Friday, February 14, 2014

Mother Jones Article on "Ag Gag" Laws

I mainly want to pass along the article, "Gagged by Big Ag," which certainly speaks for itself. I can understand business wanting to protect themselves from fraudulent job applicants (such as PETA investigators who plan to document animal abuse by getting hired by these operations), but there are laws, I'm guessing, against such fraud already. That these "Ag Gag" laws also make it illegal for, as it were, "genuine" workers (and even people not on the business's property) to record and report abuse and illegal activity in a way that makes the gravity of the problem clear, is absolutely appalling.

(Hat tip to my friend Ed in the EKU Department of Agriculture for passing this article along. I'd sent him an article on recent research on the psychological trauma and physical risks of slaughterhouse work, "A Slaughterhouse Nightmare," by Georgetown Professor Jennifer Dillard.)

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Ruti's The Call of Character

From my inbox: This looks intriguing (link is to first chapter): The Call of Character: Living a Life Worth Living. "Self-Fashioning" of course has a seemingly inescapable ring of self-indulgence (as Ruti seems aware), but the kind of passionate if idiosyncratic living that Ruti appears interested in is probably often going to be part of a life that is much more concerned with something other than self.