Monday, March 16, 2020

This show must not go on



Two years ago I was "forced" to attend the Royal Easter Show for work, and for me it was a chamber of horrors and an exhibition par excellance of our complete commodification of animals. I recall seeing an extremely large man with a face as hard and as frozen as granite, in jeans and an Akubra (cowboy) hat tugging a show calf along by his/her nose ring, to an uncertain fate, probably first as a trophy and later to the slaughter house.

One of my clients wanted to see all of the "cute" animal exhibits. We went into a large hall where crowds thronged, and reached an enclosure where several women, also in jeans and akubra hats held squealing piglets upside down by their hind legs and invited the crown to feel the baby animals soft bellies - " from which gloves are made" they commented. One girl in the crowd asked why the piglets were squealing. "Oh that's just the noise they make" explained a pig woman.


After my client had ooohhed and aaaahed over the goats, chickens, sheep and pigs he got hungry, so he headed over to the food court where he bought himself a massive pig sausage, dipped in batter, and deep fried. He ate about two-thirds of it, but it was too much for him to finish so he threw the rest away.

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