Sarah Palin Turkey Incident: Does TV Interview While Turkeys Are Slaughtered In The Background (VIDEO)

Some videos you just have to see to believe. On Thursday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared in Wasilla in order to pardon a local turkey in anticipation of Thanksgiving. This proved to be a slightly absurd but ultimately unremarkable event. But what came next was positively surreal. After the pardon Palin proceeded to do an interview with a local TV station while the turkeys were being SLAUGHTERED in the background!! Seemingly oblivious to the gruesomeness going on over her shoulder, she carries on talking for over three minutes. Watch the video below to see for yourself. Be warned, it's kind of gruesome.

Watch the video.

Comments

[RevSpaminator]

A lot of people seem to have lost the real joke here. Sarah Palin is oblivious to what is happening behind her on camera, that is what makes her comments so funny. During the whole election she's been oblivious to the fact that the joke is on her. No matter what she does now, the joke is on her and she'll never get it.

[Caroline4711]

She isn't oblivious, she looks at the guy at 1:58. And he actually says something to her. She knows exactly what is going on. She is now saying she didn't know what was happening and is blaming the cameraman for setting her up.

[lostjounin]

It was an interesting video. But seriously? Are you people all 5 years old? This is how the world works and if you want to just hide behind your silly plants and leaves, just shut up and leave all the good meat to the people who enjoy eating dead animals. I WILL be enjoying my turkey this thanksgiving, just like I have every other one. Turkey is yum... how it's killed is of no concern to me... we aren't turkey's, were all humans and we dominate this planet, the weak shall be our food. :)

[vdub4]

Ummmm...most people aren't protesting "how the world works..." So your "plants and leaves" comment is ridiculous. We are having a giggle at the irony...you get that...right??? LOL..."Are you people all 5 years old?" Really? You probably didn't get that the rap Amy Pohler did on SNL about Palin was a direct insult, either...did ya?! Thought not. Shhhhhh...turn FOX back on...relax. It's okay.

[Hansyp]

Funny you say that since there have been studies that showed that vegetarians are smarter than meat eaters:
"Recently, there has been one study from Southampton University that showed vegetarians were smarter and healthier than non-vegetarians. The study even controlled for the self-selection bias, as reported in the BBC News: A Southampton University team found those who were vegetarian by 30 had recorded five IQ points more on average at the age of 10. further analysis of the results showed those who were brainiest as children were more likely to have become vegetarian as adults, shunning both meat and fish."

[jmby]

Personally, I was repulsed by the way the animal was slaughtered, not by the fact that it was slaughtered. Sticking an animal's head into what amounts to a wood chipper and holding it as it's ground off is barbaric. For that reason, my family has made the decision to spend a bit more money to buy from local growers who raise and kill their animals in a more humane manner, and who feed their livestock things that humans would not hesitate to put into their own bodies. You are what you eat, and while I do believe that our bodies were designed to eat meat, I also believe that there is no reason for factory farming and raising animals in a way that is brutal, stressful, disease-prone and painful for them. Many Americans feel the same way, which is why Prop 2 just passed in California.

By the way, my issue with the Palin interview was her incredible obliviousness to the scene behind her, and her inability to project or understand how it would be perceived by viewers. I think it shows her lack of common sense and what she has repeatedly shown to be an emotional disconnect.

[wibblewitz]

jmby, great job in supporting local growers and healthy systems of raising animals. I raised and harvested my own turkey this year. A correction to what you think is happening in the video. The farmer isn't putting it in a woodchipper at all. He simply cuts the jugular veins and the shaking you see are the muscle contractions as the turkey dies. When we harvested our birds, the same thing happened. This method is still our preferred way to kill the birds. It is a serious thing to kill another animal to feed yourself - something not to be taken lightly. Based on the footage of the farm and this killing method, I would guess that this is a small, local grower who processes on the farm. The birds killed at factory farms and in commerical poultry processing plants likely have a much worse end.

I agree that the problem with this interview was Palin's unawareness of what is going on behind her. No matter whether you eat meat or how it is harvested, it is very silly to hold an interview in front of a process that most of us choose not to think about.

[deosil]

Damn, it´s NOT ABOUT HE TURKEY and HOW THEY ARE KILLED.
It´s about a person stubbling into one gaffe after another and her follwers telling how bright she is.
She lives in a vacuum of poor judgement...in the position (s) she is vying for that is VERY DANGEROUS.

l´ll say i again...George Bush is like a giant oil spill that will take generations to clean up and Sarah Palin is the SAME accident waiting to happen.

[Perridox]

I think this video and the reaction to it says more about our willful disconnect from the realities of "food" than it does about Sarah Palin.

I was raised in the suburbs and spent ten years as a vegetarian because it seemed (and is) hypocritical to eat animals if I couldn't bear to kill them myself. But this year, we raised our own turkeys. And we will be eating one of them for Thanksgiving. We feel that it is important-- if we are to eat meat at all-- to know how the animal was raised and killed and to be familiar with the process. The video shows the reality-- or a kinder, gentler version of the bigger, more impersonal slaughterhouse reality the supermarket turkeys endure.

If you can't bear to watch this, don't eat turkey, or buy your turkey from a local farmer who has taken the care to ensure it had a pretty good, free-ranging life and a reasonable death.

Since we started raising our own meat, I have a lot more respect for the process (which I've taken part in) and the animal. And I would never buy a turkey, or any sort of meat, that came out of the supermarket. That's were the real cruelty is.

I still wrestle with this issue, but the discussion above-- black and white and self righteous all over-- seems to miss the point.

Perri
www.maggiesfarm.blogspot.com

[Caroline4711]

I disagree, Perridox. The realities of "food" is not the issue here, it is the cavelier and offensive manner in which this interview was done. Palin shows no respect toward the very animals/birds that she frivolously talks about eating.

"If you can't bear to watch this, don't eat turkey": It has nothing to do with whether or not you are familiar with farming/slaughtering. I have been around it my whole life, and grew up on a ranch. But NO ONE who respects animals chats, laughs, drinks coffee and acts unfazed when slaughtering is happening 10 feet away. Not one ranch worker, on ours or any of the surrounding ranches, would ever do this.

On the one hand, people say 'well, that's her lifestyle, no biggie to her'. On the other hand they say 'well, she didn't know what she was standing next to'. Make up your mind. There is no doubt she knew; interviews aren't held next to funnels and bloodtroughs at turkey farms by accident.

Palin's actions disgust me.

[GaryFrancione]

For those who object to this because of the animal issue, I would suggest that such a reaction is a good occasion to consider our own behavior. If we are consuming animal products, criticisms of Sarah Palin are hypocritical. The situation is similar to the reaction to Michael Vick and his fighting dogs. Vick liked sitting around watching animals fight; the rest of us like sitting around a barbecue pit roasting the corpses of animals. In both cases, our exploitation of nonhumans can be justified by nothing more than our pleasure. No one maintains that it is necessary to eat animal products for optimal health (indeed, the opposite is true) and animal agriculture is an ecological disaster.

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20070822_Were_all_Michael_Vick.html

Gary L. Francione

[Leedox]

I can't tell you how happy I am to see that the only stories about Sarah Palin are ridiculous non pieces like this. So happy that she is at a turkey farm saying and doing stupid things and not picking out the drapes for the VPs residence.

[TongvaBear]

Your sentiments are shared by tens of millions of Americans, and about 4 billion others around the world.

By the way, I hear she's having Thanksgiving dinner at Mike Vick's house this year!

[UncleThomas]

OMG I LUV Gov P ! Absolutely LUV her !
www.draftpalinforpresident.com
www.TeamSarah.org
Happy Happy ThanxGvn 2 U & ur Family !
Blessings & Bliss
PALIN 2012 !

[callmemara]

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Mine was very good thanking God that He opened the door for Obama to walk through to the Presidency. Thankful also for all the laughs from the republican's selfish choice of Palin. Poor John lost his maverickiness and let himself be led by losers. Yep, Happy Thanksgiving to me!!!!

[rhetoricdog]

This was disturbing on so many levels. I can't believe she is such a knucklehead.

[jcollell]

I didn't know whether to laugh or feel sorry. All I can say is Ay yay yay. If the whole Governor thing doesn't work out for her she could try out for the Special Olympics.

http://www.youspar.com/

[stayinsouth1981]

Something about this bothered me. While glancing at my own Burberry purse, I realized hers is not a real Burberry scarf. Their plaid has a specific pattern although they may use different color combinations, it's a SPECIFIC pattern.

What else of Palin's is a fake?

http://www.burberryusaonline.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1862184&cp=2119969

[KarleyBarley]

A lot of people have fake Burberry.

[Borninsin]

Thanks for pointing that out. I'm relieved she's confident enough that she doesn't do the lemming label/logo thing.

www.naomiklein.org/no-logo

[Centaur]

The "Wasilla Hillbilly" strikes again! I just got through watching KO working her over on Countdown. It's hilarious!

[Gladys1963]

His reactions were priceless!

[copestir]

Figures. Maybe she was just looking at Russia across the road rather than what was happening behind her.

[vdub4]

TOUCHE! ;)

[victoriajubilee]

The fellow in the background slaughtering the turkey reminds me of one of those weird characters in the movie "Texas Chain Saw Massacre " I would fall off the chair laughing if he dragged one of his feet while walking.

[stayinsouth1981]

The original, "The Hills have Eyes."

[Borninsin]

Hey, he's a person doing his work. Pick on Palin if you're so insecure.

[blisterina]

This reminds me of French & Saunders doing their "Star Pets" routine!

[stayinsouth1981]

STAR PETS>> what.. I missed this. I have Every AB FAB but missed this somehow..

[blisterina]

Hi, stayinsouth -- It's not Ab Fab, but a French & Saunders bit from their show; their characters' names are Dot & May. Here's one on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p39V2Ml97nA

It's Jennifer Saunders mucking around in the background in some scenes that reminds me of this Palin interview!

[PoliticalPro]

If you haven't read "Quotable: Sarah Palin's Top 10 Bloopers" on http://politicalnewsconnection.com/ and you want a good laugh, I highly recommend it.

[PhatP]

Just like all the ills brought about from discrimination and oppression throughout human history animal exploitation utilizes the sad "might makes right" doctrine that allows one group to dominate another group without ever acknowledging the wrongful aspects involved. Racism, sexism, child exploitation, anti-Semitism and homophobia all employed the same prejudicial hype that because one group can discriminate and hold power over another that somehow justifies the oppression and brutality involved. Animals are now subjects of horrible abuse due to economic reasons disguising itself behind the mask of entertainment, science, food and clothing. None of the industries mentioned here require the use of animals as necessary in these modern times. Every reason for killing animals is now done for either economic purposes or for the sheer pleasure their deaths (eating them included) gives to humans.
Lets truly begin to bring about CHANGE and allow our footsteps to continue toward the animals of the world. There are many reasons (human health, global warming, water pollution, grain shortages) to stop eating animals but ending the violence and ushering in a new era of compassion is the best reason.
Go Vegan!

[rankola]

PhatP...your anatomical argument about our ancestral humans being herbivores is completely incorrect.

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/omni.htm

We are in fact omnivores. We do not possess fermenting vats in our GI tract, nor have we ever. All grazing animals (herbivores) have fermenting vats, carnivores and omnivores do not. The structure and function of the cranium and jaw also fails to support evidence that we were strict herbivores.

It is possible to raise livestock humanely and slaughter humanely. The more we consumers demand it the more the industry will change. It will also change our flesh consumption habits, as it will be a little more cost prohibitive, but this will also force us to diversify our diet

[PhatP]

Humans are great apes. Great apes in the wild are primarliy strict vegetarian. Gorillas the most physically powerful of the great apes are mainly vegan.
The majority of mainstream healthcare professionals today recommend a plant based diet as the most healthy diet for humans. If knowing that...my point is and has been...that we can choose not to eat and kill animals. Not to put them through such miserary and fear and pain.
Why even contemplate a humane slaughter of an animal (sorry but I've yet to see that)...when in fact the animal does not wish to be slaughtered?
It's not the ice age...humans now have a choice..so there is no morally justifiable reason to eat animals. That is my point.
Here is a link to the most comprehensive study ever done on diet. Read the results.
http://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html

[Gladys1963]

Very good link; thanks!

To add to this, human dentition has evolved for omnivorous eating, with teeth for both cutting meat and grinding plants.

If we were strictly vegetarian like other apes, we'd have abdomens as large as theirs. Just some of the traits that have evolved that differentiate us from the other great apes (although, I wouldn't mind being able to brachiate--would help during NYC rush hours).

It could also be argued that humans, as predators in the food chain, provide population control for prey species. Without predators, prey species starve and their populations plummet.

(As much as i dislike hunting for sport, we have unfortunately eradicated most natural predators and therefore have an obligation to those prey populations who suffer from their absence.)

We can absolutely choose not to eat meat, but those of us who have chosen to eat meat (or who have been advised to--I've never once been told to go vegetarian, and I've had GI issues my whole life so I've seen a lot of doctors) should not be condemned. Some of us omnivores fight for animal rights and are anxious to end animal cruelty.

Omnivores and vegetarians can coexist peacefully--and if we're not, then we need to find ways to do just that.