How is it that the people who make America's food don't have enough to support themselves? John Oliver goes in on the state of chicken farming in his latest episode of Last Week with John Oliver, but instead of focusing on the treatment of chickens, he talks about the treatment of chicken farmers.
Oliver talks about how chicken is so popular among Americans that it's become our standard for comparing all other meats: alligator tastes like chicken, armadillo tastes like chicken, etc. There's nothing like that for the other senses, Oliver notes—no one says, "Everything looks like tables!"
And yet, despite how much chicken we produce, many contract farmers (independent farmers that raise baby chicks for large meat corporations) live below the poverty line. But when asked to comment on that number, Bill Roenigk, a National Chicken Council representative, argued in Congress that farmers should not have gotten into the chicken farming business if they "didn't think it was a very good business to begin with."
"Wait, 'Why did you let us f*ck you over?' is not a defense for f*cking people over!" says Oliver. Truer words have never been spoken.
