Perspective monologue

PERSPECTIVE

INT: A DINING ROOM.

Claire and her family are sitting around the table. Claire's plate of chicken is sitting untouched in front of her.

CLAIRE

I'm not trying to be difficult, Dad. Mom makes great chicken. I'm not saying…okay, look. This isn't just a decision I made up to get out of eating dinner. Do you know how stupid that sounds? Ugh, I'm not calling you stupid. I'm just saying…

Okay. Did you know that Americans eat eight billion chickens a year? That's so many chickens! When I read that I thought of that Joseph Stalin quote? The one that goes, "One death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic"? And I thought, "Why am I thinking about Joseph Stalin when I'm reading about chickens?" And I realized that it's because we are causing a genocide. But not even a genocide. We're not trying to wipe out chickens. We're breeding them so they can lead miserable, hormone-injected lives inside filthy cages and never see the sun. Then we slaughter them and eat them or even just let them go to waste. That isn't right. There's no way that that is a moral thing to do.

It's not like you can tell me that chickens don't feel pain. I know they're not smart, but neither are babies. That's kind of not the point, right? They don't think much, but they can be afraid and it hurts when you chop off their stupid heads! And, like, if we were killing kittens then people would be freaking out, but we're not, even though kittens would probably taste just as good as this stupid chicken!

Sorry, Mom. Don't…don't be mad at me! No, don't cry, your chicken doesn't taste like kittens…I assume. Look, ughhhh, just listen to me, okay? I'm just trying to give you some perspective!