On The Witness and Earthlings
I wasn’t feeling well yesterday. What better time, than when you’re already miserable, to watch The Witness and Earthlings? Actually, I saw The Witness twice, as I sat my husband down and sort of made him watch it. I’m looking for films to show my crowd, and here’s what I think:
The Witness (One man’s journey from regular guy to activist guy who focuses on fur. Simple, clear, 43 minutes long.)
- There are people in my social circle who own fur coats. I’m probably not the person to deliver the anti-fur message, but I can show The Witness to a couple of people who might then be able to sit those women down to watch the film.
- For people like my husband, who always found fur creepy and disgusting when draped over humans, it was useful because the subject of the film, Eddie, always brings the message around to cats (and dogs) and how pigs are just like cats, cows are just like cats, and animals slaughtered for their fur are just like cats. He easily makes this connection, and does it with sort of the wonder of a child who just discovered something. He is never condescending or self-righteous. He doesn’t raise his voice. He is not full of rage. Instead, he is full of passion to educate people and work against a hideous injustice.
- I told my husband ahead of time when an image was coming that he might want to look away from, but he watched every frame of it, and yes, he cried. He gave it a thumbs up and thought it was a good introduction to vegetarianism for people who already think fur is unacceptable. As you know, many people who are against fur aren’t vegetarians because they’re not making simple, inconvenient connections. They think fur is the most egregious example of violence against animals. But The Witness doesn’t allow you to walk away without at least pondering whether the "production" of fur and meat are all that different.
Earthings (A spectacular message, spelled out for the truly obtuse, followed by over an hour of relentless, horrifying images, with a repetition of the original message at the end. 1 hour, 35 minutes.)
- I know exactly zero individuals who will be able–or at least willing–to watch Earthlings, in its entirety, in one sitting. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do that; it’s sadistic. I will, however, suggest people watch 10 minutes at a time. Or maybe one chapter at a time (that’s how it’s set up).
- I have a couple of issues with Earthlings.
- First, the anti-speciesist message at the beginning, referring to racism, sexism and anti-Semitism, and the connections between slavery and the Holocaust and our treatment of animals are fantastic. Prior to the five chapters of animal suffering, I think the connections that are made are well done and clear, accompanied by some beautiful images (and some ugly ones). But then the message becomes all about the suffering of the animals, and abject cruelty by humans, and any we-shouldn’t-be-using-them message, for me, takes a back seat. One could easily come away, I think, saying "Boy, we’ve really gotta change the way we do that," rather than "We shouldn’t be using animals."
- Next, the message about cats and dogs is that we are "forced" to kill them, by the millions, and I don’t believe we’ve been forced to do that. I think we’ve chosen to do that. And the focus on ways to kill them sends the clear message that we should be giving them lethal injections rather than other, more painful methods. I would rather have seen something about not killing them as the most humane option instead. Because of the way the film is structured, it’s easy to skip the part on pets if you’re watching with someone else who is already against breeding of any kind. (That’s another thing: there is an anti-puppy mill message that is clear, but not an anti-breeding one.)
- I really do think it’s worth it for every person on Planet Earth to watch the first 10 minutes of Earthlings. You can do it online, right now, at Google videos.
As for recommendations for the pamphlet, I can now remove Earthlings from the list, as, for me, there are too many compromises. If the chapter on pets was done differently, I think I’d feel different. As for The Witness, I’ll leave it on the list. Again, the connection between cats and animals we kill for their flesh or fur is priceless. (And for you all, the ironic moment at the end where the woman wearing a leather coat is upset by what happens for fur coats won’t pass you by as it would most people.)
First time commenter here. Love the blog!
I've had somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth for Earthlings because of those same issues. However, I still recommend people watch that film in its entirety. I don't see the difficulty in explaining our qualms with the film to others once they have watched it. If they're understanding enough to watch the film and not ridicule it, then they should be able to comprehend that non-human animals shouldn't be used by us at all.
I'm the only person I know that has watched Earthlings more than twice. I've actually watched it 5 times pratically all the way through each time. It is definately hard to take in, even after already watching it.
Welcome, Joe!
I can't believe you got through that 5 times. I'm probably going to have to, as well. As far as recommending it, like you said, if I'm there talking about it, that's one thing. But I'm almost finished with an abolitionist pamphlet and I wouldn't feel comfortable with the blanket recommendation: Tell people to watch this. The caveats, for me, are too important. But I will definitely use it in my own life, with commentary.
🙂
I do not comprehend how or why Earthlings (and the whole genre that movies like this represent) have become the singular genre for "educating" people about animal rights.
I rented Earthlings a while back—completely ignorant of what I was about to see. Not only could I not make it past the first 15 mintues, it made me angry: Do we not have more respect for ourselves and the animals whose lives these movies exploit? (And by the way: while there's some content in "The Witness" I find objectionable and unnecessary, it's still probably the best movie we have).
Why is the world do we show explicit violence and torture in an effort to end it? To me, it's all pornography, and frankly it condescends and presumes a lack of intelligence on the part of other human beings (and I don't buy the oft-stated defense that it's because "it works!"; that's not a plausible defense, in my mind, when it's the *only* tactic people employ). Truly, I am disturbed and ashamed by the activist community and its lack of imagination when it comes to using these violent videos, which are designed to appeal to people's emotions: they are designed to evoke blinding rage. Who walks away after watching Earthlings with a sense of compassion, a desire for social justice? No, people walk away bitter and angry, and someone please tell me how this is ultimately useful? Is that really the bottom line, what we want: people to become vegan because they can't bear to watch someone suffer and die on film? I want people to become vegan because it's a natural extension of human compassion; because being vegan is taking responsibility for our place in the world; I want people to become vegan because of a sense of social justice, a desire to inhabit a world where humans, at every opportunity, make the decision to be our very best, and rise to our fullest potential. I want people to become vegan because they see the arbitrariness of the value we place on life. I want people to become vegan because it becomes obvious that all beings possess intrinsic value (it isn't necessary that we comprehend how and why; that's the beauty of this life)—and is worthy of respect and freedom from intrusion.
On a side note: I know many activists confess to becoming vegan because of a film such as Earthlings, or because they watched one of Gary Francione's violent, graphic, bloody slide shows; I often hear these same people, years later, talk about needing to watch one again—in an effort to recapture the passion, as it were. If we took to the streets with an articulate, intelligent message; if passed out Vegan Starter Guides (like the absolutely fabulous ones that Friends of Animals already produces!), for instance, that weren't filled with the dead bodies of cows hanging off meat-hooks, what would animal advocacy look like? I can't believe animal activists aren't protesting these films, rather than promoting them as if they are visionary.
I know I am a broken record with this, but I still think Lee Hall's "Capers in the Churchyard" is the most important book on animal advocacy I've ever read, period. I wish it were required reading of everyone interested in animal advocacy. I know of no better definition of animal rights than Lee's [this is from page 61]:
"The advent of animal right's philosophy in a truly radical, egalitarian form would defy millenia of social conditioning. It is, in essence, the repudiation of violence, of seeing others as instruments to our ends, of taking advantage.
"The advent of of animal rights philosophy would mean the most comprehensive peace movement ever known. Not only would it turn swords into ploughshares; it would dedicate those ploughshares to an agriculture of peace."
Dustin Rhodes
Friends of Animals
Dustin,
Tell me how you really feel.
🙂
Here's the thing, as I see it. I'd love to say that the average person is bright enough, open enough and interested enough to change his or her life in such a dramatic way because of a really good line of reasoning. This isn't me being a misanthrope, but if so many people can't adequately meet the needs of their dogs, whom they claim to love, how on Earth do we think they'll be able to grasp meeting the needs (freedom from us, for instance) of animals they don't even care about?
Unfortunately, I believe that much of humankind is developmentally delayed, at least with regard to morality. And I do, unfortunately, see the utility of the barrage of hideous images in Earthlings. With that said, I also think it's a mistake the way the makers of Earthlings strayed from their own initial message into the hellish bowels of every imaginable kind of suffering. Clearly, I am ambivalent.
I don't know anyone who became a vegetarian or vegan, other than my husband, who did so without being exposed to horrifying images of abuse, and a couple of friends who did so to lose weight. Oh, and there's the friend who thanks Jane Goodall for her conversion. So there are some–I recant. But I want them to be vegans, and I'm not sure I care how that happens. Some change goes from the outside in. You change your behavior for one reason, then once it has changed, you develop a personal ethic that reinforces it, and that ethic is different from the initial reason. That's what I see. Once someone's going in the vegan direction, I do talk about nonviolence and speciesism, but frankly, if I did so before then, it would have fallen on deaf ears.
I wish people would simply recognize the truth when they hear it, make it their own, and act accordingly. But alas, we humans are far too immature, selfish, and oftentimes simply un-equipped to recognize truth until bashed over the head with it.
I'm interested to see what happens with my pamphlet, which has only gorgeous images in it and doesn't concentrate on suffering. I wonder if anyone will care.
I'm another one who went vegetarian and then vegan without ever having seen any images, read any books or pamphlets or anything at all about the subject. The only conversation I had about it was one conversation with some vegans who talked about animal rights, which I blew off completely. I went vegetarian for my own reasons soon after, which had nothing to do with animal rights as I thought of it. Though looking back, I think that the vegans I talked to had a pretty solid animal rights argument. I can't imagine why I wasn't swayed by that. It took another 8 years before I'd think about animal rights again.
I saw Earthlings a couple years after going vegan. It is the only AR video I've seen. I needed to see the images, the reality, to understand that these are not abstract things we are fighting. I didn't realize at the time that I'd let myself keep it abstract, and I only watched the video because a friend had requested it and I didn't feel right giving it to him without knowing what I was asking him to watch. I don't think I could watch it again, but I definitely needed to see those images once. I've talked to other activists who went through fairly similar things, and had the same reaction. I've also forced myself to watch some human rights videos, and I found that even though I had read about their situation prior to the video, there is something about video that makes the words real. It could be a quirk that is peculiar to me, but I don't think it is.
I'm really glad, Mary, that you're able to not only watch these videos but that you're able to think and analyze while watching them so that you can provide these reviews. I'm not capable of that, I'm not even capable of trying. Yet these are tools, and if I've learned nothing else I've learned that different things open the doors for different people. I wouldn't use videos for everyone, but I will keep them on the shelf for those times they can be useful.
Same here, i only saw a few images in DNA, but barely paid them any attention.. Would it be any better if they smothered each animal to death with pillows? The graphic imagery starts to take away from the more important message, i believe. Instead of thinking 'it's wrong to exploit animals', as someone on here wrote recently, the thought is more likely to be 'gee, how can we do this better?'.
And that, sadly, is not veganism. If this is the result, than is veganism really being promoted?
Sure, perhaps some people get to that point, but why mess about? What's wrong with simply asking for what we want? It's like there's all this pressure to use every single tactic out there but the most direct and clear one.
I don't get it.
The industry doesn't want the public to know what happens behind the walls of slaughterhouses, animal laboratories, etc. Video footage is one of the most important tools we have to expose the truth. The animals do not care whether someone goes vegan because of a logical argument or if go vegan because of the emotional pull of graphic footage. The result is the same and, in my opinion, that is what really matters.