I had never heard of Earthlings before we discussed it in class and I was honestly afraid to watch it because I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to hold back my tears. I can sometimes be insensitive, but when it comes to injustice towards living individuals that can’t defend themselves, I am very caring. Even the introduction of the documentary made me feel compassionate for animals when it said, “…morally disrespectful treatment occurs when those who stand at the power end of a power relationship treat the less powerful as if they were mere objects.” (280-281) I think that the parts of the documentary that made me cry the most was where the part where the pigs were being hit. That just broke my heart because even thought the people say that the pigs were in pain, they kept hitting them and they also cursed at them like they had done something wrong.
I think that a German or a white person would have reacted the same way I did. Watching Earthlings was an eye opening experience that helped me realize the truth behind the daily meals that most of the U.S. population consumes, not to mention other countries that might eat more meat. A German or a white person could have also made a change. Even though it was frowned upon by society and quite unusual, they could have both decided not to be part of The Holocaust and slavery. The same thing applies to me, I can choose to be vegetarian and do something that is frowned upon by society, but I’d be following my beliefs. I think that the people who were or are part of such horrible injustices like The Holocaust, slavery, and animal cruelty are either heartless or are too afraid of being judged by others for following their beliefs that they decide to fit in and do what everyone else is doing.
When I read the screenplay, I knew that I had to expect gruesome images and that I was going to have a hard time looking at all of that injustice and pain. The descriptions on the screenplay made me feel ashamed and I was surprised to notice in how many ways animals are mistreated. Before reading the screenplay, I would have said that there are maybe three ways in which animals can be mistreated, but my calculations were obviously off. Even though I felt sad after reading the screenplay, the visual version of Earthlings was much worse.
I think that it was very brave of the makes of this this documentary to release all this information to the public. Since this country is known for doing the “right things” and Americans like to think of themselves as caring and fair, Earthlings shows the opposite. After watching Earthlings I asked myself “How free is this country?” I mean, people are free to express themselves and do whatever they want as long as they don’t break the law, but what about animals? If cruelty against animals is being practiced everyday in such terrible ways, the U.S. is not a free country. Maybe it is true that “freedom isn’t free?”
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