-ism.

"As often has Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: In their behavior toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplify the most extreme racist theories the principle that might is right."

- Issac Singer (1904-1991), Enemies, A Love Story

What started out as a test of mental discipline, turned into a conviction after watching a feature length documentary by Joaquin Phoenix about the interdependent relationships of us humans, with animals and nature. It is Earthlings.

I tried watching Earthlings again. And as before, I cringed and I paused the video several times including several 15minutes intervals (several times X 100!) before being able to continue watching it, even after watching it once before. It is too much for me to handle. I shut my eyes, turned away too little too often watching it. And yes, I cried. Those who read my previous blog, would probably read my post on this topic before, and here I am, for the second time sharing it with you guys. Hopefully, it'll enlighten you as how it did for me.

But watch it on your own discretion, for the content is indeed very graphic.

Part One : INTRODUCTION



Part two : PETS




Part three: FOOD




Part four : FOOD/CLOTHES




Part five : CLOTHES/ENTERTAINMENT




Part six : ENTERTAINMENT




Part seven : ENTERTAINMENT





Part eight : ENTERTAINMENT/SCIENCE




Part nine : SCIENCE/CLOSING




Part ten : CLOSING/CREDITS

Now, posting this documentary is not meant to dissuade you from eating meat or to pick up a broccoli and throw it at the next person eating a steak. I believe that most, if not everybody who watched even a segment of this documentary could at least agree, it is somewhat inhumane (although perhaps necessary) and just because I'm vegetarian, it does NOT mean that I deem myself holier than thou. It was my choice, as it is your choice to practise whatever diet or lifestyle of your preference, and I respect that. But I draw the line at eating exotic animals prepared "exotically" just for the "kicks" of it. Yes, I glare in disdain at these "adventure" seeking individuals.

To be fair, it is with most certainty that this documentary (or any video about the slaughter, torture or suffering of other living beings) will evoke powerful empathetic emotions (save you are mentally disturbed and devoid of the ability of empathy and compassion. In other words, you're a psychopath) however it must also be understood that in this ridiculously fast-pace, ever-growing demand market society we live in, what we saw in the video is almost unavoidable.

Now, before you throw carrots at me and calling me a hypocrite for actually showing somewhat of an allowance to such atrocity, please. Let me explain. Or try, for I myself sometimes find myself in between contradicting thoughts hindering me from taking a firm stand on this.

Eating meat for example. Of course there is a need to kill cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, dolphins if you want to have your burger, steak, kfc, hot dog and dolphin sukiyaki style. Where else do you think your meat comes from? As much as we probably hoped, no, they do not magically skipped the process of being killed before appearing to us readily, and much to our convenience without the gore on supermarkets display.

And for the animals to be confined in a relatively small area, well, with the lack of space and the dire need to meet the demand of our growing population, how else should it be done? Today, everything needs to be mass produced; clothes, toys, cars, and even food. And this is how it works as we face trade-offs in making everyday decisions. There are more mouths to feed today than 6 decades ago. Therefore, the need for more beef, pork, poultry and the likes. And in order to produced so much more in a shorter time, we need to produce through large scale CAFO (Confinement Animal Feeding Operations). I suppose it is necessary, in terms of economic gains, resource efficiency and what not. I think.

So while I cannot stand looking at animals getting slaughtered, I suppose I could understand the need for it. But what repulses me, what I abhor, is when we take joy in inflicting pain on these helpless living beings that we render weaker and at our mercy!

Honestly, I think that the system understands that animals do feel too, they do feel pain because they are living beings too, therefore, should we need to kill them, do it in the least painful and fastest way possible. However, I suppose due to ignorance, laziness, greed, sloppiness and even lack of compassion, some people just couldn't care less to adhere to rules that were set. And that I cannot swallow.

I suppose, a few of us would turn our heads away when it comes to talking about how animals are slaughtered. Perhaps it's a sensitive subject matter as it involves gruesome killing. And well, we wouldn't want to ruin our appetite, no? But for the food which we generally, often take for granted, we need to know where and how it came to be our meal. I don't think that we should plead ignorance any longer. Not only when it comes to speciesm, but in all aspects in life.

It is late.

And I am going to stop here for now (even though I only touched mostly on one fragment; eating/food)

Pets, clothes, entertainment, science, I'll cover another day. When I muster enough courage to finish watching Earthlings. And to do sufficient research.

Good night.