Earthlings

Have you ever seen a movie that completely changed your view on something? I remember back when I was in high school, and I saw Platoon, with Willem Dafoe, Tom Berenger, and Charlie Sheen. Now, I was always a non-violent type, and never had aspirations to join the military. But after watching Platoon, I basically made it a point to never work for a company who's end product was meant to kill people. That ruled out a lot of companies for me after I graduated from college, but I stuck to my guns, because of the impression of that movie on me.

It's happened again. See the movie "Earthlings" narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. It's a documentary about the role of animals to humans. It's divided into sections on pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and science. It's hardcore. And like Platoon, it's very powerful and influential to me. I found myself saddened, shocked, and surprised by many things I've heard of, but never witnessed firsthand. In combination with "Food Inc." which is another movie I highly recommend, this hammered the last nail on the omnivore coffin for me. I'm a vegan now, that is my conscious choice. It's for health and for peace of mind, like I said before. But, it's also for something else I can't put into words. Something that "Earthlings" influenced on me.

The website and forums for Earthlings have comments from many people, and isn't it great that we have the freedom and diversity to have so many opinions? They range from people not caring at all, to people that think that tomatoes bleed, to folks that think that religion is worthless. I guess you can have any type of reaction to this movie. For me, it's complicated.

My initial reaction was sadness. Sadness for the animals, of course. How can you not feel that? I won't go any deeper, because it must be seen and experienced, words can do it no justice. But I also felt sadness for the people involved. Their behavior many would characterize as inhumane. I feel sad for them, maybe because I don't work where they work, I don't live their life, I am completely ignorant to their upbringing and backgrounds, and ultimately, I can't comprehend their actions. But, even more than that, I'm saddened by the lack of humanity. "Humanity and Humane" are defined as "the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence" and "characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals". After seeing this movie, it's hard for me associate humans with humanity.

See the movie for this reason, to answer this one question. And I keep hearing Joaquin Phoenix say this over and over again, "so...where's does our food come from?" Get a glimpse, understand the answers, dig for more information, then make your conclusions.