Earthlings 2

Throughout this video I’ve asked myself several different questions but now that I’ve seen it all I can’t help but think specifically of one thing: how did all these practices develop. I’ve seen several different ‘tricks’ that men do to animals to continuously dishearten them as they lead them to their deaths, I wonder why people think it necessary to do this, how sadistic must the people who do these acts to animals be. The animals intended for food sources are forced to watch the suffering of their fellow animals. I wondered how this affects the flavor of the meat obtained from some animals, I would think that the cow would be tense and make the meat harder and lower the quality of the product. Other animals killed for their fur go crazy in their cages before they are suffer through anal electrocution in order to become expensive fur coats. Choosing the least expensive ways to get the fur off of these beautiful animals means that at times they might feel the skinning procedure and suffer the final moments of their lives.




The images of the cows too weak to stand make me think of all the images of Jews in concentration camps leaning against each other for support. The actions that those men did to the cows in order to get them to stand or move disgusted me. They intentionally inflicted pain on the animals knowing that they would get an adrenaline rush and then be able to continue on the march to their deaths. What made my stomach turn was the scene in which the men took chili pepper and put it in the eye of the animal, how sadistic is this seriously the animal is not only on his way to die but he must suffer his whole way there.



Not only do humans who fulfill these acts hurt the animals but in the occasion of obtaining leather they also lie to other humans. “Thousands of India cows are slaughtered each week for their skins, purchased from poor families in parts of rural India who sell them only after the assurance that the animals will live out their lives on farms” (582). While this is deceitful by the people who end up killing these cows I also don’t believe that the people are really that naïve. They understand what is going on, they’ve probably heard about everything that happens to animals in order for them to be used as food or clothing but the limited resources that they have pressure them into deceiving themselves about the possibility of their animals being slaughtered. In the labor of killing animals I believe deception must exists, you deceive those who eat the meat about how it is produce, you deceive the animals thinking they are in good care since they are fed several times and surrounded by their peers, you deceive yourself if you participate in the acts of killing believing that the practices are ethical. The death of animals is not the only way that humans have used in order to inflict pain on animals.



In rodeos around the world, the roping of animals which “involves throwing a rope around the neck of a frightened animal running full speed, jerking the poor creature to a halt, and slamming him or her on the ground” causes seriously irreversible damage to the bodies of the animals. Upon being pulled they hit the floor with the no cushion and risk possibly damaging bones and organs that will be left untreated. Elephants in circuses are yeld at, hit, poked, and tied with chains by their ankles throughout their life. These massive animals are broken down with such horrific practices that it isn’t hard to see why they have retaliated in the past.



I would have never looked at things in this perspective and I can’ help but know that I wouldn’t want my younger siblings to see it in this perspective making me wonder if I am part of the problem.