https://wapo.st/3yhvHi5
Florida and Alabama have banned lab meat, but some in the livestock industry fear the precedent of states deciding what goes on store shelves, and what can’t.
Because fascist conservative domination of society depends on a constant stream of fear, uncertainty, and doubt about an ever changing cultural opponent that unifies the dazed and confused in outrage against said real or fantasized other. Thus making them unaware of how much they're being abused and exploited while also mobilizing them to fight in defense of the same oppressors who constantly propagandizes them.
it's both and more. nothing is as simple as a soundbite.
the people in those states are afraid of "the liberal agenda". they're being told that the Democrats are gonna take their meat and force them to eat bugs and lab grown slop. naturally, they're completely unwilling to ever Even try any of this stuff they hate, but that's neither here nor there. this constant cycle of fear and outrage gets their votes. who should they vote for? the guy that promises he'll stop the other guy from force feeding you bugs, or the one that never Even mentions this clearly important election issue?
this particular fear cycle was likely created and pushed by the beef industry that is large and strong in those states. cattle farming is by far the most environmentally inefficient way to produce protein. it's like 10x worse than chickens which are like 10x worse than the worst plant. this is a common leftist talking point these days. it's part of the rhetoric. so the idea that liberals are going to come after beef isn't entirely just based on media lies. if they go out and try to find opposing ideas they'll find that the left hates their cows and wants them to become vegan.
and i mean, there are people on the left who would force that kind of thing on them. look at lemmygrad and the tankies. that's my key ideological difference with communism. the state shouldn't force these practices, but i also don't think it's realistic to believe that America is anywhere close to ever doing that. the only states that would ever use the law to force someone's eating habits for cultural reasons are currently using that to ban lab grown meet.
I, as a leftist in America, genuinely hope that one day lab grown meat will be as cheap, good, and available as regular beef while being more environmentally friendly. i hope that this gets some hardcore beef eaters to realize that flavor is more important than whether something died to make it. lab meat is already outperforming natural steaks in flavor because it's literally designed to have perfect marbling. if we just let this play its course, we could probably expect many of them to eventually switch over. it may take a generation or two, people are very stubborn, but it could be very good for many things in the long run.
this sentiment alone is enough to scare conservatives. they don't even need the media or big beef to scare them. we're doing that on our own.
just like ever issue, the reality of it is nuanced and gray. most people aren't willing to read that much or think that hard about their feelings. they'd prefer a string of tiktoks or political tweets that dumb it all down to one sentence.
if you ever find yourself saying "it's not that complicated it's just..." you probably need to read more into that subject. it's always at least that complicated.
edit: lol, literally in this thread someone pointed out another angle that i didn't. these states are full of people that work in the cattle industry. no one wants to see their town become Detroit.
Who is "they"?
As the article notes the largest meat packers are at least somewhat against this and are themselves investing in cell grown meat. The National Cattleman's Association stance on the issue, also noted in the article, boils down to "It's fine, it just needs to be labelled so consumers know what they're getting."
I think the only "they" we can define here are the Florida and Alabama State Legislatures.
If I was a Rancher, and I'm not terribly far removed from that, I wouldn't want cell grown or cultivated meat banned. I'd stand up a production center for it on my ranch right next to my cattle and sell both.
Efficient of inefficient, polluting or non-polluting, exploitative (for both land and people) or not, agriculture is still the basis of a large part of the world's economy.
If it were to collapse, I don't dare to imagine how many angry jobless people there would be and what they could do. If people in IT get laid off, no one cares, but farmers scary./s
Don't get so teary eyed. Farmers have been fucked by capitalism since the dawn of time. This is about corporate pockets, not about farmers. Farmers don't get laid off, they just die and nobody cares.
Thing is, it doesn't really matter. If lab grown works out, its only a matter of time before its cheaper and tastes better than farmed meat. At that point any laws against it are going to fall apart
I doubt it'll ever taste as good as the real thing, but I can certainly see it eventually being cheaper if we ever cut out the massive subsidies.
Well im no scientist so maybe someone smarter can comment. However if it becomes possible to design every aspect of the meat artificially then it seems to me that it's pretty much guaranteed that it will taste better. You could produce the perfect fat to meat ratio in every steak without the anitbiotics and animal stress that affect farmed animals
I think there will be a huge market for endangered animal meat. Imagine having dodo wings and a mammoth steak for dinner.
They're already on it.... https://theconversation.com/a-mammoth-meatball-hints-at-a-future-of-exotic-lab-grown-meats-but-the-reality-will-be-far-more-boring-and-rife-with-problems-203243 and https://www.primevalfoods.co/ are along the same lines.... Tiger tacos? I guess a gimmick that leads to less dead animals is a net positive, it's just such a weird world.
There's more to flavor and texture than just the ratio of fat to lean, not to mention the color. Consider farmed vs. wild-caught fish (especially salmon), pastured vs. caged chicken, grass vs. corn-fed beef, etc.
It's a false equivalency to use the comparison of farmed vs wild with any comparison to lab-grown protein. All your examples involve a living creature that's being restricted in movement, nutrition or some other life experience. Lab grown skips all of that.
That's exactly my point, it's a step even further in that direction, and will naturally result in a very different product.
True, I guess what i was imagining was an ideal scenario where all those aspects can also be replicated. Of course, maybe thats not how the technology works i really dont know
I mean impossible meat already does taste as good as the real thing. Beyond meat sucks though.
While I personally disagree, your opinion is valid; however, ground beef substitute is probably the lowest possible bar, and there are many other types and cuts yet to be replicated.
I think the important question everyone should ask themselves is how close does it need to be to outweigh the damage to the environment and the harm done to animals?
That's a great question. A cultural shift away from meat consumption would be the most effective means.
I've had plenty of plant based things that taste perfectly like the meat they are simulating. The problem was texture; which is one thing among many others this lab-grown meat is supposed to remedy because it is real meat that instead of being grown on/in a living creature, it was made in a vat of magical science liquid.
Without reading the article, I'm going to hypothesize that conservative are corrupt dumbass looking to "protect" big agro hundred the fuse of some bullshit about farmers.
We don't have competition in the US, only cronyism. Protectionism for those who stole their positions high up decades ago. No more competition in the sad USA, losing to China.