Sarah Palin's Turkey Horror Show: My Comments

I may never eat turkey again after seeing Sarah Palin's interview in front of a place where turkeys are killed one at a time placed upside down in a rendering machinge. Obviously Sarah Palin has no sense of public sensitivies to animal slaughter. What appears to be a huge political fiasco also reinforced the sense of Palin's gun toting "kill em"philosophy of life but it also brought up the huge differences between hunters, farmers who earn a living from animals who are used for food and most of the rest of us urban dweller and somewhat sophisticated types who do not like to see animals of any kind killed even for food. Of course, those of us who love animals who are not moral vegetarians know animals are killed in mass so we can have chicken, pork, and beef on the table. We hope they are killed humanely. In my case, I have a lot of guilt about eating the small amount of meat that I do eat. Now I am focused on turkey health and welfare. Who can help themselves from being nauseated after the Palin debacle!!!

So the question is Is Palin just plain dumb or does she represent a subgroup of the population that takes animal killing as a matter of routine, just done in the course of daily life which they witnessed growing up on farms and in our countryside and in many parts of Alaska I gather where people eat food they hunt regularly. I was apalled when I saw photos of Palin's children pictured smiling behind a moose dripping in blood that their Mother had killed. So the question that comes to mind are some of us unnecessarilly squeamish because we are twice removed from the reality of where our food comes from or is there a true difference in the degree of humanity among different individuals? I bet that there are plenty of cow farmers and even hunters out there who would never expose their children to the indecencies I mention. I do remember once going to a restaurant and sitting next to what appeared to be a nice middle class familly who were talking loud enough for me to hear about how much they loved hunting deer and other forest creatures and what a "high" they got doing this. I was so bent out of shape I wanted to go over to their table and pound on their table. Of course, I didn't. I restrained myself.

There was something during the election going around on e-mails about Sarah Palin shooting wolves from a helicopter with a high powered rile. This was a signal of sorts. It reminded me of Cheney shooting small fowl from an automobile. I place all these types in one category- inferior human beings. So what is up here? I do know one thing which is that Palin and Cheney don't need to kill animlas to eat. It is a sport to them. I find this type of activity, killing for the hell of it truly disgusting. I rather am envious of all the huge animlas like elephants, camels, horses who don't have to eat meat to survive, just some grass and leaves are just fine for them. Poor humans, we are omnivours and have the option to be vegetarians. I do believe it would be a better world if we all could stop eating animals so we could stop killing them. Unfortunately, eating meat is a time honored tradition esp. in Europe and the USA. Some areas of the world cattle are considered as sacred animals and only their milk is used not their bodies for meat. I realize this tradition will be hard to end overnight but could we at least develop a higher sensibilitly about the treatment of our better halves-(they don't eat meat and the animals who do don't kill for sport) turkeys, fowl of every kind, cattle, horses and all the rest? Please stop finding new types of animals for Americans to eat. Palin just represents a brand or type of human I find less than and I can hardly tolerate. Her brand of politics comes out of her upbringing and background but her uncouthness is quite something else. Maybe we can figure out a way to stop reproducing people like her. Thanks for listening and please I'd love your input.

Sharon Raphael