Earthlings

• “It all comes down to pain and suffering. Not intelligence, not strength, not social class or civil right. Pain and suffering are in themselves bad and should be prevented or minimized, irrespective of the race, sex, or species of the being that suffers.”

This was near the very end of the documentary, and this was where I learned that the documentary and the event hosting it have two different messages. Earthlings focused on how we are all creatures of this planet and yet we show no sympathy towards the killing of inferior species. Also, like humans, animals express degrees of emotions ranging from loneliness to pain and suffering. It promotes a humane peaceful way of thinking from the audience, asking us to open our eyes and be more aware of what the system is doing.

• “[…] it’s no wonder that Mad Cow Disease … Foot and Mouth Disease … Pfiesteria… and a host of other animal related abnormalities have been unleashed on the human public. Nature is not responsible for these actions. We are.”

Earthlings brings up another interesting subject in the quote I provided. Even though the documentary’s main focus is about emotion, the health and environmental impact can be further studied in the documentary Cowspiracy. The idea suggests that our process of killing animals is the cause of several harmful treatments to the environment, and therefore, new diseases are created. This is absolutely possible from a scientific standpoint. However, a scientific problem must require a scientific solution, not an emotional solution. If we wish to prevent these diseases from forming, we must go straight into the horrible industry practices that are being done, instead of looking towards the food-eaters and asking them to not eat. The consumers make little influence in this big picture. You wouldn’t try to combat global warming by asking people to not drive that much. No, you would instead cut carbon emissions.

One of the most conflicting things I had with Earthlings was that it doesn’t really have a stance or an argument. It keeps bringing up terrible things for us to watch without really suggesting a call to action at the end (The call to action CANNOT be “Therefore you should not eat meat and be vegan instead”). Over time, as I kept thinking about it, though, I concluded that it’s alright that Earthlings doesn’t have a call to action. This is because its *only* agenda is to inform. There is a common saying: “The first step to solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” I’m happy that Earthlings serves well as the first step.