Earthlings
I think this is a movie many people should see, but definitely won’t want to, and I’m definitely not gonna tell you to watch it. It is your choice. I guess it relates to the thread a couple days ago about posting graphic images. This movie is about factory farming, and other inhumane treatment to animals, not only for meat, but for pets, clothing, entertainment, and research.
So, like I said, viewer discretion advised. But if you have a strong stomach, and are interested in animal rights, you might want to check it out.
hahaha, no. they come from factory farms, in which animals are kept in tightly packed cages without enough room to move or breathe, and they get their beaks or horns or tails chopped off without anaesthetic, and get their fur/skin burned off their body often while they’re still alive, and are killed through inhumane and very painful ways…
Wow…I just finished watching Part One on pets. That last scene really got to me. I’ll watch the rest when I’ve got some time later.
A few minor criticisms:
I’m sure it was unintentional, but I thought putting the sufferagettes right after the KKK and Hitler and labeling the footage under sexism gave the (hopefully false) impression that the film-makers felt that women where on the “aggressor” side of sexism. I guess there really isn’t footage of “pro-male” rallies though.
While I am firmly opposed to factory farming and am a vegetarian mostly for that reason, I think it is imprudent to compare mass animal suffering to mass human suffering, at least when trying to persuade people with different views (or no views) on animal rights. PETA set up a display on our campus last semester with large posters doing just that - a lynching next to a cow on a meat hook, a slaughterhouse next to a concentration camp, a slave next to a dog on a leash. While from their perspective they were raising the significance animal suffering to that of human suffering, from the perspective of many minority groups on campus PETA was belittling the significance of human atrocities to that of mere animals. (Usually, when you compare a person to an animal, you are saying something about the person, not the animal). While I understand the point PETA was trying to get across, I think comparing one atrocity to another (especially ones within the last hundred years) is always bound to backfire as a persuasion tool. (As an “inciting” tool, it works pretty well).
probably posted before http://www.themeatrix.com/
(though I am neither a vegetarian, nor an animal rights activist -sorry I like bullfighting- I am still concerned by strange practices with animals)
One thing that will never change (like fighting wars or mans desire to get high) is the fact that man has always and will always use animals to his advantage. From the dawn of time, man has killed animals for food and clothing and always will. Man has domesticated animals for work and for food (I’m sure that PETA has a problem with draft horses not being treated according to union regulations). Animals are used for medical research that HAS led to cures for some of our most insidious diseases. The best that we can do as a species is to use these animals as humanely as possible. I think that a little activism towards that end is a good thing. I’ve never been big on extremism for any cause though. When you get two groups of extremists on opposite ends of the scale it’s really hard to find middle ground.
Regardless of “animal rights,” factory farming is evil if only because it creates polluted meat for human consumption. Even if you are the most ardently unapologetic carnivore, eating meat pumped full of poisonous chemicals should make you concerned.
