This is a machine.

At least, that's the view of a typical Korea farmer, according to this article: http://blog.ohmynews.com/vjmars/142348.

When interviewed by the reporter of the article, the farmer who owned the pig farm called this female pig a "machine."

What pigs do out of frustration and boredom, when confined to gestation crates with barely room to move, is obssessively chew on iron railings. That's what you see here--a sentient being under stress chewing on the iron that imprisons her.

(The sad eyes of this pig look out from another tiny enclosure, as it stands on a hard and filthy concrete floor. It has never known anything natural. The railing here bears the worn signs of chewing, too. Pigs have to endure these conditions their whole miserable lives.)

The article on this farm is not focusing on the abuse of animals or inhumane treatment by farmers. But what it nonetheless illustrates is the typical attitude of farmers in Korea. Worse still, it gives us an insight into a kind of industry standard, something that has wide acceptance without questioning.

(A life that knows nothing but crammed confinement, steel and concrete.)

We cannot blame the farmer entirely for his ignorance. He's a follower. What is truly at faulty here is something larger--the cruelty of industrial factory farming and the meat eating that supports it.