While vegans and meat-eaters disagree, we can all be united in our fear and hatred for the horror that is factory farming.

A farmer friend of mine told me recently about a busload of middle school children who came to his farm for a tour. The first two boys off the bus asked, "Where is the salsa tree?" They thought they could go pick salsa, like apples and peaches. Oh my. What do they put on SAT tests to measure this? Does anybody care? How little can a person know about food and still make educated decisions about it? Is this knowledge going to change before they enter the voting booth? Now that's a scary thought.

Land degradation did not start with chemical agriculture. But chemical agriculture offered new tools for annihilation.

On a grander scale, when a society segregates itself, the consequences affect the economy, the emotions, and the ecology. That's one reason why it's easy for pro-lifers to eat factory-raised animals that disrespect everything sacred about creation. And that is why it's easy for rabid environmentalists to hate chainsaws even though they snuggle into a mattress supported by a black walnut bedstead.

If everybody walks into the room wearing crutches you don't know who can stand on their own two feet.

You wanna get diarrhoea? Eat industrial food.

When faith in our freedom gives way to fear of our freedom, silencing the minority view becomes the operative protocol.