Earthlings

[loki]

E A R T H L I N G S
earth.ling (urth ling), n. 1. An inhabitant of earth.
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1989

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.

With an in-depth study into pet stores, puppy mills and animals shelters, as well as factory farms, the leather and fur trades, sports and entertainment industries, and finally the medical and scientific profession, EARTHLINGS uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative and thought-provoking, EARTHLINGS is by far the most comprehensive documentary ever produced on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests. There are many worthy animal rights films available, but this one transcends the setting. EARTHLINGS cries to be seen. Highly recommended!

EARTHLINGS has taken five years to produce. What began as a series of Public Service Announcements on spaying and neutering pets, evolved into a feature-length film on every major animal-related issue. Writer/Director Shaun Monson began the process by shooting footage at animal shelters in South Central L.A., Long Beach and North Hollywood. The PSAs were soon completed as his interest moved to other problem areas, like food and scientific research. In time, he accumulated a small library of material from several animal welfare organizations, and started editing. The process was a slow one. As footage gradually came in, Joaquin's narration was recorded (in stages), and a soundtrack was added. Along with all of Moby's music, some original pieces were also written for the film. In 2005, EARTHLINGS premiered at the Artivist Film Festival, (where it won Best Documentary Feature), followed by the Boston International Film Festival, (where it won the Best Content Award), and most recently at the San Diego Film Festival, (where it won Best Documentary Film, as well as the Humanitarian Award to Joaquin Phoenix for his work on the film).
__________________________________________________ _________________

I've been wary of placing this documentary here, because of the effect it can have on people. Let me just say that for all of my life i've been a meat eater by choice, basically i hated vegetables of all kinds and yet on the flip side I felt an innate affection towards all animals. These conflicting attitudes within me, led me to always wanting to maybe become a vegetarian, but with my distaste for vegetables, i always thought would be impossible. I'd always said to myself and others, that if someone could show me and more importantly feed me just 10 great vegetarian dishes, that i would convert to vegetarianism tommorow.

I stumbled accross this film in February this year, after getting interested again in our mistreatment of animals. Although this was available on the Internet i decided to buy this and watch it at its full potential, although 'Joaquin Pheonix' narrates this film, its not widely available and almost invisible to the wider public. So i had to settle for a US Region 1 import, that i could only play on my cheap 14 inch Portable TV/DVD combo from Asda (BTW, why is that?, that the cheaper a DVD player the more functionality it has towards Regions?).
Anyway i tried to watch this with my girlfriend, and had to turn it off after about 20 minutes, some, if not most of the scenes are highly disturbing. Two days later, i could not sleep, and was stuck for something to do, so i eventually decided that i had to watch this documentary on my own, because my girlfriend would not watch anymore of it.

This documentary was the hardest thing i've ever had to watch in my life, i cried, i was almost sick, and ultimately i felt like i'd been set on fire, or tortured or something. From the moment the film finished, i made a descision that from that moment on, that i would not only pursue the life of a vegetarian, no matter what the cost, but also to take the ultimate step of becoming a vegan, and all that entails. My friends and family all thought i was mad and still do, but since 'March 10 2008' i've been a commited vegan - no milk(which i usually drunk at least a pint a day, sometimes 2), no eggs, cheese, fish, honey, no leather products, basically no animal by products of any kind whatsoever. I cannot say its not been hard, there have been times when i've had extreme stomach pains from trapped wind, lost 2 stone in weight, worried excessively about not getting the right nutrients, seen and heard of horror stories related to this most extreme form of vegetarianism. There have, if i'm honest, times when i know i've been cheating, for instance, I kept ordering 'Saag Aloo, onion bhajis and mushroom rice from my local indian takeaway when i first started this, and finally realised that they cook everything in Ghee (clarified Butter), so i now have to give that up.

Basically this is the one film, that i can honestly say has definitely been a life changing experience. Those of us that cannot watch it, are in my opinion in denial and will do anything to turn away from the truths brutally shown in this documentary. I'm not saying that it will change your life, i'm not one of those that argue, that you must become vegan, i'm just saying that everyone should be made to understand what is going on at the base of our society, which IMO is a burden on us that is at the root of most of our problems. From my own perspective, although this changed my life, i cannot watch this film again for a very long time, the images are already with me forever.

Please just try to watch, and comment here on your own experiences, while watching:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...96533661048967

This is now an updated link, dont know why the original refused to work.

[Nostalgia]

Loki, Your link does not seem to work.
Even though the link does not work your post moved and challenged me to find and view the video that you had forced yourself to watch after your initial 20 minutes of viewing.
I found another source on youtube which came in three parts, and so far I have only managed to watch the first part which is 32 minutes long.
Can I bring myself to watch the rest?
Well so far from what i have seen in this video the human treatment of animals (scrap the "human" part as the word human comes from the word humane and the scenes in this video showed very little of that) is extremely horrendous, and I can only imagine from your own reaction that the video will get worse, so whether I can bring myself to watch the rest or not I do not know as I am saddened and horrified by what I have seen so far.
Loki, I had to watch this, as I felt that because you did, and as you have put yourself through so much trauma by watching this video I would have to watch it too because, as you said in your post, that to not watch it would be an act of denial.
While on the subject of killing animals, do you know that we have three chickens and a cockerel that have now begun to eat their own eggs and lay so few anyway as they are getting on in age, that they really should be "disposed" of as it is costing us money to keep them but we get nothing in return.
But can I kill them? you bet I can't, I just could not bring myself to do it, so I asked a neighbor who used to keep chickens if he would kill them for me, he agreed and I told him that the best time to do it would be after 8.30 am after my young son left for school so that he would not have to see it happening.
Well only this afternoon I had to go back and see the neighbor and tell him to cancel as none of us could bear it and we would miss having the chickens around, some small hold farmer I am making, talk about useless.
Anyway Loki, I have to commend you for stance and I hope that you can find a diet that suits you, will this video make me a vegetarian? Who knows, I guess I will just have to see if I can stomach the rest of the video and see how I react also.

[Mick]

Thanks loki, not sure what's going on with the link above though,

this one seems to work

.

I think this needs to spent a few months on the front page of the site.

[loki]

Thanks guys,

I dont know what was wrong with the link, but i've now updated it, with a new one pointed to from the wikipedia page on the documentary Earthlings, so the original post link should now work hopefully.

Like i've said, I've actually been putting this off, from posting the film to the site. I'll say again, it is the most powerful piece of filmmaking i've ever seen.

I dont know how far you guys have got into the documentary, and i hope you watch it till the end, and yes Nostalgia, it does get worse, but i think that you all will realise that you probably already know that all of this goes on, its just your brain pushes it to the back of your mind.

Nostalgia, please watch it till the end, you will find it a cleansing experience. Sorry if that sounds like some New Age nonsense, but i do believe that we should all watch this film.

Editor, I think that to put this on the front page, would be an excellent idea, more than i could have hoped for, in fact i wish we could put this in schools, but thats just me. My oldest friend's, daughter has been going towards this path for some time (without my knowledge), trying to buy organic, cut down on red meat etc. When i visited him recently i dropped off the film for him hopefully to watch, as we've always sort of thought along the same lines, i thought he might be interested, hes still yet to watch it (denial). Anyway, i would like to suggest to his daughter to watch it, but am afraid of upsetting my friend, although his daughter is higly interested in the fact of me becoming vegan, questioning me all of the time when i see her. Even though he has the film, i originally told him, not to let the children watch it (their early teenagers by the way, and both girls). Yet now, i'm coming to believe that I wish someone had shown me something like this, at that age, so i'm rather conflicted, i can see that she is definitely interested in taking her belief to the next level, but is worried about health etc. 'Shit' now i do sound like a fuckin New age Convert, now i'm treading through 'beliefs' and the like, don't ge me going there.

The problem with our society now is that we have no direct correlation with what we eat, and what we see in the wild, on farms, zoo'z etc... I can remember as a small child going down to brick lane/petticoat lane and seeing the pet markets, dogs etc.. and walking towards the end you could pick live chickens out and watch as the seller put the head in between to hot metal plates and squashed and burnt the head off. This is one of my earliest memories, and most probably where my indignation towards what we do towards our fellow earthlings, comes from. You know, thats the first time i've used that word 'earthling' in that context, and its true, the main point to the film about this word, is that we are all earlthings, living together, and they are all sentient beings, with capacities for compassion, love, fear, pain, doubt, jelousy, and longing.

I do not like shoving my views down other peoples throats, in fact i loathe anybody who tries, but this.. sometimes i'm just seething under the surface, if somebody asks me about any of this, i feel like i will explode with all of this information.

Sorry, enuf said!

edit...

Nostalgia, anyone who can do what you've tried to raise animals like this and feel compassion is amazing. Look at what your saying though, with regards towards your son, think about it. What do you think would happen, are you really thinking about the trauma that this could cause?, which will eventually pass i assure you, or are you actually worried at your son looking at you differently, which i would guarantee will hang around for much longer even if you dont notice it. Sorry Nostalgia, thats not a judgement, its an observation.

[loki]

Another point is that this film is a victim of its own minor success.
A quote from the director and Jouquin Pheonix regarding downloading the film in 2005:http://www.isawearthlings.com/earthl....php?f=3&t=339

To all of you passionate activists out there who have toiled to make Earthlings available online, shared the film with friends, and even gone to the trouble of translating the film into other languages, I am awed by your dedication to the message but must request for the time being that all free downloads of Earthlings cease.

The reason is simple and actually very encouraging. Earthlings is in the process of qualifying for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

According to Academy regulations, a film being considered cannot be available for download on the Internet. So this is not about DVD sales.

For the next three months Earthlings will be considered by the Academy members, and it would behoove the film greatly if we could get nominated for an Academy Award.

It would all-but guarantee distribution of the film worldwide, raising even greater awareness.

Please honor this request so our film will not be disqualified. I had no idea it was available on so many sites in different languages. All of them were unauthorized, though I know everyone was doing this for educational outreach. Of course I strongly feel that any excuse to see this kind of footage is a good one, but I must humbly ask for your support in this decision for the next few months.

If you really wish to support the film's message during this critical time, please order a copy online and share that authorized version with your friends. An All Region DVD will be available in September for those of you outside the U.S. Thank you for your generous and heartfelt support of this film.

When I told Joaquin about all of you, and the work you were doing to help spread the word by translating the film yourselves, this is what he said, and I

Thank you again, all of you!! I know you are doing this out of concern for animal welfare, which is a duty in and of itself. It is the same reason I spent 5 years making the film. Once again, thank you, but please support Earthlings by purchasing a copy through the film's official website.

Respectfully, Shaun Monson

NATION EARTH ORGANIZATION 4000-D West Magnolia Blvd. | Suite 260 | Burbank, CA 91505 mailto:info@isawearthlings.com | http://www.isawearthlings.com

[toeg]

Okay,

I'd like to chip in my thoughts as well. I have read that the first 20 minutes are gruesome to watch and I'm at 17 and change and have just finished the "pet" portion. My take may be a bit askew of many others because I have lived in the US (where I assume most of the film as well as the stats are taken from), I have lived in Switzerland and I have lived in Mexico. In the US, most of the time pets are seen with their owners in some cutesy capacity. I have visited shelters and have seen some of the dirtier side of the pet realm, but all in all I can say that strays are a relatively small portion of the domestic animal population and the harsh treatment given those unfortunate animals are due to obvious human malfesance. In the US, and other nations of similar ilk, humans should be forced to suffer if they wantonly bring suffering to animals.

If you are driving down the street and a dog or cat runs in front of your car, there's not much you can do. But if you breed domestic animals improperly, care for them improperly, you should be punished in some way that will make you understand that what you did was wrong. The poor, suffering animals under your charge should be removed and given proper tretment and care immediately. I still feel that most of the abuse of domesticated animals in countries like the US is manageable and attainable. While I lived in Switzerland, I saw no abuse. I saw no strays nor did I see malfesance towards animals. I'm not saying that they are all saints who walk on water, just that in the four years I lived there, I cannot remember seeing anything among my friends nor in the public. Therefore, I can't comment on any needed reforms there nor for countries similar to Switzerland.

Mexico, on the other hand, is totally different. I can see that only one of those shots could possibly have been taken in Mexico, the one where they take the dog from the middle of the street and put it in a garbage truck. And even that I doubt was taken in Mexico. In Mexico you FEAR these animals. You don't lament their impoverished existence, well perhaps from a global point of view, but rather you fear their attack. There may be some domesticated animals in the larger cities, but in the town where I lived, Apizaco, Tlaxcala, there were none, as in N-O-N-E. Every single dog and cat you saw was a stray that hadn't probably eaten in days and saw you as just another predator wanting to muscle in on his territory.

When I took the trash out once a week, I kept the bags I carried at arms length for the two blocks I needed to walk in order to throw them into the "general" garbage collection area behind the open market. At T- one block, I would stretch out my arms, dangling both sacks of trash at the ends. I would sway them back and forth, thus confusing the dogs as they approached me. I walked briskly, but never broke stride nor stumbled. Those are definite no-nos around strays of this type. When I got to within about twenty feet I would swing the bags ever so close to the dogs' noses and then launch them towards the largest pile of garbage there. I would then turn and C-A-L-M-L-Y walk away. Once, my wife was bitten by one of these dogs and took the mandatory 14 shots in the umbligo as a consequence. You never have to check the dog, even if you could, you just assume that they all have rabbies and take the appropriate steps.

I am not at all trying to somehow justify the human behavior towards domesticated animals. Rather, I am pointing out that there are other circumstances which exist in the world that are not discussed in this movie. I feel horrible for these animals in Apizaco because their entire life will be one of scrounging and fighting for every scrap of food. No love, tenderness, affection nor any other good feeling will ever be shown one of them. They will fight daily to survive until they are no longer able to and then they will die a slow, painful and agonizing death. There are probably even scenes of greater horror in other countries. As far as I'm concerned, I feel that we owe it to our fellow earthlings to review ALL the areas of interaction amongst all of us everywhere and examine how we humans can help and nurture our fellow earthlings. I have to admit that up to this point in the movie, I am rather disappointed that the whole story has focused on what is going on in the US and perhaps similar industrialized nations. I'm afraid that they only take up 10% of the whole space on Earth. What about what is going on in the other 90%??

I think the term "Earthling" is just as appropriate for species, domesticated or not, in China, the Pacific Ocean, Straits of Madagascar, Antarctica and India as it is in the United States and Europe. I can say that up to this point, though I like the message and the method, I am disappointed by the vast exclusion inherent in what I've seen.

Again, that's just my opinion. I've seen US, Europe and Mexico. They are not all the exact same. Rules good for one area might be totally useless somewhere else. It would be nice of Hollywood to understand this when they make such important flics.

[toeg]

At time 46:11

Went through the "slaughter for our benefit" portion. This is one of the most horrendous ways in which humans exploit other earthlings. They even missed a few of the more grotesque slaughterhouses, although that would only amplify the amount of suffering these earthlings go through.

Here is where I differ a bit from many others, especially here in California. I completely understand the "I refuse to be a part of the horrific slaughter of animal earthlings" idea. I get the whole concept of ruthless torture and killing just to provide me with another meal of my choice. But when I look back in history, I see that my ancestors ate meat. Native Americans ate meat. People all around the world have been eating meat since time immemorial. In fact, animals eat meat. I don't see lions looking at each other and saying, "you know, it's just not right that we eat meat this way. We are killing other living beings for our benefit. I think it's much better if we just ate the leaves from the branches and bushes. Let's start a trend. LIONS ARISE - NO MORE KILLING ANIMALS FOR CONSUMPTION. FROM NOW ON, WE EAT ONLY LEAVES."

I disagree with the notion that eating meat is wrong. Can anyone assure me that a plant doesn't feel pain when you take its leaves and fruit for consumption? Where is the magical law that says, "Eating the meat of animal species is bad, but eating the meat of plant species is good."? All food is a gift from Mother Earth and should be respected as such. We are omnivores by nature, though we are not forced into it physiologically. I admire the herbivores and especially the vegans for taking their moral fight to a personal and meaningful level. Nevertheless, I personally don't see anything wrong with eating the meat from a dead animal, though sea food I hate, and sushi isn't really food. As Woody Allen said, "I prefer my food dead, not bleeding, not sliced, DEAD!!"

The problem is the mechanical and maniacal method that humans have undertaken in order to satisfy their customers. I abhor the horrible treatment of modern meat plants. I used to work for Farmer John's in Southern California, who specializes in pork. They kill 7,000 pigs a day. One day, while watching them march through the pens on their way to death, one of them just keeled over dead. It's only obvious that they are fully aware of what is about to happen. I also worked for a time on my uncle's dairy while growing up. I would get up at 2:00 am and bring in the cows to be milked. That was part of my duties there. The cows didn't stay pinned to their stall until they croaked. They were brought in, milked and sent back out to pasture. That was in the mid 1960s, but I'm sure there are farms like that today.

I would agree that we must do a lot more to police our own practices in our race for filling groceries and meat counters with animal meat. I feel we have entirely lost our sense of gratitude and thankfulness to Mother Nature whose bounty we freely receive whenever we sit down at repast. Nowadays it's more like, "In the mouth, over the gums, look out stomach, here it comes." Our ancestors traditionally went to great lengths to show their gratitude for the food they were about to eat. It's not the fact that we eat meat that's necessarily wrong, it's instead the methods we have accepted as legitimate which are horrendous and must be stopped.

I'm all for paying much more at the store to ensure that all steps were taken to minimize the suffering of the animal I was about to consume. I will still thank Mother Earth for her rich bounty that has allowed me to eat that which is before me. But animals eat animals. It's part of the whole. I see no reason to deny this fact because of the terrible methods man has conceived in bringing me the food I like.

[toeg]

At 56:38

I agree that the whole fur industry is grotesque. I understand why our ancestors felt the need to use leather and fur goods in the past, but I am completely against the use of such items for just an esthetic appeal. Having said this, I have to admit that I have purchased leather goods a few times in the past and I had forgotten about that the method used to get that product in my hands involved such horrific acts. It seems rather logical to be skeptical of a product such as leather goods coming from India. The cow is sacred in India.

Either way, I appreciate this part of the movie that has exposed an area I had conveniently forgotten about in my quest for human pleasures. I can say that as far as leather is concerned, I can still see the utilities of it in modern society (in the frozen tundra of Canada for example), but I don't see how we can ensure proper methods are used in its procurement.

One more thing I'd like to point out here. I know that this is a movie about the grotesque practices of humans on other species. It's somewhat unfortunate that there is virtually no mention of the fact that those who toil and struggle in this entire process are usually very poorly paid, have little or no health insurance and must always suffer the afflictions of the many deadly products and procedures performed here. I know it's not in the mission of the movie, but I still can't help being even more revolted when I see these people working impossible hours under horrific conditions to bring a product to market which then sells for $49,700. That, in and of itself, is just wrong.

[toeg]

1:13:15

Well, they are covering a lot of ground in little time. Animals in captivity is a very cruel way of treating other animals. Even the supposed "authentic" San Diego Zoo is nothing more than a miniature replica of life in the wild where these imprisoned creatures are confronted by species they've never before seen in the wild as well as having a very reduced habitat in which they can interact. I can still see the utility of zoos as a teaching method for us humans, but it is only so very obvious that is completely egoistic on the part of us humans to want to bring these animals to us, rather than viewing them in their natural habitat either by going there, or by watching films of them taken there.

Circuses are sick and perverted and always have been. Their methods of taming wild animals have always been beatial and always will be. There's simply no other way to take an animal from the wild and have it jump through a ring of fire or dance the mamba. Animals would never even consider jumping through fire if left on their own, and as far as dancing the mamba, why they can't even carry a tune (sorry, I felt a bit of levity here might be needed).

As far as using animals for sport, they skimmed over it rather quickly, imho. I've been to many cock fights in Mexico, though most of them I don't remember due to the large quantities of Hornitas tequila and Superior beer taken in during the show. The dog fighting craze wasn't touched on either, though one can claim that enough was shown and it wasn't necessary to place every single sport activity on the film. It's very unfortunate that cultures around the world all seem to have one form of animal for sport torture or another. This will probably be one of the last acts to change as it would require that nearly all cultures abandon some of their traditional ways.

[toeg]

Use for scientific reasons,

There is a lot of abuse by nearly all the sciences out there. There are certainly many grotesque usages around the world and most of them are really not at all necessary. Here's a kink in the whole thing that was discussed on Convergence.

I've worked for two medical device companies one which used small lab animals for the purpose of creating antibodies that were then used to test for certain cancers in humans. The other one used small lab animals to test for potency of bone growth in their sera. The animals were never killed per se, but their were confined to small cages for their entire life and were constantly poked and had blood drawn frequently.

I think we decided that even that "noble" pursuit can't continue. We must find alternatives as quickly as possible. The old excuse of, "we've found nothing better to date," can no longer be used as an escape clause.

Anyway, I've watched the whole thing. I think it is very well done and deserves to be shown in as many theaters as possible. Unfortunately, I doubt it will be more than a topical documentary by "those animal rights groups and their ilk." I believe it will get much more play in Europe, though. Typically, documentaries of this type play well there. I'm afraid that most theater owners in the US will just opt out of showing it because, "it doesn't attract a very large audience."

does anyone know what the hell that guy meant with the statement at the end, "because animals don't make chocolate"??

Here's a short video that is complimentary to this one, imho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a15KgyXBX24