The Joys of the "Harvest"?

It has been brought to my attention that "slaughter" and "kill" are no longer the PC words to use when describing the processing process. Apparently, we are supposed to use the word "harvest," instead. And I tried, I really did. Using the word in that way left a bad taste in my mouth, the taste of lying. No matter how hard I try, my brain will just not let me decieve the public. What a shame.

Why are we trying to hide a vital part of agriculture? Why are we trying to make what we do into something dirty? The consumer doesn't like the word harvest for meat, they feel that they're being lied to, or worse, treated like idiots. The farmer or producer doesn't like the word harvest for meat, they feel like they're being deceptive. I can understand the use of the term "Processing" as everybody knows what a processing plant is and what it does, but harvest is for vegetables. I butcher or process a rabbit, I harvest a tomato or an egg. Processing implies that a product is changed, harvest implies it is collected as a whole unit, without being changed or altered.

I'm afraid I'll never be PC and that's fine. I am who I am, and I can't be someone I'm not. Who would you trust, though, someone who uses a deceptive term to protect your feelings as though you weren't very intelligent, or someone who's brutally honest? I know what I would choose!

I was going to write today's post about the benefits of giving air-popped popcorn to rabbits as treats. Was. Until I did an internet search about rabbits and came up with a person who wanted to kill their neighbor's dog because it was a nuisance and killed their cat. I know this is a rabbit blog, but I thought that definitely needed addressed that here.  Says they have to keep their cats outside because their mom has asthma. The question for me is, "who do you love?" One of them has got to go. Domesticated cats are not intended to live outside! One of them has, clearly, to go. The cats or the mom. Or the mom can ask her doctor for some anti-allergy meds.

Back to the question. How do I kill the neighbor's dog? Answer: You don't! You turn the neighbor in for violating leash laws or having their dogs out of control, but you don't kill them. The dogs are in the same boats as your cats! Unloved!

The point is, Rabbit meat breeders are often painted as heartless and cruel. Those of us who do it as, more or less, a hobby and for inexpensive meat aren't. We are often fond of our rabbits and treat our breeders as pets. People who would kill an animal because it's "inconvenient" are heartless.  I hope, for the person who posed the question's sake, it was grief talking and not the desire to take another life because of both owners' irresponsibility.