but de-clawed, de-beaked, factory-bred chickens are cheaper than farm-bread birds. why pay more?

I admit I'm such an inconsiderate bastard that I don't even bother to do what you do. I salute you, sir.
And yes, the breast enlarging done to the chickens to make "nuggets" is pure cruelty, for example.
And again, i'm not really a die-hard meat fan. Although I do enjoy some meat, i could do without it for a while.

Well, because supposedly it tends to taste better/be better for your health.
I'm not sure there's any proof of this though, and until there is, factory-bred chicken it is...

Soy is pretty good for you too

We're omnivorous, have front teeth for cutting through meat and back teeth for grinding it up, naturally get significant protein from meat, etc... That much we all know.

So we know eating meat is 'natural'.
Obviously, farming animals for meat the way we do isn't 'natural', but it's certainly better than not doing it at all and decimating entire populations of animals in the wild. We're already doing that to fish, so naturally the answer is to farm them if possible, and if not, restrain from going overboard and killing off species of animals.

The only other thing we're left with is how we treat these animals we're killing... One side says why should you care about an animal's feelings when you're about to eat it anyway, and the other apparently wants us to what... give them social security numbers and take them on long walks on the beach and let them sleep in our beds or something.

Me personally, I think the meat industry should do what it can to maintain sanitary conditions for the animals it processes and maintain as much of a stress-free environment as possible while still keeping efficient productivity at a reasonably high level and waste at a reasonably low level.

Being extreme on either side of the argument isn't going to do anything. If people want better treatment of animals, both parties are going to have to meet somewhere in the middle on these issues.

<3

Whether or not it's better for your health is one thing. But it tastes much, much better because it doesn't have to be flashfrozen and transported hundreds of miles. It's common knowledge that fresh food tastes better then frozen.

Beyond that, it also has to do with the cruelty shown to the animals, the pneumonia added mixed with the meat to clense it - and the fact that corn fed cows are unhealthy and more likely to produce contaiminated beef. And why are they fed corn? Because it's cheap and the same companies harvesting corn run the feed lots.

But I don't want to push anything on any of you, that's not my intention. Just wanted to share my reasons.

Here's the problem with that -

Food in the United States went from a loose collection of farmers providing good for their local areas to several small companies operating across the U.S to four giant corporations running the show. To prevent things from going overboard, we would need to revert to several small companies operating across the U.S. Why? Because big business doesn't change - and the bigger the individual operation the bigger the enviromental footprint left behind. Crops and feed lots are becoming more and more confined to middle America and shipped elsewhere while this allusion is maintained to the public. People are further and further removed from where their food comes from and just don't care any more. All the while the enviroment is suffering heavily.

but factory meat is cheaper

Here's a gem from the good ol' days.

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...ious_troll.jpg

Exploiting workers is also cheaper.

Yes, but so is salad.