The most recent episode of the This American Life TV Show, called "Pandora's Box," covers Three stories of consequences that follow from human beings' doing what we do best: poking our noses everywhere, fixing things that may or may not be broken, and opening our big mouths. A hot dog stand in Chicago unleashes dark forces in the human soul; and scientists try, unsuccessfully, to create perfect pigs. The first act is about an Iowa pig farm:Our film crew goes to Iowa to investigate the ever-increasing role genetic science is playing on the modern pig farm. But once on the farm, some on the crew find out that there are things about pork production that, well, they don't actually want to find out.
We got the idea for this story from a great article in Harper's Magazine by a reporter named Nate Johnson. He came with us on the trip, as we drove all over Iowa to different farms and research facilities. It's very sad, though there's nothing I didn't already know. But, it gives you a great insight into modern pig farming and how weird and scary it is. The sound guy even says that he's going to stop eating meat, because the circumstances screwed with him so badly.
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