Last night Alisha and I watched a documentary released in 2005 called 'Earthlings' narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. It's a powerful film that shows the pain and suffering animals go through for the sake of food, fashion, pets, entertainment and medical research. It shows extremely disturbing hidden footage that was shot at animal shelters, pet stores, puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, the leather and fur trades, sporting events, circuses and research labs. Even though the material is extremely graphic and disturbing, I think it's important that it is viewed and not ignored. It's easy not to watch this kind of stuff and just look the other way, but I feel we owe it to the animals who give their lives to feed and clothe us to see how they are treated. It's truly gut wrenching. The overall message is that we are all "earthlings" sharing this planet, and that speciesism, is no different than racism or sexism. The way these animals are treated is just wrong.
I don't want this to sound like it's a post promoting a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Everyone is obviously free to eat or wear whatever they want and I do not judge either way. I choose a vegetarian (not vegan) diet for many different reasons, and watching this documentary certainly added a few more.
That movie is intense, way intense. I hear they are making a sequel to it, something about how we can all co-exist or something to that effect.
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