the agricultural community which we see as a good thing and they see as a bad thing.
Prime example: For the past few weeks, my social media has been filled with people who are deeply concerned about packing plant closures. Heck, I even wrote a story about it this week. But, in my anti-ag Facebook groups, members were rejoicing. One of them even wished the Coronavirus would “attach to some of the meats and create an even more outrageous disease that will give meat eaters a run for their money.” Can you believe someone would actually wish a deathly disease upon another person just for eating meat?
Another thing I found interesting and wish I would’ve noticed sooner are the struggles these groups face when it comes to making THEIR word heard.
Over the past couple of weeks, these groups have been covered in “if the media would just focus on Coronavirus’ connection to meat eating…” posts. I had spent so much time thinking about the way PETA and the Humane Society slams ag, I never stopped to think about how they view the media. Do they feel as if mainstream media has neglected THEIR “truths?”
The bottom line here is this: People will believe what you tell them. We’ve all heard the joke, “I read it on the internet, it must be true!”
But the fact of the matter is, we need to take this joke a little more seriously because if our Facebook feeds tell us anything, it’s that a simple headline from a biased news source can ruffle the feathers of just about anyone — take this column title for example. Does it have anything to do with what I’m writing about? Nope. Am I turning into an anti-ag activist? Absolutely not. But did you click on it? YEP. Will people just read the title, not the full article, and still share it? I would bet money that they would.
As someone who sat through multiple media writing classes I can tell you that spin is a very real thing. The media can spin literally anything to fit their narrative, sometimes you may agree with it and sometimes you won’t but be weary of what you’re reading. And you know, if we keep debunking the myths and correcting the misinformation, maybe one of those anti-ags will actually believe us.
