Planet Green’s The Fabulous Beekman Boys is not the stereotypical “look at the embarrassing city gays flail about as they try to hold down a rustic farm” television program many assumed it would be. This is a show with bloodshed!
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On this week’s episode Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell, whose business plan includes making soap and cheese and hoping Martha Stewart likes it, said goodbye to their pair of beloved pigs, Porky and Bess. They were raised to be killed (sorry, “harvested”) but that doesn’t mean the farm boys are any less sad about seeing them go.
Well, until they find out how many pounds of bacon they’re sitting on.
ron
Just riveting television!
Jesus, boys, grow a pair!
jeffree
You should never give a name to an amimal you will one day “harvest”.
Or eat.
Anybody who actually grows up on or near a farm knows this. There’s a huge difference between a pet and livestock.
Dollie
Didn’t even want to watch the video. Fucking disgusting.
Gert
If you’ve ever looked into the eyes of a pig, you know they have a soul. I rarely eat pork, but after seeing this I may never again.
Joseph
I grew up on a farm and we named our animals and then when it came time to slaughter them it was just understood that’s how it goes. We were never sad, we were excited to a steak or pork tenderloin for dinner! It was nice always having fresh pork, beef, and chicken etc. to eat whenever we wanted. This is a fact of life! You like to eat meat? Then understand where it comes from and how it gets to your plate!
Joseph
I grew up on a farm and we named our animals and then when it came time to slaughter them it was just understood that’s how it goes. We were never sad, we were excited to have steak or pork tenderloin for dinner! It was nice always having fresh pork, beef, and chicken etc. to eat whenever we wanted. This is a fact of life! You like to eat meat? Then understand where it comes from and how it gets to your plate!
Clint
Gross. Go veg.
Suzygoo
Brent & Josh-I have some fagalicious recipes that you can have. By the way, the next pigs, you have, name them Sodom & Gomorrah, not Bess or Porky. Why better call ’em Linda Lingle and Sarah Palin!
Sceth
“Animals … are a means to an end. That end is man.” [Immanuel Kant]
Relationships are important to people.
The pigs became important because of those guys enjoined “relationships” with them.
So the dudes caused their own pain. But pain is proof of living. Then again, per Nietzsche, it’s perfectly possible to feel the life-affirming experience and not be pained by it. Gay Übermenschen @Joseph: for the win!
Sceth
@Sceth:
*…because those guys…
Sceth
And in the name of sodomizing Jesus, couldn’t they have come up with more original names?
Gert
@Joseph: Cows are dumb and don’t bond with humans nor vice versa; same with chickens and lambs. I’m not proud to be a meat eater, but this clip shows that pigs really are as sweet and intelligent as dogs. We don’t eat dogs, now do we? My pig moment came many years ago when I was driving through Corsica and a bunch of pigs were lying on the road, sleeping. I pulled over the car and they all woke up and ran over to the car, tongues wagging and ears flapping for handouts. I didn’t have any but the mama pig walked right over and spoke to me with her eyes. “I am pig” she said. “Hear me oink.”
Dollie
@Joseph: , how obsessed is America with “meat culture” when one assumes everyone enjoys eating meat? Clearly, the majority of Queerty readers (myself included) who responded negatively to this clip expressed an obvious distain. I know how meat gets to the plate, hence my reason for rejecting it.
Pigs are more intelligent than your average three year old child. And, “intelligent” or not, all animals are beautiful and deserve nothing less than compassion. I do question the conscience of those who deem consuming meat “ok.”
Joseph
@Dollie: First off you assume I’m American when in fact I am a Canadian.
I did not assume everyone enjoys eating meat, you are not reading my words in the way they were meant. In fact I do not eat a lot of meat but I know where it comes from. The meat that I do eat comes from local organic sources like my parents’ family farm and very high-end butchers here in Toronto. I know that the cows, chickens and pigs along with various other animals that I choose to eat have had a good life and have been treated and raised with respect and compassion. I do not stand for factory farming. What the video showed us was a family farm.
The meat I choose to eat IS “ok”, I am an omnivore and as such I will continue to eat meat.
Ian
I wish more diverse programming like this show would be shown on LOGO, I don’t get Planet Green with my current subscription package.
Joseph
@Dollie: oh and by the way… pigs are omnivores too! A pig wouldn’t hesitate to eat a cat or chicken that mistakenly enters or falls into their pen. I have seen the fur and feathers left behind as evidence. They have no issues about it as far as I can see, why should we?
Ian
@Joseph: It’s the fact that we are omnivores that accounts evolutionarily for the size of our brains and inherent intellect. It’s not like tofu substitutes existed throughout history, we had to eat meat for protein.
Baxter
@Gert: A lot of people do eat dogs. I would.
Sceth
@Gert: It’s all well and fine that you pleasured yourself by interacting with the cute piggies. But piggies and men are just machines. It is in human interest to co-operate, and hence to regard humans as entitled to life, dignity, legal personhood, safety etc. So play with your animals but don’t expect or force other people to respect protoplasm just because it’s sentient. Souls don’t exist, and a sufficiently complicated robot can feel pain. There’s no such thing as “abusing” one’s own robot, or animal.
Ted B. (Charging Rhino)
Rule #12 of Farming….don’t name what you intend to eat!
Horses, cats and dogs have names.
Cows, calves and lambs get numbers.
jeffree
@ Ted B (#20) Thanks for saying that: I was starting to wonder if that “rule” about not naming an animal you will end up eating/ harvesting was just a regional tradition.
I eat meat, fish, cheese, eggs & I drink milk. If someone else chooses not to, I won’t try to talk them out of it.
I have shoes made of leather, plus watchbands, a jacket, belts, etc. If someone else wants to wear plastic shoes & coats, well, ok, do that.
I try, when possible, to avoid processed foods, and I eat organic when I can afford it.
But I try really hard to support local farms & I go to the local farmers’ market every Saturday, in season. I’m growing rosemary & basil & thyme on the balcony. We all gotta do what we gotta do !
Greg Theron
I can’t believe that even after how well they treated the pig, gave it a great life, went ahead and slaughtered it and ate it. That’s like “harvesting” your own dog and eating it. So disgusting, go veg. you whores.
Manny Manuel
I can’t believe those men would slaughter an animal they bonded with! There’s something sick about that.
alan brickman
Sociopaths?…
ksu499
One of the first rules of farming is “Do not name your food”. Ted B. is absolutely correct. We name the dogs and cats and everything else has a tag number.
Syl
Seconding KSU499 and Ted B. Plus, with meat chickens it was easier because they actually are less intelligent and active than egg-laying or show breeds, so I didn’t feel as bad about eating them. But killing and eating Clucky or Philamina? No way!
Carlton J.
It’s disturbing to grow a bond with an animal only to kill it…how is that any different than killing a pet? and killing a pet HAS been proven by the medical community as being chemically imbalanced and not at all healthy of the mind (snowballing to even more dsturbing tendencies…like killing of people)
My opinion is, it’s not about cute or fluffiness…pigs aren’t all that cute, but they ARE smart (as are dogs…as are people) and intellect should truly be the test of what meat you consume, IMO. Killing an animal that can do basic math (which many dogs and pigs have been proven to do, not to mention they also have the emotional capacity and mentality of a 4 year old child) is not my idea of ‘gooood eatin’ and unlike most humans on this planet, my family raised me to believe we’re here to SHARE the planet with other living beings, not destroy every single one of them except people (who, as this blog points out all too frequently, have far less compassion and love than many animals)
A.C
Having been raised in the South where people kill harmless animals just because they can and it’s “fun y’all” and they have no issue with skinning an animal alive to wear it’s dead carcass for vanity and where animal rights are seen up there with gay rights, neither of which hicks support…my obsession to be anti hick has gravitated me toward being for animal rights and realizing our fat asseses dont need nearly as much meat as we eat. Put the steak down and have a veggie, maybe a fruit…ever tried those in your lives or are you too busy killing and eating every creature alive? I always viewed people who don’t have respect for animals as people who dont have respect fro humanity and as i said above, often times same people who have no respect for gay rights or anything that doesnt involve being ignorant.
James
@Baxter: That’s disgusting. You’re a nasty, nasty person and only a DIRTY person would do such a thing…you should be ashamed of yourself…you’ve clearly never owned a dog and I HOPE YOU NEVER DO.
Eating a dog IS exactly like eating a young child, for they are capable of the same amount of tangible connection as a child. Not everything on this planet was made for you to eat. Diet…look it up.
Baxter
@James: Talk about culturally insensitive. You realize that people in many countries around the world, from China to Ghana to Switzerland, eat dog, right? And that you basically called them all dirty cannibals. Please never leave the U.S. because you’re the quintessential Ugly American.
Ogre Magi
If a Grizzly Bear killed and ate those pigs none of you would be bitching.
Greg Theron
@Ogre Magi: Because its natural for a “Grizzly Bear” to attack another live animal for food. Its different when us (humans) interfere with the natural life cycle.
Baxter
@Greg Theron: The claim that humans are naturally herbivores is a stupid urban legend. Humans are and have always been omnivores. As such, it is perfectly natural for us to eat other animals.
Similarly, the idea that everything humans do is “unnatural” is absurd. We are animals. We have evolved giant brains so that we can do stuff like make tools and domesticate other animals. It’s all natural.
Carlton
@Baxter: You DO sound dirty. Consuming dog meat is dirty, no matter how you try to convince a majority of the world that it isn’t. It’s also desperate, gluttony induced, and mentally disturbed considering the vast amount of meat out there to eat that don’t stem from highly intelecctual animals. Scrolling down and seeing you argue humans are animals, and animals of all kind are fair game to consume and it’s a moment of clarity to wish & pray you’re typing this from jail.
P.S~ My roomie is from Switzerland and laughed at the notion that people from her country eat dog meat…in her exact words “only nasty ass visitors from you know where”
Guess that would be you. Luckily in this country, and a vast majority of countries, eating dog meat gets you right in the jail cell which I’m hoping you are in.
Ionviolin-Music
Baxter: Just because something is a cultural tradition does not mean it should be accepted. I laugh when the PC Police assert “well, it’s a cultural thing, so it has to be ok, right?” Stoning is cultural in parts of the middle east, most specifically Iran where 126 people were hanged and stoned to death in town halls with people coming to watch as spectators. Cultural aspect….and an inhumane, barbaric one, just as eating dog meat in China is seen as (never heard people making fun of the Chinese for that? you probably were quick to blow your PC whistle)
As the poster above said, since you can’t respect our cultural traditions in America, stay out. Our pets will thank you for it, but I hear Vietnam serves some delish fried worms and grasshoppers. Go to town.
pete
I myself prefer the French Bulldog flavor over the English Bulldog. Can’t quite put my finger on it. And forget about Chihuahua – not worth the effort.
K.
@Baxter: In “many” countries? there’s an abuse of that word. there’s what, some 200 countries and common-wealths in the world and in virtually all of them minus a very small handful it is either a grand taboo or flat out illegal to consume dog meat. as an Asain, I want to correct people when they say we ASains eat dog meat. Simply not true as it is outlawed in many asian countries. from Philippines, where the animal welfare act made it illegal to eat dog or cat meat in 1998. South Korea has made it illegal to eat dog meat. China, one of your examples, has a propistion drafted this beggining year that would jail people for eating dog meat as the country is heavily moving in the direction of not tolerating the consumption/mistreatment of dogs and cats. the average Chinese person in China does not eat dog meat, I would know, I’m half Chinese and have family there. it’s only in remote parts they do, and even then, after the Chinese Animal Protection program formed which had nearly 50,000 Chinese signatures, consuming dog meat in China has been socially unacceptable with protests and boycotts of places that serve the meat. the media and especially young people are not favorable toward these places. it was an older tradition from long time ago. you may like dog meat, but please dont use all Chinese to fill that liking because most Chinese people find it gross and not right. don’t speak like you know all of us.
Baxter
Many Hindus think Americans are monsters for eating cows. Many Arabs and Jews would think it’s disgusting that you eat lobster or rabbit. Mormons don’t drink coffee. Some Hindus and Buddhists don’t eat onions. In many African countries, eating fish is taboo. The Japanese used to consider red meat disgusting. Different strokes for different folks.
I’m also curious, would you eat octopus? They’re as smart as dogs. But you’d probably eat them because they’re not all cute and fuzzy.
Carlton
And the common denominator between all those countries you @Baxter: And yet with ALL those cultures…the one common denominator is eating dog meat IS a taboo. Funny you should mention Swiss earlier, surprised no one called you out on your ill informed nonesense but in Switzerland the production of dog meat is illegal. Arabas and Jews believe in kosher/halal meat where the animal is killed in a very humane manner, and the life it leads is very humane as well, otherwise the meat is sinful and not to be eaten. Dog meat is not even feasable in either culture. As another posted pointed out, dog meat is not socially accepted within Asian countries as you’re dog hating ilk likes for people to believe it is. Only the uneducated and frankly, odd, eat it. In Hindu culture, eating ANY animal is frowned upon, as most all Hindus lead a vegetarian diet and by virtue of their religious beliefs eating dogs is abhorent. They respect animals as they do all living beings, so you literally picked the WORST example to quote. But then again, you are a rabid animal hater and as my mother always said, never trust anyone who says they are not an animal person.
“A nation must be judged by it’s treatment of it’s animals” Gandi
A.J
@Baxter: Dude, you’re arguing the acceptance of eating dog meat and how it’s okay…did you really think you’d have many on your side or have any fans? serial killers. look it up.
Ionviolin-Music
“Many Hindus think Americans are monsters for eating cows. Many Arabs and Jews would think it’s disgusting that you eat lobster or rabbit. Mormons don’t drink coffee. Some Hindus and Buddhists don’t eat onions. In many African countries, eating fish is taboo. The Japanese used to consider red meat disgusting. Different strokes for different folks.”
Yeah, and we in America think people are monsters for eating dogs. Different strokes for different folks is exactly right. You just used your own answer as your own argument. Other cultures find fault in what other cultures consume, so it’s perfectly fine for us Americans (and 98% of the world) to find in people eating dog meat. Looks like you need to read your own post and take your own advice bud, or do you have a problem getting a VISA to the U.S and that’s what your real gripe is?
Mel
@Baxter: Yeah, because octopus is not domesticated like a dog, which has been for thousands of years by people, you idiot. Also, an cotopus never called 911 to rescue it’s owner. An octupus couldn’t greet me at the door, bouncing off the walls in pure elation to see me walk in because it loved me so much. Like it or not, humans have grown an attachment for dogs, hence dogs are a man and in my case a womans best friend and will be forever. Were you attacked by a pack of dogs? would I be a bitch if I said I hope you were? lol.
Back to this original thread. As others pointed out, why would you name an animal for kill? Seems strange and heartless.
Baxter
@Carlton: Selling dog meat for consumption in Switzerland is illegal, but eating it is not. People in the Appenzell and St. Gallen regions eat dog.
Greg Theron
@Baxter: Haha, you sound like a Prop. 8 supporter when you talk like that. I would love to see for a human to catch, and kill and animal with his own hands. Just don’t consume too much red meat, or else no one would want to top a guy who has colon cancer.
j.c
@Greg Theron: Baxter’s sad an ex chose a loving dog over his face. Sad sorry little soul still crying over it, and clearly not skipping any meals with all this meat eating talk. LOL. Fatty without a heart.
L.
Against my better (animal) instincts, I’ll throw in my $0.02 despite the heated atmosphere.
We are omnivores, as evidenced most easily by our dentition (and it’s actually interesting because few animals are.) Also, land prey have side-facing eyes, to better survey possible attack angles – while hunters (and non-prey, non-carnivores) have front-facing lines of sight.
Now, that we naturally are made to consume meat is one thing, and that we elect to eat any – or none – is another. There’s a whole spectrum of reasons why, from religious to personal. I have in the last years tried to eat less, because of the environmental impact of meat production – but I know full-well that I love it too much to ban it completely from my diet. (And yes, veggie friends have pointed out to me that’s they think it’s the biggest hypocrisy of all, that I should pick a side instead of pretending to balance on the fence.)
As for eating dog meat, evidence would tend to show that most societies have consumed some at one point or another, but at the same time that it was probably never the meat of choice, and in most cases due to lack of other meat sources (for instance most recently during the siege of Paris in 1870-1871.) But societies have turned against eating dog (and cat) meat as the animals changed status from a helper animal (herd guard/mouse killer) to that of pet.
And last but not least, it is thought that one of the sources of the unspoken taboo about dog meat is that humans do not generally consume meat of land carnivores.
boredwell
Porky and Bess?! That’s the first clue somethings amiss on the farm. And with the farmers. Don’t name animals that are destined for the dinner table. As for those affirmations of porcine love well they are as synthetic as the word “harvesting.”