I just watched this movie lastnight, and am repulsed that there are still human beings out there gaining financially from the unneccesary suffering of God's creatures, the kind of person that can inflict this kind of pain on animals, probably has no problem doing this to humans either, but only then will the human race in general, stop and comment on it. People I have been telling about this movie, have stopped me, saying that they dont want to hear about it, it disturbs them, but I think everybody needs to see it, and not just once. One day when you stand infront of the Lord God Almighty, and he asks you what you did with your alotted time here on earth, I wonder what the answer will be, did you look out for your fellow creatures?

welcome Gritt! whatever got ya here we are happy to converse with you. I'm vegan almost 2 years, and yes, it was seeing Earthlings that really galvanized me (not without lingering trauma I might add) to go full throttle from semi-vegetarian to vegan activist overnight. But most people cannot handle the truth. I've come to the conclusion that Earthlings is not the penultimate tool to enlighten people. One has to tread carefully, and there is some merit to going very slowly with people. An outreach coordinator and very dedicated vegan activist that I know cannot watch Earthlings ... it makes him too ill. Someone on another message board described Earthlings as the 'ludivico technique' -- a term coined from the movie 'A Clockwork Orange'. That gave me pause, and now I tend to agree. One has to take an educated guess on what would work best for a particular person.

Anyway, may I ask, are you vegan, or very interested and need to know more? And what do you think of this quote by writer Alice Walker: "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites or women for men”?

Peace to ya

Mike wrote:

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2) "If I would have to make a decision between saving a human being I don't know and a dog I don't know, I would definately go for the dog."

Ok, but this is also irrelevant to whether or not your actions are moral or immoral. Hopefully you wouldn't ALWAYS let the human die, otherwise that behavior is just as prejudice as ALWAYS saving the human. What it does show is that you're not going to save a human JUST BECAUSE it's a human. That's positive. It shows you're ready to start analyzing your options.

Mike

It may not be consciously speciesist to save a human 100 times out of 100 in such a situation. At some level, perhaps, we identify more with those of our own kind (and species difference is at the end of a day, a significant one) and this could manifest itself as reflex reaction in extreme situations.

Mike wrote:

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5) "The individualism is from my point of view the reason why humans are not able to coexist peacefully with anything not even amongst each other."

This is a really neat idea that you're presenting, and it's something that we all can recognize. The only thing I would suggest is that we look at whether or not this is a result of our genetic makeup, or if it is bad education combined with disconnection.

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It's not in our nature, it's in our televisions.
Mike

There are so many other tribes who live united, without materialistic and artificial divides in their community. so this tendency amongst most of us is definitely not genetic.

Yep, it's in our televisions. It's in our economy, in our politics, in our religions (sometimes). It makes up the fundamental fabric of our society.

And then there are people like John Robbins, Marshall Rosenberg and others who stand up for the other side. We can take our example from them.

Equal is the wrong word. You can not treat a person the same as someone else, because they are individuals. They have different needs and a different language from you depending on their upbringing (even though they may speak the same verbal language).

Equality is sameness, treating something the same as something else. Animals should not be treated the SAME as humans because they are different. It is not possible to treat them the same and expect them to appreciate it.

I am amazed even on here reading posts that say that animals lack the intelligence that humans have. Sure, there is the physical size of the brain and the structure. However, each animal is the best it can be, has the capabilities in whatever area they need to survive. This is the same with people. We are just as complicated as any other animal for the purpose we serve on the planet. This can never be "equal". A snails life could be just as complicated as our own but in a different way. This is an example of when something ISNT "equal" it surely must be below us or above us. Can't it just be different?

Humans like to think we are so aware. We only see a fraction of the colours that exist for a start. We only smell a fraction of the smells. Imagine how much we actually don't know about the world that animals do. Who are we to say we are more concious and aware? How blind are we really?

We watch animals feeling. We feel it at an intensity only capable of our brains and our bodies. How are we to know that an animal feels an emotion more intensely than we could ever imagine?

The world is not equal.

To see an animal shake with pain that is unmeasurable and watch eyes fade when their dignity it stolen. There is no excuse for torture or experimentation. Absolutely none, because it is not our right to even start to guess what that animal is going through. It's like the red button, if you don't know what it does, don't push it.

Leave them alone.