What if the solution was to have a more ethical world ?
A world where we would respect the life of animals, these sentient beings endowed with consciousness. Gandhi said, “The degree of civilization of a people can be recognized by the way they treat their animals.” Industrial farming, which keeps animals in confined spaces, generates the multiplication of microbes that mutate into pathogens. So obviously, humans are to blame and not the wild animal that is the source of this coronavirus (Covid-19). (cf. article History of Toad Breeding Migration )
The purpose of this video is to generate a reflection on how we see ourselves in relation to other species. Speciesism places humans at the top of the pyramid. Humans grant themselves absolute sovereignty over animals. Is it moral to kill an animal that does not want to die ? Is it ethical to believe that we have a right of life or death over a species ?
It is difficult to talk about climate change, to have environmental concerns, while hiding the fate of animals. We must take the path of commitment to respect all animals, not just one’s dog or one’s cat.
We know that industrial farming has terrible consequences : destruction of forests, but also animal exploitation.
We do not have a monopoly of heart and intellect. Yet, by reducing some animals to means of production, we are guilty of mistreating them by annihilating their right to life. We talk about dairy cow, meat cow, laying hen, flesh chicken, this should shock us dess! Disconnecting the pig and the pork in our vocabulary has an impact. They are not food but sentient beings, with feelings and modes of expression peculiar to their species. This vocabulary contributes to click the animals, between those we see in the meadow and those who end up on our plates.
It is also in our human interest to respect all living beings. Animals are not beings inferior to us. We are part of a whole. And no, human is not the masterpiece of creation ! It is the closeness of the ties that unites us to the plant and animal world that ensure the sustainability of all species.
Animal abuse has an impact on society. “Violence breeds violence,” as Eschyle said.
The goal of this video is to help bringing out the idea that another world is possible for animals. It is high time to change the paradigm. Let us not do to others what we would not like to be done to us. Loving one’s dog, but eating a calf doesn’t make any sense. These 2 animals are sentient beings, endowed with a conscience.
As citizens, we have to question our emotional relationship to nature, to animals that we see as mere commodities. It’s time to stop the ecocide !!!
We don’t have a monopoly on intelligence. Intelligence is characterized by a set of behaviours. Animals have a soul, feelings, empathy, thinking skills and strategy developments. When you take a calf away from a cow, it’s a real trauma for both of them. Farm animals cannot have normal behaviours. They live in perpetual suffering. When you take a calf away from its mother, when you take a chick away from its mother, you deprive them of a unique relationship, a natural relationship. In France, a chick has no contact with its mother. In France, 83% of chickens, that is nearly 700 million chickens, live in intensive farming, without access to the outside. In the name of what, are we imposing this on sentient beings, when we know that we can feed ourselves differently, without creating suffering, and still being in good health ?
Victor Hugo said “today’s utopia is tomorrow’s reality”. I don’t want to live in utopia, I want tomorrow to be today, that today we decide to respect the cows, the calves, the pigs, the chickens, the rabbits, the mink, the goats, the ducks, marine mammals and all marine species. I want to believe that this video can advance the animal cause.
Pauline Rouillé
