Is It Wrong to Use Animal for Human Benefit? – The Review of “Earthlings”

Our ancestors began eating meat as early as 1.5 million years ago. It is our instinctive, animal desire to prey upon other animals on earth. Humans have hunted and used other animals for clothing, and many other purposes. Since then, our perception about animal rights has improved a lot. However, the tradition of eating meat and using animals has barely changed. A documentary “Earthlings” addresses the issue of our ancient tradition of a mainly meat diet, along with other animal abuses. While some people acclaim this movie, many others oppose the ideas presented. Although I could agree with many arguments that this documentary made, the method used is not very satisfactory.

First, I want to point out the issue of adhering to the emotional appeal. Like many animal rights organizations and activists, this documentary tries to persuade people through emotional approaches, not with factual data and logical reasoning. This documentary barely uses logic, but only uses shock therapy through selected footages. The problem is that emotional approaches can be misleading. Actually, the question of whether eating meat is harmful or beneficial for human beings, animals, and the environment is very substantial and needs to be addressed prudently. Other than emotional aspects, there are many other aspects that we need to consider. Some people actually argue that eating a moderate amount of meat is healthy for the environment. For instance, animals kept on small farms also produce benefits such as fending off predators and pests and fertilizing soil. Also, meat diet can be healthier. Many scientists and doctors say that humans cannot live without consuming protein, and we need to eat meat which contains complete protein. Plant proteins are incomplete which means they do not contain all of the amino acids needed by the human body. Also, meat is highly efficient, which means that it cancels out the resources that were used to produce meat. The documentary failed to deal with these oppositions.

In my personal opinion, the act of using animals for purposes like getting meat or leather itself should not be blamed. Even animals eat and hunt other animals for food and other reasons like territories. Also, any people or documentary does not have the right to force people to become vegetarians or vegans. Just as we can’t force lions and cheetahs to become vegetarians because it is not right to kill another living creature, we can’t force people to stop eating meat because we think it is wrong.

The example of corporate ranching

However, humans are different from animals that we are way over the limit. Using the shocking imagery and video clips, Earthlings successfully conveys the message that humans have crossed the line. In this movie, human beings exhibit total disrespect towards the animals. Human beings raise thousands of animals in a cage without allowing them any free space, and treat them unethically in the process of raising. Although using animals for our good might be justified, these acts cannot be justified at all. I fully agree with the documentary on the point that corporate ranching and inhumane practices are terrible and should be put to an end immediately.

The essence of the points made in this movie is not that we should stop take advantage of animals at all, but pointing to the fact that we are lacking basic respect for the species on earth other than human. The movie calls this attitude as “speciesism” and asserts that our unconscious sense of superiority should stop, and people need to start respect all animal species. I definitely agree that “speciesism” needs to stop. The famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy said that “As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.” Our unconscious superiority against animals translates into racism and disrespect for other human beings. Speciesism and Racism share the same root, which is disregarding another creature. If people stop treating animals as inferior beings and start to treat them with respect, problems like racism and war will also be improved.

     Nothing is good in an extreme level. It is too extreme to say that we should stop killing animals for any purposes. Not getting benefit from animals at all would be just at unnatural as exploiting animals. It would create many side effects. We should remind that issues like eating meat and using animal skins were not a big problem 1000 years ago. Now, it’s a huge problem. The difference is that we are exploiting animals now. Although our perception of animal rights has improved, humans still possess speciesism, which a belief that human beings are above other animal species. The documentary “Earthlings” shows humans treating other animal speices as inferior beings and ignoring their rights through real video footage. Although the documentary “Earthlings” clearly has a limit that it lacks a logical approach to the issue, it is a good documentary which raises our awareness of the issue.