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Comment by bluedino | Hacker News Reader

Why don't more people post videos and articles about the mistreatment of migrant farm workers in America?

http://www.economist.com/node/17722932

My ex was a vegan. She always complained about the mistreatment of animals used for food but never thought twice about how the people were treated who picked all the vegetables she ate.

It's basically slave labor in many cases. Low pay, terrible working conditions, long hours. Imagine crawling through the dirt on your knees for 10 hours a day in the California sun, filling buckets of vegetables for $0.80 a bucket, and if you screw up your boss reports you to immigration?

I have family members who were migrant workers just a single generation ago so it hits a little closer to home than some people. But those vegetables don't make it to the store without any suffering, just like pork chops don't.

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I dont know how it is in the USA but in europe we have multiple organizations that make sure Food (Animals or not) is processed in a sustainable way. They offer a signet (?) and when producers want it on their food they have to play by the rules. Ever heard of FairTrade ? All vegans i know hardly buy any food without a signet like that, knowing that its more expensive. But the race to the bottom in food prices is one of the worst developments that leads to so much misery for animals and humans producing food.

I eat meat maybe about once a week and pay 3 times as much as i would have to, but i am not willing to support this development any further.

It's not necessary to choose. I'd add that conditions in prisons are horrible, as are conditions in countries the US applies bombs and sanctions to, and the nations the US supports dictators in.

The point is to rethink your assumptions. Chances are if you tolerate any of these abuses it's b/c you have a blind spot in your otherwise rational view of the world.

I agree that the lives of farm workers is a more pressing issue than animals. But America's general scorn for vegans is not helping either of those situations, and strikes me as self-conscious more than anything.

>Why don't more people post videos and articles about the mistreatment of migrant farm workers in America?

Lots of people do? Why do you imply that people caring about animals and people caring about people are mutually exclusive?

>My ex was a vegan. She always complained about the mistreatment of animals used for food but never thought twice about how the people were treated who picked all the vegetables she ate.

Do you think twice about how the people were treated who killed all those animals you ate? The meat industry is much worse than what migrant farm workers face. That is why they have to import immigrants from south america to be slaves in the meat industry.

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