The Mercies of the Wicked

This morning's paper had a big article about some farm in the county south of where I live. There investigators found starving animals living on top of more than 100 rotting carcasses. And that was just the barn; a nearby septic tank held more carcasses. The county prosecutor said that this was the worst case of animal cruelty he has seen. (Marion, Indiana, Chronicle-Tribune, 13 April 2013, p. A5).

Two owners of the farm tried to explain away the condition of the farm and its dead as blown out of proportion, and the media as over-exaggerating. They should have shut their mouths: Are they so wicked that they cannot understand that their farm was in such a state that the county was forced to intervene? Are they so dense to not see that the state of their farm proclaims their evil, or at least their incompetence? At best, the legal expenses the owners will incur to fight off the charges of animal cruelty and neglect will force them to sell their farm. At worst, they will face jail time, too.

And yet, news of this farm evil could not have come at a more auspicious time for Senate Bill 373 in the Indiana General Assembly, which would make it illegal to disseminate photographs or videos documenting agricultural or industrial operations without owner consent. What happened on that farm is the very thing that people who take photographs of farm conditions are trying to expose. Now, whoever is trying to push this bill along will be associated with those wicked, cruel farmers. It is not likely that SB 373 will survive, no matter how much money and pull are thrown at it.

BTW, the title comes from Proverbs 12.10: A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.