I've read that Upton Sinclaire's intent in writing The Jungle was to draw attention to the immigrant labor pool, and the horrific working conditions under which they labored, and the hobbling poverty that held them bonded to such wage-slavery.  Instead, the public's outrage turned against the meatpacking industry--perhaps rightly so.  Ergo, we have the creation of the FDA.  All of this is general public knowledge, nothing insightful or innovative.

What is surprising to me is how closely today's factory farms mirror the conditions that President Roosevelt responded to when The Jungle was published.  And I continue to be amazed at how the profit motive supercedes any humanitarian imperative when it comes to publicizing and/or regulating industry.  To illustrate, consider the viewer response to the following YouTube clip from a cruelty-free dairy farm, in which the (friendly) audience laments the fact that cruelty-free farming is just "too expensive":



Furthermore, I'm dumbstruck at the willful ignorance and antagonism from many in the public sphere.  The vitriol with which Joe (carnivorous) Citizen responds to some of the animal rights videos posted on YouTube illustrates my point while begging the question: why such an intense and violent reaction?  For example, the following 5 minute clip is accompanied by 7 pages of lowbrow "debate" about the merits of eating or not eating meat.  It's true that this particular clip is heavy on the pathos, perhaps eliciting the violence in response.  But this is only one of many, many examples I could have chosen.