Billie Eilish Was Right, the Meat Industry Is Panicking, and a Calf Saw a Butterfly | Rising Anxieties

Uh, and don't forget we're a podcast, we're on YouTube. Subscribe, hit like wherever you listen. And I was gonna start off by talking about this Kenny Torella article, which I think a lot of peop- I mean, this, this has been all over the place.

Well, the topic, maybe not Kenny's article in particular, but the topic of Billie Eilish, and, uh, God, don't you just love her? And, and, uh, "The Backlash," the name of this article, which was in Vox, "The backlash to Billie Eilish's vegan comments explains a lot about the American left and everyone else. Why are American leftists so reluctant to confront the meat industry?"

I think clearly because of the same reasons that everybody else is. I actually am working on a Substack about-- that incorporates this, but it's kind of more about how, how they used to give reasons for why they, they, they wanted to eat meat, like it's good for you and whatever, and now they kinda give excuses.

I actually think there might be something in that, not just in this instance. But in this particular instance, you probably know that Billie Eilish, the singer, uh, put on, on, um, I think it was in an interview, uh, a video interview that, that, uh, she was asked, "What, what's one hill you would die on?" And she said, "Y'all not gonna like me for this one. Eating meat is inherently wrong. Sorry, you can eat meat. Go for it. You can love animals, but you can't do both."

Finally, somebody just saying it. It's so refreshing, isn't it? So she did-- she got this huge, huge backlash, which, you know, I, I think it's possible that some of it was orchestrated by the industry.

You know, you never know. But it seems to have been sincere, and it's-- she has a-- Her, her following is, is largely on the left. And, uh, so the, the comments were from, from a left perspective. And as this article points out, what was unusual was that the overwhelming opposition to Eilish's argument didn't come from who you might expect, like carnivore influencers or conservative political pundits, it-- pundits, pundits... instead, it mostly came from users who seemed to be on the far left of the political spectrum, like Eilish herself. And, uh, you know, you can imagine, if, if you're not familiar with this, uh, criticizing veganism as, uh, colonialist or anti-Indigenous. Um, uh, the-- you know, my favorite, there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, which I guess means that as long as we have a capitalist system, you can do whatever you want.

Like, huh? More importantly, though, he points out, those responses reveal that many on the left use political slogans to avoid honestly confronting their individual complicity in supporting one of the most violent and environmentally destructive industries on the planet. Well said, Kenny. Well said. The, the favorite one was about Indigenous people who have been known to hunt.

Like... Like, are you an Indigenous person? Are you hunting? Are you buying factory f- like, do, do Indigenous people enjoy being used as an excuse for people's bad behavior? Uh, I don't know. I really doubt it. Um, the-- a lot about farm workers. Uh, you know, apparently it's vegans' fault that, that farm workers, um, in, in plant-based industries like fruits and vegetables mostly, that's the most intensive labor, uh, area, um, are treated horribly.

They are treated horribly. I think we should all do something about it. I'm not sure that eating meat is the solution there. It seems like an odd one. Um, you know, privilege. Right? Uh, he goes into-- y-you need to read the article 'cause he goes into, like, all of the counterarguments, which I don't have the patience to do, but-- or the time.

But, uh, yeah, I, I actually think-- I mean, the thing I'm trying to write about, this is part of it but not totally, is that I do think, as I said, that the, the, the, the opposition is more, um, giving excuses for why they eat meat than giving explanations. It used to be like, "Well, it's good for you," and, uh, you know, and there's still a lot of that out there.

But in these particular instances, it seems we've gotten past-- I mean, these, these arguments are pathetic. I think that's kind of a good sign. Am I being-- you know me, I'm known for being overly optimistic. Uh, just kidding.

Um, all right, from Watt Poultry, use of the phrase, quote, "city folk" doesn't endear the ag industry. This article is hilarious. It's by Roy Graber. "Our words matter. You shouldn't use words that signal disinterest in making a connection." Uh, and it's referring to the fact that a lot of people in the industry-- the-- it was based on this talk that this woman gave, um, at some animal ag conference. And, uh, she, she said, like, maybe people in the meat industry should be a little bit more careful about what they call their customers.

"As the general population becomes less familiar with and less trusting of agriculture, your words matter." Um, and, uh, city folk is one that, um- that she pointed out was, you know, maybe you shouldn't be implying that people in cities are complete idiots and don't know anything when you are the ones who are, uh, deceiving everybody.

Uh, one day she posted on X, asking the Agriculture Committee to consider stopping use of the term city folk, and she got like th- this whole, this whole program today is about social media storms, uh, because, um, she got surprising reactions, quote, "With social media users saying demeaning things about city folk, often mixed with profanities." Yeah, uh, welcome to the meat industry, folks, and its supporters. That tracks. That tracks.

All right. Our favorite, Hannah Thompson Wieman, has written an article for Meating Place, uh, called Wolves in Farmer's Clothing. This one is actually good. I should've put this one fir- well, no, those other are good, too.

This is a real concern, and you know, this is really indicative. She's worried about the fact that the, um, animal protection folks have actually formed some alliances with, uh, certain farmers. You know, um, sometimes called small farmers, but as she points out accurately, size really isn't the issue.

But, uh, farmers using, you know, less inhumane practices or whatever. And, you know, sometimes it drives us all crazy when we see animal protection organizations doing that, but apparently it drives Hannah crazy, too, and that's gotta be a good thing. Uh, she starts out by saying, 'If you've spent any time watching the policy and advocacy landscape lately, you've likely noticed a growing trend, organizations presenting themselves as champions of farmers and ranchers while advancing agendas that tell a very different story.'

And the, the image that she wants to convey is that animal agriculture is of one opinion on everything. The, the opinion of the big folks is the opinion of everybody, that they are all together, and if they are saying something different, they're, they're, there's something corrupt going on. Uh, that's not how it is, you know?

They're worried about their, their, uh, their coalition splitting. Uh, I, I think this is really interesting. "Some of the, these organizations have limited or unclear ties to actual livestock producers, yet they are actively working to influence policy decisions that directly impact animal agriculture." And why shouldn't they?

Like, like, we're all allowed to do that, Hannah. The only people making ag policy is not limited to people who are in ag or who are only sort of in ag, who are only slightly in ag, or who have a different opinion of what ag should look like than you do. We're all allowed to chime in.

"In certain cases, leadership and funding connections trace back to established animal rights activist networks." Oh my God, those sneaky animal rights people. They want animals to be treated better. Um, all right. The, she points out that, "legislators may assume they are hearing from the broader farming community."

Yeah, legislators are really, uh, uneducated on who has the money. Um, and they, they might think that, that these perspectives reflect the majority of the US farmers and ranchers when they don't. Um, yeah, or maybe they just agree with them, and they don't think that the majority of US farmers and ranchers, like, are really the best people to be taking advice from.

I don't know, maybe. It's just a possibility. "But here's the reality: big does not mean bad." Uh, yeah, it actually does. It's all bad. Um, increasingly common anti-corporate framing, uh, deserves a second look. She doesn't want them going after the big guys, clearly. Uh, and the bottom line is this, she says, "It's imperative that we look beyond the facades of these groups present to understand..."

sorry. "It's imperative that we look beyond the facades these groups present to understand their true intent. The second look at who is speaking, who they represent, and what they are ultimately advocating for can have real implications for policy decisions that shape the future of our food system."

I love the idea that there are cracks within, I mean, there always have been, but that they are big enough and troubling enough and loud enough that, uh, that Hannah's getting upset about it. Yeah, that's, that's only good news.

All right. This, this is interesting. Really interesting. This is from Drovers: DOJ, USDA ramp up antitrust investigation into Big 4 beef packers.

I have two antitrust articles this week, and the federal government is going after some folks in agriculture, and I'm like, "What?" That just surprised me. Of course, listen to this, to the Big Four beef packers. This is-- They're going after the slaughterhouses and, you know, the meat packers. Uh, but, you know, they're basically the slaughterhouses, and then they pack up the meat um the, the dead bodies.

Uh, and as the federal government settles with Agri Stats over data sharing, so there was already that, um, antitrust action. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Secretary Brooke Rollins launch a high-stakes investigation into beef market concentration and potential price fixing. So clearly, some sides are being taken within beef and, um, clearly the Trump administration is on the side of the ranchers.

And, uh, ranchers... uh, "Today we're here to talk about our, our progress here at the Justice Department to hold meat packers accountable," Todd said. Federal officials allege price fixing and collusion may have contributed to higher meat prices for consumers while also limiting competition within the cattle industry.

I mean, they're looking for somebody to blame for the price of beef, which I guess people are really upset about. I keep hearing it's really expensive, but people are still buying it. Like, people are idiots. Um, all right.

Todd goes on to say, "In the beef industry, the Big Four processors control over eighty-five percent of the beef processing market. Two of the Big Four are primarily foreign-owned."

And, uh, this should be interesting. Uh, I'm not sure it'll work out in any way that's good for any of us or for animals, but, you know, it's interesting that, that there's this feud going on. Um, we're saying that if you co-- Oh, I love this part. They're setting up a whistleblower, um, campaign for pe- I don't know what kind of inside information, but they presumably think that people in the industry have inside information, and they know that people who work in this industry are not just gonna come forward for the good of the, the world. So they're paying them.

They're saying if you come forward, and if your information results in a finding and a conviction, and the amount of money is over a million dollars, which in this industry is not a very high bar, then you stand to recover up to thirty percent. That is pretty sweet. Maybe we should all get jobs in the, in the beef industry and rat on them.

All right, there's another article here. Uh, and it's... I, I don't know whether it's related or not. Rollins links herd decline to regulatory pressure. There's a lot going on about there's not a-as many cows as there used to be. And she's trying to b- well, wait till you hear what she's trying to blame it on.

Uh, the low herd size inherited, they're still blaming everything on Biden, but that's not what I'm talking about. The low size inherited by the Trump administration can be attributed to a variety of factors, she says. The biggest one, at least from our perspective, is the radical left's ongoing assault against ranching as a way of life.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God, it's your fault. Congratulate yourself. Um, of course, it has nothing to do with climate change, you know. "For years, they used climate alarmism to wage a war on cattle in America, and when you pair that with droughts, wildfire"... The droughts and wildfire are the cli- are the same as the climate change.

It's the climate change that causes th- but she thinks they're different. There's alarmism about climate, there's droughts, there's wild- there are wildfires. They're all totally separate entities. Also, over-regulation from previous administrations. You know how tough the government has always been on the cattle industry.

And volatile markets. Like, whose fault are volatile markets? This is how we have ended up here today, with what she thinks is not enough cows, and this is what they're going to do. They're gonna open more federal land for grazing. Yeah. Giving away our land. Um, implementing new Product of USA labeling rules.

Uh, I, I'm not sure I have a position on that. Maybe I do. I just don't know what it is. Supporting small processors through a grading pilot program, and updating dietary guidelines to emphasize the role of meat in the American diet, not because it's good for you, but because we want to support... I mean, I'm saying this, not she is. Because th- we want to support cattle ranchers. These people are scum. They really are.

All right. Chickens. US egg producers face antitrust suit amid HPAI... that's, uh, uh, you know, um, bird flu. Amid HPAI bird flu questions. The DOJ is preparing a civil antitrust case against multiple large egg producers. This is about the producers.

The last one was just about slaughterhouses, but this is actually about the producers. But the supply shock driving the allegations was largely due to federal policy. This is by Meredith Dawson, and she is horrified. Well, she's annoyed with the federal government doing this. The three producers that they're going after, the big ones, um, Cal-Maine, Versova, and Hickman's. And, uh, according to this, the Trump administration has been direct about the use of antitrust enforcement to address US food prices.

They're trying to do something about how much-- how expensive food is. And but she points out that all of the depopulation, i.e., murder, killing, um, slaughter, uh, mandates, were, were the driver of these significant price changes, and it was the federal government that made them kill all of the hens the entire flock once bird flu appeared.

So there's a lot going on here, but the implication is that that was overreach by the federal government, and that bird flu is just one of those things. Well, the egg industry is at enormous risk and is causing risk to a lot of others because of bird flu. It's not the federal government's fault that there's bird flu.

But she wants to blame the federal government for how much it costs to address bird flu. Uh, like everybody here is just touting their own side, and, uh, it's all sleazy. "Additionally, as I wrote in a recent blog post"... That's not me, that's her... "the DOJ sued California and Michigan over their cage-free sales bans, which doesn't do much to stabilize the egg supply or help producers."

Again, this real- really strong support for cage... The, the industry seems to, or at least the portions of the industry that I'm seeing, seem to be totally in support of cage-free. Uh, they're in. Uh, maybe it's just because it's, it's become so big at this point. But, uh, you know, obviously there's still a lot of producers who are not yet cage-free.

Uh, obviously there's a lot of controversy within our movement about the benefits of cage-free. I mean, there's a whole lot going on. But the fact that she's writing in strong support of not doing anything to harm the cage-free industry, um, indicates that's a pretty strong industry position.

All right. Finally, I have, um, I have one of those whiny ones. Whiny ones. It's from Hordes Dairyman, which is frequently a source of a whiny one. This is from Courtney Henderson, who is a Virginia dairy farmer. "I gave up today." That's the name of the article. And she goes through this long litany of, like, how hard her life is and how hard her day was, and, "As I sat there, I let the world sit heavily on my shoulders. I thought about the never-ending list of things I needed to do."

These people think they're the only people who work. Oh, God, it was, the cattle had to be vaccinated and she had to order things, blah, blah, blah, who cares? Oh, "There was just no way we could afford fertilizer." You know, fertil- the price of fertilizer has gone up, we're all gonna starve. Um, "With milk prices as low as they have been, sure, I could sell off some cows, but at what point does that do more harm than good?" Uh, it ac- there, there's a lot of harm to the cows. All of a sudden, you know, there's that moment where they really care about the animals, and then they're talking about selling them off to save some money.

"Sitting there with my mind racing, I suddenly heard a calf bawl from the hutches below the barn. I snapped out of my thoughts and watched as the little calf and a butterfly played. I chuckled as the butterfly flew off, leaving the calf in a state of confusion." Yeah, I bet the calf is confused. The calf has been taken away from his or her mother, put in a hutch, one of those little, probably one of those little plastic containers with a little tiny space out in front, and saw a butterfly.

It was probably the most exciting... I, I kinda wanna cry. It's probably mo- one of the most exciting things that's happened to the, to the calf in a really long time, 'cause not much happens when you live in a hutch. And, you know, gave her, gave her a thrill. Really gave her a thrill. And, you know, it was mostly about how, how much she really loves herself.

"The world may be closing in around me, but these animals depend on me to give them food, shelter, and love day in and day out. The most important thing is that they are cared for. Everything else can wait. I can worry about the prices later. For now, I must shake the world off my shoulders, put my head up, and keep weathering the storm. Tonight, I can give up, but they will need me to hold it together and give them care tomorrow, and that's just what I will do."

I mean, maybe I'm not supposed to be so mean, so I'm not gonna say anything about it. I mean... I mean.

Anyway, that's it for this week's Rising Anxieties. I hope I didn't make your anxieties rise too much, but, you know, that's what I'm here for.

Thank you for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe, like, comment on your favorite podcatcher, on YouTube. Don't forget to watch The Hen Report and the Our Hen House interview. If you can, we always appreciate if you can donate and become a flock member ourhe- ourhenhouse.org/support.

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