High drama

During the last year the entertainment industry has stepped up its portrayal of agriculture in a negative light. So many of these attacks are based on unsubstantiated information and emotional pleas. No doubt you've seen some of these television episodes, like the couple who dined at a fashionable bistro and died —one from a fast-moving E. coli infection and the other from botulism. The show's detectives determined E. coli originated in a water supply on a cattle ranch and ended up in the woman's salad. Her dining companion contracted botulism from genetically engineered corn. Plenty of other anti-agriculture episodes have aired along with talk-show programs that also target farmers and ranchers, especially on their care and handling of livestock. One particularly outrageous television show featured a character who tried to convince her friends to help her save a pig from becoming bacon. Laughable? Hardly. And when another character refused to participate, she was accused of ignoring the "alleged" ugliness of animal production. What's going on here is "high drama" in the entertainment business. Unfortunately, viewers watch this programming and ratings are high. Hollywood has taken irresponsible liberties with the truth and turned farmers and ranchers into villains...more