Meat is Murder vs. Meat 2.0

The soundtrack of this blogpost is #ROFFEKEOFFICIALSELECTION2016 "Don't Eat the Cow", a tongue-in-cheek vegetarian anthem by Graham Perry.

Sacred cow, I want you now!
I need you in my casserole!
India, Australia,
The poison just-a keep affectin'

In her article titled "Meet Meat 2.0: the future food "farmed in labs" Amy Au writes: "Convincing the most committed carnivores to compromise is hard. No one wants to be finger-pointed at what's on one's own plate." Meat is not just a personal choice issue. It does also touch on a numbert of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals):

SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
"remaking meat is one sector of the food industry that is ripe for innovation and growth." - Bill Gates.
SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Amy Au informs us that: "While the livestock sector supports livelihood of one billion of the world's poor, and its products provide one-third of our protein intake, it poses serious threat to our environment: it is responsible for 14.5 percent of GHG emissions, 29 percent of total water footprint of agriculture, and occupies 30 percent of the land surface of the planet."

Mooooove over! You gotta make room for the cow!
Mooooove over! You gotta make room for the cow!


Meat is Murder
Director(s): Elodie Desperes and Stephane Elmadjian
Duration: 9mins 32 secs
Country of Origin: France
Reviewer: Josephine Koima

When you first google search ‘Meat is Murder’, the first thing that pops up is the 1985 studio album by The Smiths, by the same name.This short film is a music video by rock star James D. Lee.
The beginning of the video features an off-screen conversation between two people (possibly women) who discuss their love for meat.’ Eating meat is like making love actually, it feels good. Especially when it’s all rare and bloody juicy Meat is awesome’. However, the music is nothing about loving meat. James D. Lee starts by chanting ‘Meat is murder’ followed by strumming on his electric guitar, a sound that reverberates over the lush field on which the simple video is set. One can feel his brokenness and distress as he shouts ‘Meat is murder’. Apart from the lyrics of the song, attention is turned to the beautiful visual elements e.g. the horses grazing, long paths, the vegetation which is made possible by wide angle shots. There is also a close up shot of the amplifier buttons.

Various rock stars and fans oppose any kind of animal killing, whether for meat, or sports. E.g. there was a 10,000 strong petition to ban the band Metallica from performing in Glastonbury (in 2014) due to frontman James Hetfield’s support for bear hunting. It is somewhat counter to the genre’s origins as an excuse for all-purpose carnage and desecration. As Paul Lester wrote ,’Is there an essential contradiction in rock’n’rollers – supposedly synonymous with destruction and teenage rampage – siding with things ethical, moral and good? And can a clean, pure, meat-averse friend of the furry make a credible rock noise? Rock should be savage – but can it embody the feral while denying its primal urges?’ From The Guardian.

Going back to the Smiths, there’s a line in their song that goes, ‘The flesh you so fancifully fry is not succulent, tasty or kind-it’s death for no reason, and death for no reason is murder.’ Perhaps, this 80’s rock band serves as an inspiration to James D. Lee in his own composition.

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Going back to Amy Au's article, she writes: "Since the live animal is eliminated from the process, lab grown products are free of antibiotics and growth hormones and is, of course, cruelty free. They also use less land, water and energy, and emit less greenhouse gases."

Whatcha gonna do when the price goes up?
Whatcha gonna do when the meat runs out?

Graham Perry’s “Don’t Eat the Cow” has a dash of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ funk, a few blades of Bluegrass and a healthy dose of They Might Be Giants’ beautiful absurdness. Read a review of “Don’t Eat the Cow” and the other songs in Graham Perry’s album Jambon Gris, here.