Earthlings
Posted on 20. Jun, 2009 by Sy in User Submitted
Words cannot begin to describe the emotion and hurt I felt watching this documentary. Within the first ten minutes I knew this was going to be incredibly difficult to watch. I’m surprised I managed to sit through the entire film, I actually injured my left eye pressing so hard whilst attempting to cover it and and not see some of the more graphic scenes. This documentary was released in 2003, although a lot of the information is out of date and inaccurate by today’s standards, the vast majority of this hard hitting, shock inducing documentary still holds true.
Earthlings is mostly consisted of undercover footage from slaughterhouses, animal testing facilities, breeding farms / puppy mills and circuses. The underlying message;
“ignorance is bliss, if we don’t want to know where our food and clothing comes from we can turn a blind eye or choose to ignore the truth all together to morally justify our consumption, usage and treatment of the animals who unwillingly gave their lives for it. “
I’ll be brutally honest. Before watching this film I was possibly one of the most ignorant people on the planet when it came to eating meats, mocking protesters, animal rights activists and vegetarians/vegans. I was close minded and living in a world of ignorance and denial.
This documentary opened my eyes to what I already knew happened in the world we live in. It forced me, or should I say, I forced myself to get a deeper understanding of the unimaginable pain and suffering these animals endure in order to feed our insatiable appetite.
I’ve never been so emotionally distraught whilst watching anything on my screen. Ever. I struggled the entire film and covered my eyes or just looked away during the vast majority of it. I found myself cursing the abusers, getting angry at the humans who seemingly enjoy this miss treatment of animals. The films message is a harsh look at the reality of our society and culture and I strongly suggest you watch this film for yourselves and leave me some comments on your thoughts and feelings. The entire film is freely available for download all over the Internet, Here is a link to the Youtube version: Earthlings – The Documentary.
Malfunkt
Feb 14th, 2010
Just finished watching the film.
One of the reasons why watching a film such as ‘Earthlings’ is difficult, is that we know we will feel bad, even guilty for being participants to this. It leaves people a bit confused and they are forced to rationalize their own behavior one way or another.
Consider this thought:
Imagine we could nourish ourselves with healthy sources of protein that are indistinguishable from meat, in appearance, smell, taste and texture. This alternative also exceeds meat in safety, protein quality, and cost.
Now imagine, that this source could be grown, much like plants, and that no animals need die or suffer.
Would you eat this alternative or would you continue to eat meat?
Watch this film and answer that question.
I can understand that for some, a vegetarian diet is already that source. I am not a vegetarian myself (or not yet), and I struggle with eating meat philosophically, yet I continue to do so. I plan on giving it a try at some point. At the very least I am reducing my meat intake and trying to make better choices.
I think many others desire change when it comes to how we treat our planet. We can adjust our habits somewhat or all together, and let us be conscious in doing good things for all Earthlings.
Our lives depend on it.