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Slaughterhouses 193 the lives of animals?’ We also accept Nibert’s (2002, p 150) argument that, ‘ language is a powerful tool in rationalizing and naturalizing injustice’ Humans use language, often expressed through dominant discourses, to make them/ourselves superior to (other) animals We define language as a system of communication, discourse as the human mobilisation of language, particularly words, and dominant discourses as those that are common, popular, socially acceptable, ‘normal’ and ‘natural’ prescriptions for living For example, when applied to people, butchery describes macabre and grotesque acts of violence However, animal abuse is so normative that when applied to animals, butchery is a term that manages to be emptied of violence Butcher shop signs are proudly displayed and being a butcher is still a relatively esteemed occupation Sleights of hand work in the slaughterhouse too As Pachirat (2011, p 30) outs it, ‘Here there occurs both linguistic and material manufacturing: the fabrication department is a site of production, a hidden workshop floor where the linguistic leap from steer to steak, from heifer to hamburger is enacted’ The seemingly simple act of naming a being helps to constitute individual uniqueness, whereas allocating them only a number does the opposite Naming and individualising helps to recognise sentience and suffering In ‘Othering’ animals and viewing them not as individuals but as groups (of cattle for instance) we deny them grievability As Butler (2004) points out, to ensure that someone is considered grievable they have to, first, be seen as irreplaceable One of the most basic linguistic manoeuvres is to turn individual animals into ‘livestock’ and ‘cattle’ Always interchangeable ‘cattle’ ‘sheep’ and ‘chicken’ become nameless, faceless and indistinct from each other This helps translate cattle into meat, if not the further de-identified ‘protein’ As Piazza et al (2015) argue, this is then further embedded culturally as seen in the Ns— necessary, natural, normal, nice—that rationalise discomfort around meat consumption Challenging the Injunction that Humans are Meant to Eat Meat Mainstream media plays an important role in the promulgation of shared language, which is used to constitute normality and determine the existence of violence Commercial advertisers who use outlets such as television, radio and web programs to reach mass audiences, are usually well aware of the leverage language, in particular, engaging turns of phrase or memorable sound bites can have for how products are perceived, thus whether they are purchased and consumed Consider for instance, the language ‘meat
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