The taboo of killing

I recently was part of a discussion panel where one of the other panelists represented the farmer's union, traditionally the "opposition" to the vegetarian organisation I work for. The woman in question was not happy with the way figures and statistics about farming, the environment and animal welfare were being used and abused. She suggested that the consumer should see an objective movie about the food industry, preferably without words or voiceover, and should decide for himself what to make of all the practises. I agreed and told her that we might even work together on this, but that we should show *everything*: the entire lifecycle of the animals we eat, including the act of slaughter.
She seemed to hesitate a little bit and then gave me a line I have heard numerous times before: people are alienated of the act of slaughter. They are horrified by it because they aren't used to it anymore.

I was thinking: should we get used to slaughter? Is there anything beautiful in killing animals? Aren't there things that we should try to make sure never to get used to?