Ignorance is Bliss

Ignorance is bliss. These words, no matter how true, have haunted me since watching the documentary “Earthlings” on Thursday. No matter how much I want to deny the sad and disturbing mistreatment of animals, I can no longer stand by and pretend that what’s happening to them “isn’t that bad.” I have talked to so many people since Thursday who say things like “Oh I could never watch anything like that.” These people, to me, are missing a huge perspective on life on this planet. It makes me sad that these people know that this is happening and yet refuse to watch it for their own comfort. Throughout this whole class, there were some key points of this documentary that particularly moved me.

First, the dog that was thrown into the trash compactor. This small gesture of neglect and cruelty was particularly horrifying for me. The poor dog was wounded and lost and instead of caring for it, the people found it more convenient and cheaper to discard it. I learned many new things from watching how even the pet industry leads to corruption and mistreatment. My sister had always encouraged adopting pets from animal shelters and now I see why. I cannot imagine being a volunteer at an animal shelter and being forced to put down pet after pet because people want pure bred animals. There is no need to create lives if they are to be wasted so easily—so many dogs end up getting abandoned or left at the pound because their owners cannot take care of them.

I could not believe the mass deaths that occur because of the desire to perfect the pet industry and this disturbing image of the poor dog thrown into the trash compactor is the result. As I watched the poor creature being crushed to death, I was disgusted that anybody could possibly bring themselves to do something like that. It seemed to expose the barbaric and suppressed nature of some people: the need to cause pain or to separate oneself from the feelings of those considered “below us.” I found this more upsetting than many displays of cruelty of humans on humans. This is because the innocence here was clear. The dog had absolutely no way of knowing what harm was about to come to him and it was wounded and completely helpless. Therefore, the abuse that an innocent creature was taking for the convenience of those that it is at the mercy of, was what most moved me about this spectacle.

Also, the treatment of the pigs was very sad to see. Pigs, I’ve been told, are relatively intelligent creatures. I watched the workers beat the pigs with sticks, yelling and cursing as though it was good fun. These pigs were being slaughtered and beaten right in front of the other pigs seemed to me the most inhumane way to treat them. They were forced to stand aside in their cages watching the death of the other pigs, merely waiting their turn. Also, the warehouses where they are raised made me see the lives (or lack thereof) that they lead.

I saw that these pigs rarely, if ever, see true sunlight, or feel air that isn’t polluted with the stench of their surroundings, or move in a space larger than a couple feet around them. They have no true feelings of life for the amount of time they are alive. And then, after a depressing and joyless existence, they are slaughtered mercilessly and, at times, slowly.

However, nothing could move me as much as watching my totem animal being rounded up and slaughtered. Marine animals, such as dolphins and whales, are some of my favorite animals in the world. I have admired them since I was a little girl and still do more than any other animals. Over the summer, I visited Alaska and saw whales and dolphins in the wild. They way they travel in families gave me a chance to see how they are so similar to us. The beautiful way in which they travel through the water makes them such a pleasure to behold. I cannot imagine ever having the stomach to wound such a beautiful creature. For me, it was like watching a friend get killed with no mercy or consideration as to the pain and suffering being caused. The sad cries issued from the dolphins no longer seemed foreign and wild to me. I recognized their agony at being torn apart from their families.

Their writhing movements on the cold cement as they suffocated only looked like the torture of another human being in my eyes. Thus, I watched the suffering and slaughter of the animal I connect most with: the animals that live within me. It saddens me to think that this cruelty occurs only for the desire of “exotic” meat. We want interesting food, so let’s hunt animals that wouldn’t normally show up on a dinner menu. This display of inhumane cruelty was the most effective piece of the entire documentary. It was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. I could also see how easily this can be compared to concentration camps in World War II. Huge groups of Jewish prisoners were rounded up. Then, the families were separated: wives from husbands, children from parents. And then, inevitably, death for some. I could see the parallel clearly and it moved me to tears faster than I could have ever expected.

In the movie, “The Jungle Book,” Mowgli tells a soldier that the order of animals is to kill to eat or from being eaten, whereas the order of men is to kill for sport. So many deaths of animals occur needlessly. Whether it is the excessive slaughter of farm animals (cows, pigs, chickens), the putting down of too many extra pets, or the need to have exotic food, the lives of these animals are too precious to waste. Every life matters, except for these poor animals. The animals that go into the industry that caters to mankind’s comfort. Ignorance may be bliss, but it isn’t right. I realize now that this lack of ignorance (at the expense of some tears and discomfort) has broadened my understanding of life and of what I owe the fellow creatures of this planet.