The greatest horror...
 

Post rated R for graphic content.

I like to think I am jaded and uncaring when I see mutilations of people.
After all, I feel the world is grossly over populated and we as a species are a pox on this planet.
We destroy everything good.

I was linked to another video documentary. It's called "Earthlings." It covers in grotesque detail the so-called "lives" of the source of our own life.

Our animals.

Here is the link.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...19433163515470

--------------------WARNING--------------------
Graphic material depicting death, torture, and otherwise complete disregard for humane treatment of subjugated beasts of burden and wild.
Blood, entrails, moans of pain and agony, cruel devices of slaughter, and worst of all, the heavy hand of man.

As callous and heartless as I am to people and their misfortunes, I suddenly find myself sympathizing with PETA tonight.

If you can watch this and feel nothing, well, you deserve the same fate, in my eyes.

It is only a matter of time before most species are eradicated and drugged out of existence or usefulness and the only thing left... is each other.

You might scoff at such a gesture, but it is that kind of attitude that corrupts our young generations and steels every [wicked] man-hating fiber of my being.
I may have a heart of granite, but I am by no means wicked or cruel. Scenes like this make me realize what monsters people are. What kind of psychotic person can cut the throat of a beaten animal and dangle it from it's leg only to choke on it's own blood? I would laugh heartily to see that very person subjected to similar treatment. To me that is justice.

A cruel, wicked human is the greatest horror to ever walk this earth.
Complacency with wickedness is a close second.
---

If after reading that you still want to see, you should be ready. I tried to fool myself into thinking I'd seen it all. For the most part I have,
but,
know this video,
and know true suffering.

That was sick..

I have no time to see things like that. Even without seeing it, I know that there are many things that PETA hosts are staged and don't usually go on. I have a hard time supporting such an organization which would do such horrible things just to prove a point. I am not speaking of this video, but some I have seen in the past put out by PETA and others like them. :( :(

yeh, i've seen videos like that before. I also have heard a lot about how the organization stages such events quite often. The Principle of Equality of Interests is something we went over in Philosophy 1000, but I agree that unnecessary torture of animals is a horrible thing.......maybe one day:(

I haven't watched through the whole video yet, and thus far one of the most disturbing images I've seen was where the guy was jumping and stomping on the chickens and throwing them into a wall. I cant speak for the other events, but I know that this event happened at a facility which provided meat for KFC. KFC launched their own investigation of the incident, and anyone involved was fired/reprimanded.

I don't think the meat industry is inherently bad, there are just some severely f*ed up people working in it (as in any industry). The unfortunate result is that instead of someone sabotaging the company website or embezzling funds, they resort to brutalizing animals. :(

BAAAHHHHhhh do you know I was regretting this thread shortly after I posted it?

After two days I thought it was safe and ignored. :/

Oh well. I'm very opinionated lately.

Devil's Advocate
 

Devil's Advocate: I was laying down in a park yesterday watching the sky beside a small tree. As my eyes focused I saw fairly large knats buzzing around. I would consider them large since I can see them from a couple of feet away and even more at times. These knats were mostly hanging around right beside the tree just flying, but at times would recede into the foliage, fly far away from the tree and even skatter. When this usually occured it corrisponded with a finch like bird flying by.

Then I started thinking that maybe the birds are trying to brutally kill and consumer these poor innocent insects with the group of knats were valiently trying to move around, even at times have to forsake one another and skatter. My hypothosis was proven correct when I witnessed a lone fly buzzing in a spiral fashion as a bird was persueing and eventually seemed to catch thus consume it considering the bird zoomed to the exact spot where the fly last was with the insect disapearing. Now within the moments before the fly's probable death would it not experience fear or a sense of terror from being pursued by the oncoming bird, I mean why else would this insect resort to doing unusual manuvers in a valient effort to dodge it? Would it not sense pain as the beak of the bird crushes its shell would holds it's amune system which must have nerves in order to carry out orders for bodily functions among other external movements? Perhaps the birds should consider or others should force them to somehow alleviate or even remove the pain the insects may under go while they consume them? But then again these birds are probably only thinking about the need to consumer these poor insects in order to maintain their health and existence as living organsms or earthlings. That would therfore maybe make birds less or altogether lack compassion and thus should be considered less inteligent or less sensient to their surroundings than for example humans. But if I think that would that make me a specist?

And to expand upon this theory we should consider mushrooms which are a fungie and therfore possess the same basic cells as all animals have. The top part of these creatures are forcefully chopped or even torn of the base without any form of anistigia. Whom then are preceded to be chopped up for packaging and/or to be thrown in along side vegitables in the same exact state which maybe plant based orgasms but are living none the less. In fact, with the exception of earthworms which just consume minerals or whenever an animal consumes a vitamin suppliment, most creatures consume living orgams or things that once were.

Therefore I conclude that species of poisonous snakes, scorpions, spiders, fish and ecspecially earthworms are currently the most merciful earthlings overal.

Nice story but birds do not enslave a species, denying it of any kind of pleasant life, however short-lived.
They also do not have the capacity or any means whatsoever to build a device solely for the destruction and eventually mass consumation by other members of it's flock.
Another side-effect of such a puny brain is the incapacity for evil deeds, such as intentional, cold-blooded torture and trophy killing.

Mushrooms for all we know are not sentient.

That about sums it up.

I refuse to watch it. I have seen to many cases of people abusing animals. That is different then the slaughter for food. If I ever saw someone mutilating a live cat or dog I would have a hard time not shooting them right there where they stand.

Now I wouldn't call having the possibility of living in fear each time one flies out even inches away from a tree every night a pleasant life, but I do admit it is still better off than cattle who are born into a meager existence in most cases since day one.

Also if those birds had a large and as densely packed population as humanity they may need to seek a away to efficiently kill and dare I say even breed their pray in order to feed it to their masses. The problems lies with the fact that as humans do this we start to look the animals we farm to say the least as a commodity rather than creatures, whom like the video states are knowingly sentient, they are. The only way I can see what we can potenitally do that would make most happy would be to start cloning organs and genetically fabricating muscle tissue on the cellular level. But then that would raise moral issues on if organs can't feel pain on their own, consider they do have nerves which even though need to relay messages to the brain in order for the animal to contimplate pain it still sends something whilst being wounded.

On a side note I do agree that animal experimenting has virtually no merit in science today.

Your theory, while difficult to read, seems to make a lot of assumptions.

As far as I know, insects don't have the capacity for fear. Their nervous systems are not complex enough. They react to stimulus, but the process is not a result of as much evaluation as you're giving them credit for. The logic is very, very simple. I have no comment on whether or not gnats (not knats, for future reference) feel pain, but lots of organisms do while they're being consumed for food. It happens a billion times a day.

It's very common for people to project human emotions and thoughts onto simpler organisms.

I have not watched the video NikFu posted. For one, I am at work, and the reactions posted thus far suggest to me that it wouldn't be appropriate. Either way, I agree with some of those who have already posted - I don't need to see it. I know some people abuse animals, and of course I don't like it. But I'm still going to eat them.

I'd really like to see you back this up. No merit?

Please note that I am not anti-animal rights. I'll define it quickly:

I eat meat.
I don't like medical testing on animals, but see the benefits and endorse it.
I don't endorse consumer product testing on animals under any circumstances.

I do not assume insects have the same exact emotions and/or sentiments as other creatures, but even the most seemingly simple ones when it comes to this have an instinct for self preservation and therfore would do everything in their power to avoid what I considered the example in my origonal post as certain death, thus having some possible grasp of anxiety or getting themselves exited in some way. As for listing scorpions and poisonous snakes as the most merciful earthlings, that was a sarcastic remark proden at they fact that those creatures administer poison which can ease or is less painful compared to how other animals consume their prey.

As for testing animals for science, there is a reason why I included the word virtually before no as there are benifits when it comes to some forms of animal testing which would not leave the creature perminently damaged or dead. But when the facts are there that because of the genetic makeup an animal will most likely react completely different to a drug than any human, there is really no other reason those scientists should conduct it aside from "just because" or they would just like to know.