Thoughts on two films: District 9 and The Cove.

My world got rocked last night. Completely. I finally got around to watching the Oscar-winning documentary, The Cove. It was daring, courageous, terrifying, and sad. The Cove does what very few documentaries are able to, I think. It tells a fully heartfelt story, with characters, heroes, and villains. Please watch it. I feel the way I felt after reading the books Fast Food Nation and Beyond Beef for the first time. I remember my reaction after reading those books (which are partly intended to make you to feel horrible for eating these innocent animals) was to not only feel horrible for the livestock that are treated so inhumanely, but also made me very, very worried for the men and women that work in the slaughterhouses. These workers are treated inhumanely. I worry about their well being, emotionally and mentally. Not to mention it's back-breaking work. Watching the slaughter of thousands of dolphins in The Cove, I had the same feeling towards the Japanese "fishermen" of Taijii. Don't get me wrong, I think they're also greedy, evil, and corrupt, but sick too. It made me so sad for them. Where are their therapists? Additionally, The Cove's central voice, Ric O'Barry, said something about studies that have shown that dolphins are smarter than humans. Dollars to donuts, these whales are better communicators, but apparently, they're brains are brilliant as well. Think about it, one of the OPS representatives stated that, as humans, we are so proud that we've been able to teach dolphins American Sign Language. BUT THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE HANDS.
So, naturally, this new information reminded me of the movie District 9, which is also completely brilliant and sad, I think. It amazed me that we consider these whales to be dumb and, in some countries, food. That they should simply be treated like dogs, that we should teach them tricks, and pet them, and laugh at them when they make stupid sounds. When all the while, they were tricked, trapped, caught, and shipped off, to be confined in camps like the aliens in District 9. Human nature, at times, can be incredibly disappointing.
I don't think I'll be eating meat for a while. And I'm definitely staying the fuck away from Sea World.


Thanks for reading, so sorry about the rant!



The following clip isn't from The Cove, but I was heartbroken by Hayden Panettiere's cry for these dolphins.