Given the advent of new, more humane slaughtering techniques, it's good to be a (insert word or phrase here) in America

Ahhh, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you. Or, more specifically, I've finished American Chicken. And it is something to behold.

Consider first the chicken itself:



Now that, my friends, is a chicken. As they say at the University of South Carolina, "Go Cocks!"

And we've only begun to fight. Consider the matter of the whole piece:



Obviously moving the copy has made it a more formal piece. But the piece de resistance is the accounting of dead chickens drawn to the right of each line of copy. Attention, as Willy Lohman's wife once said, must be paid.

Plus the metaphorical implications are vast.
Yes they are. I can think of several provoking antecedents for "chicken"
Do you think that's the right word? Antecedents?
Meaning the real thing for which the subject or object of a metaphor is holding space?
Yes.
No.
No?
No, I don't think it's the right word. But it's not a bad word, given the situation.
No, it isn't.
Thank you.
My pleasure. What, if you don't mind my asking, might your list of antecedents include?
Oy gevalt. The mind reels.
Mine too. And likewise my colleagues.
Okay, here are a few: Democrats. Poor people. Prop traders at places like Goldman Sachs.
Fair enough. I'm sure there are more.
Sure. Quants.
Despite today's article in the Times.
Exactly.
Have you ever read "Lost. Six of Six Million"?
The book?
Yes.
Yes I have. Stunning work. Why do you bring it up?
Because every time I look at that painting I think of the Holocaust.
Oy. Now I'm enjoying it a little less.
I know. It's like Leni Riefenstahl if she was a painter.
Stop!
Or Art Spiegelman.
Stop!
I know. I'm just saying.
Well stop.
Okay.