Donna,
I just now went upstairs and found a bright red T-shirt that I bought
around 1999. On the front there is the shape of a stop sign. Inside the stop
sign in big block letters: STOP FACTORY FARMS. On the back, the T-shirt reads
"Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement."
So, ok, I will try to use animal factory instead of factory farm. But the
habit of over 35 years is hard to break.
But you really need to focus your attention on Iowa Citizens for Community
Improvement (ICCI), as well as others, regarding what you view as an
ineffective use of language.
Maybe you will post here any reply you get from ICCI?
Tom
In a message dated 8/18/2011 1:44:18 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Tom,
My basketball coach used to say, "There's no point in beating your head on
the same post over and over again."
Surely it's obvious that the "good guys" have done a surprisingly poor job
of convincing the general public that CAFOs are a public health and
environmental concern. Maybe we should stop and wonder why?
Have you ever seen Newt Gingrich's list of words to use in
Republican-speak? Words meant to invoke gut reactions. "Farm" is a positive word, it
invokes a pastoral picture of green grass and dairy cows and Grant Wood
pictures. That's why Farm Bureau uses it.
I take it at face value that you believe "farm" and "factory farm" have
different meanings. Logically yes, but nobody is talking logic. And we're
not convincing the critical mass that there's an issue at hand.
So, if we're talking about influencing opinions, if we're talking about
people who don't live and breathe this stuff, then we need to reach their
emotions. The right emotions. As someone who grew up on a farm, you are
asking me to hear the word "farm" and think bad things. My head says "yes".
My heart says "You Go to Hell."
So let's call these horrors "animal factories" as that is a far more
accurate visual connotation anyway. We can use emotions to our advantage too,
just as the "bad guys" do.
Donna
On Aug 18, 2011, at 12:39 PM, Thomas Mathews wrote:
Peter Singer used the term "factory farm" in his book Animal Liberation
back in the mid-1970's. I think the term was in use even before that. It's
been part of the language for a very long time now, and it's used not by CAFO
supporters and operators, but by OPPONENTS of concentrated animal feeding
operations.
"Farm" and "factory farm" indeed have two different meanings. Yes the Farm
Bureau calls CAFOs "farms," in a dishonest attempt to make us believe they
are red-barn family farms, just like in the 1950s. But the Farm Bureau
never uses the term "factory farm", because that has all the bad connotations
of animal cruelty and environmental devastation, along with the
destruction of true family farms.
I don't think therefore that the term "factory farm" is about to be
abandoned by opponents of CAFOs. Because the good guys use the term against the
bad guys.
Tom
In a message dated 8/18/2011 11:17:01 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask]) writes:
PS: Whoever is using the term "factory farm" needs to stop it NOW. I grew
up on a farm and the word has very special -- and very emotional --
meaning. That's why Big Ag uses it against us. These are animal factories for
sure. Cruel and unusual absolutely. But emotional buzz words are the mantra
of Big Ag -- and we walk right into their trap when we use "farms" in our
communications.
Donna
On Aug 18, 2011, at 11:11 AM, Donna Buell wrote:
The national nonprofit Environmental Integrity Group has joined the Iowa
Chapter of Sierra Club and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement to begin
legal action they hope will strip the Iowa Department of Natural
Resources of its power to enforce federal water quality rules.
_http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/08/18/environmental-g
roups-sue-epa-move-to-take-water-quality-authority-from-iowa-dnr/_
(http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/08/18/environmental-groups-sue
-epa-move-to-take-water-quality-authority-from-iowa-dnr/)
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