The Degredation of Man

The documentary entitled Earthings is one of the most emotionally powerful films showing the complete degredation of mankind around the world. As a southerner growing up in Texas, I completely identified with the issue of racism that was discussed in this class. The idea of speciest, however, is shocking to think that it applies to humans in every country of this planet. Watching this film left me in complete shock at the amount of pain we inflict on the animals we share earth with for superflous reasons. "Its nonsense to say that animals do not suffer because they ahve a lower order of intelligence. Pain is pain, conveyed by nerves to the brain, and tehre are other nerves than thsoe of inteliigence.... nerves such as sight, smell, touch, and hearing. And in some animals these nerves are much more highly developed than in man" (593). In India where the cow is sacred, natives sell their livestock so that they can be slaughtered in another country. Muslim faiths do not support humane slaughter and prefer to slit the throats of animals throats. Fur farms send electric shocks anally through animals to kill them that is not always sucessful the first time. In Europe and the US, we encourage these horrific behaviors by being avid consumers of leather and meat.





I spent half of the movie staring out our classroom window trying to avoid the horrific images portrayed on the screen. Halfway through, I realized that my actions mimicked that of most Americans. We avidly consume meat, purchase leather products, and wear fur, yet we refuse to see the reality of the pain that we inflict upon these animals. However, the words of this documentary pierce through your ears and demand your attention regardless if you see the images ore not. I feel as though if this film were viewed by every US consumer, meat consumption would drastically decrease. It's just that strong.



My reactions to this film would probably mirror those felt by locals who saw the reality of the Jews plight during the Holocaust. "Animals as victims are often 'voiceless,' with little or no attempt by others to advocate on their behalf. Historically, the Jews, for their part, were often silenced, ignored, and disenfranchised" (741). Like the image below, Earthlings contained startling pictures and video footage that will make the most immoral human question themselves. This image shocks us because we are killing humans. So why is acceptable for this kind of behavior acceptable for animals?