The proposed end of the world is upon us, Muslims have finally taken Subway. Well, actually, 185 out of their approximately 1500 UK stores sell all-halal meat (that's around 12%) and have replaced pork products, such as bacon rashers, with turkey substitutes.
If you don't know what halal meat is, (click here for a better explanation/more details) it is the Islamic process of slaughtering meat by draining the blood entirely from the animal. The animal must not be harmed prior to slaughter (so, that rules KFC out), and must be killed quickly. It is also turned to face Mecca and the name of Allah or a prayer is spoken in order to thank God for the meat. For those with limited imagination, it's probably where James Cameron got the inspiration from for the grateful slaughter scene in Avatar.
Anyway, here is how the likes of the Daily Mail and the ever-ridiculous Britain First has sensationalised this practice and are using it to create hatred towards Islamic customs. The Daily Mail wrote
"Traditionally in halal abattoirs the throats of the animals are cut while they are fully conscious - an act many campaigners say is inhumane and needlessly cruel."
Although said campaigners have mysteriously* (*conveniently) not been named, I would also like to question the apparent "inhumanity" here. Firstly, there is no evidence that halal slaughter is more painful than conventional slaughter (please do read Mehdi Hasan's thoughts on this, here). The halal-slaughtered animal "quickly loses consciousness" from having its throat slit, whereas in other slaughter it is essential that it is rendered unconscious with a shock before death. Now, I'm not here to debate whether being electrocuted or cut is a more painful way to go - the fact is it is slaughter and it can never be nice. Moreover, the Subway meat is going to be stunned prior to halal slaughter, so why are you whining, exactly?
What I'm concerned with is that these so-called animal rights defenders don't seem to care that barn-laid chickens have their beaks removed at birth, for instance, or that in battery farms they have absolutely no room to flap their wings, and can barely do that because they're bred to be top-heavy and are generally disabled. I don't see anyone crying over the conveyor-belt slaughter process which 'conventional' slaughter thinks is fine, or the animal cruelty battery animals in particular face. I apologise for ranting, but if you're so bloody worried about animal rights become a vegetarian. Animals are consumed on a systematic basis and that is a fact.
But, I don't see the DM, or any of these people who allegedly care about the poor halal-slaughtered animals, giving a shit about any of this. That's because compassion for animals in this scenario is just a facade for Islamophobia. We can witnessa similar sort of proud nationalism and Muslim-smearing in campaigns like this banned BNP video, which dehumanises Muslims to an un-precendented and frankly disgusting level:
(If you want to get through the video, probs best to turn the sound off, that child singing haunts my nightmares.)
But it's not just nutters like the BNP who are hating on Muslims. 'Respected' Atheist Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) has been waving the flag for ages, what with his previous scoff at the numbers who have been to Oxbridge, he recently (5th May '14) retweeted a really informative post. I was unable to embed said tweet, but here's the picture.
I suppose this represents the entirety of Muslims in Science presently? Great that you have used such an unbiased, logical, professional argument there. It looks like it's been put together on photoshop by me, for god's sake - only I wouldn't be seen dead using Comic Sans. But, I digress.
To me, halal meat tastes no different to any other meat, so I cannot comprehend the outrage of people who object to its use in supermarkets, Pizza Express or Subway. And, as for the dreaded loss of pork, why not go to the other 1,315 stores which still sell it. But, I understand for the likes of Britain First, the BNP, UKIP and the Daily Mail, it is the principle. "They come over here, they eat what we eat!" amiright? Well, tell that to the 33,000 or so other *American* Subways in countries all over the world.
Get more deets from Subway right here.
