Do you eat meat? Do you wear Leather or Fur? Do you use products that have been tested on animals? Have you ever been to a Zoo or Park that has trained animals to perform? Do you have a Pet? If so you must watch the documentary Earthlings (linked below) I came across it by accident whilst stumbling and was surprised that I had not heard of it previously. It’s fairly old at this stage, being released in 2003, but it is still as shocking and eye opening today as it ever will be.

Narrated by Jaoquin Phoenix, it details the harrowing truth of how humans rely on animals for everything from their entertainment, to their clothes, to their food. It also shows the behind the scenes of what actually happens to these animals to turn them into that pair of Leather boots you wear to that slab of meat you chew through on your plate. It shows the life a lot of these animals have to endure before finally being slaughtered in some of the most callus, inhumane ways I have ever witnessed. My gut is made of iron but this movie not only brought me to tears in parts but also made my stomach literally do somersaults.

There are scenes of how in India, to deal with a problem of too many stray dogs they just started throwing live mongrels into trash compactors or how in China there are Fur factories where they skin the animals whilst they are still alive. Then there is also the footage of how Cows are killed to make their meat kosher, the scene was so disturbing that I won’t even detail it.
People might say “Why would you choose to watch that?”. Well, I’m a meat eating, leather wearing, Zoo going human. While I accept that this video is sensationalized and that the grotesque  acts might be unique in some cases, I can’t deny the fact that animals, the world over, are being slaughtered on a mass scale every day. Am I confident this is all being done humanely? Far from it. One of my biggest gripes with the world is ignorance. How many people do you think would go to the meat counter and buy lamb chops if above them they had a video of the lambs actually being slaughtered.

I thought about this and it started to make sense to me how inherently, as humans, we know the killing of animals is wrong. We make up myths like “Animals don’t feel pain” or “They are too stupid to know what’s happening to them” so that we don’t feel so bad about what we do to them. Also, here’s a test, if you think you and your Friends are ok with viewing animals as food, next time you have a dinner party, put on a video of someone sowing and reaping vegetables whilst you eat those vegetables. Then as you eat meat, put on a video of the animal of that meat being slaughtered, see if yourself and your friends are still able to eat it. Why is there this difference? It’s all just food right?

The documentary also goes on to draw comparisons between the raising of animals as merely a product and then the mass culling of them as being similar to the Holocaust. Initially I thought this comparison was rediculous and insulting to the Jews and humans that suffered the Holocaust, but when you try and think about it from the perspective of the documentary it does make sense. The documentary is trying to get the viewer to not think of themselves as a Human, but rather as an Earthling. As an Earthling you share a commune with every living creature on this planet, and if so you will then view all animals equally, whether it be a group of Humans or it be a group of Birds… etc.

For this reviewer anyway, i’m still a meat eater, but does my conscience twinge everytime I eat meat now? Yes. Will I ever give my money to a Zoo or Circus again? No. Will I eventually become a Vegan? Probably. This documentary has definitely raised quite a few questions in my mind about how I should view mankinds position in this world. We have the ability to show compassion and the means, at least in the first world, to exist without using animals for testing, food, clothes and entertainment.

Leo Tolstoy As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.

Source: isawearthlings.com

Google Video: Earthlings