The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is an organization I respect a great deal. They have put out a new commercial which is a real hoot:
Next is a video showing an update of some information I encountered some time ago and found to be fascinating....it shrinks the world to 100 human beings then provides some information about the characteristics and circumstances of those 100 humans. Take a look.
By the way, here is the data presented in the previous video in a more reader friendly format:
If we could turn the population of the earth into a small community of 100 people, keeping
the same proportions we have today, it would be something like this...
61 Asians
12 Europeans
08 North Americans
05 South America and the Caribbean
13 Africans
01 Oceania
50 women
50 men
47 live in an urban area
12 are disabled
33 are Christian (Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christians)
21 are Muslims
13 are Hindus
06 are Buddhists
01 Sikhs
01 Jews
11 are non-religious
11 practice other religions
03 are Atheists
43 live without basic sanitation
18 live without an improved water source
20 people own 75% of the entire world income
14 are hungry or malnourished
12 can't read
Only 12 have a computer
Only 8 have an internet connection
1 adult, aged 15-49, has HIV/AIDS
The villages spend $1.24 trillion dollars ($623 billion by the United States, $501 billion by the rest of the world combined) on military expenditures and only $100 billion dollars on development aid
If you keep your food in a refrigerator And your clothes in a closet
If you have a roof over your head And have a bed to sleep in
You are richer than 75% of the entire world population
21 people live on $1.25 per day or less
Next is a video that is a bit longer, about 11 minutes but well worth your time if you would like to see a wonderful condensation of the approaches to explaining the most recent (and ongoing) financial crisis. This video also asks for something from its viewers....to think.
There are a number of good reasons to believe that the current sort of capitalism practiced in the western world relies on inequalities and oppression of various groups of human animals and non-human animals to maintain itself. I am convinced that as long as greed and acquisition are supported as positive values, the current repulsive state we are in will continue and even accelerate. If you think this to be a radical statement, you might want to read what Teddy Roosevelt had to say a hundred years ago.
Finally, I am posting this link to an apology to all the natural (non-human) animals by human animals. It was written by Shira Tamir and I wholeheartedly agree with the apology....please read it........and remember.......until you begin practicing veganism you are continuing to harm animals and any apology you might like to make to them is a hollow one.
Eclectic definition.
Neologism definition.
Eclecticity is a neologism.
Oops, I almost forgot this video I discovered because of the blog, Hearts On Noses.
The video is just too good to not share, it was referenced by the note that Sheep Wag Tails Too, the only difference is how we treat them. If you have a companion cat or dog, you will recognize this sheep.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
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14 comments:
Although I never saw her wag her tail, my cow friend had a whole lot of behaviors that were so similar to dogs...as happy as I was to have her adopt me as her friend, it did and does always make me sad that about 50 yards away from where she lived is the 'animal shelter' and in most humans' minds, my cow was nothing more than meat, but the dogs were 'man's best friend' (nice way to treat your best friend from what I see around here a lot, by the way). But anyway, it always amazes me that there are so many of my kind that could watch that video or see it in person and be unmoved. ... The "McDonald's" commercial too would go over most folks' heads. ... I will have to come back to watch the longer video. It sounds interesting.
What a beautiful, beautiful post. From start to finish what you have collected to place in this is extraordinary. And what a great start. And so true finish. This needs to be spread wide - I'll do my best to help.
Thank you.
Thanks for your comment, Krissa. It is amazing how much all us animals are alike, isn't it? I look forward to your thoughts re the longer video.
I made it through the capitalism video until about 4 minutes into it. I think because of how fast he is speaking, I am not following the speaker as well as I could - or maybe the drawings are distracting me. But I can say that what you wrote in the post about the video is true. I'm sure there are plenty of folks who could argue against us, but capitalism survives on the backs of the downtrodden and abused. I do not include disadvantaged humans in my personal beliefs about this because there are too many examples of humans who have overcome the most dire of circumstances created by disadvantage and thrived. Humankind has achieved some kind of perverse and bizarre 'power' over other creatures on a scale that is entirely undeserved and in my opinion, inexplicable. I do feel much compassion for the humans that suffer from not only capitalism, but every single 'order' that our species has come up with. But my heart and mind knows, I don't know how, but I do know that all the other creatures on this earth, had they been given the chance, would have made a better place than we have. And I also know that they would not have treated us the way we've treated them. ... I will try to watch until the end of the video, but I don't think I'll come up with much else or anything 'better' to say than what I wrote now. Great post and a lot to think about! (p.s. I've been sending Benson good vibes, I actually thought of him almost first thing when I woke up this morning).
Thank you for commenting Harry, and thank you for the kind words....tell Plato hi.
Thanks Krissa....remember, this isn't a test, if the video doesn't grab your attention...blow it off..it isn't Nobel quality literature (although some will find in compelling, others won't). Feel free to pick and choose what you pay attention to.
As for what if some other animal people attained the technological power human animals have ended up with...what would things be like? I don't know, it seems to me much of human behavior is ruled by "monkey mind", curious, manipulative, often destructive, clever yet often lacking wisdom, volatile yet sometimes humorous. Much like a 2 or 3 year old human animal would be if they had near unlimited power. It would be a scary world.....oops..it is a scary world.
It is an interesting thought experiment...what would the world be like if, for instance, cows had invented fire, gunpowder, aircraft, nuclear weapons? Would they have invented different things, manipulated the world in different ways? Who knows, but fun to think about. Orwell wrote about a pretty grim version of a world dominated by another group of animal people.
I like to think that no other animal people would be so goofy as to try to control everything....
It is also important to remember that most of the awfulness that exists seems to be concentrated to near essence of evil in those cultures that rely on hierarchy and dominance to provide guides for living. There are, mostly tribal and indigenous, cultures where respect for other animals and for our home (planet earth) are revered pathways for living and these cultures operate in much less destructive and oppressive ways (if not faced with dealing with a hierarchical culture). These examples aren't perfect, or even optimum, but for me, they offer some element of hope.
Saying all that to say, human animals may or may not be fatally flawed...it certainly appears that way....but....such appearances may be primarily a product of using hierarchy and dominance as a preferred organizing principle. Whether we have the wisdom and courage to operate differently, well....we'll see.
I do know we are having our chance (human animals) and we are failing miserably at managing/achieving a world that is much fun for anyone (except a very few) and laden with misery and horror and destruction for most. If we visit misery upon ourselves...well, that's us and we can just take our lumps until we learn better....but for those other animal people...this is true travesty and obscenity. I have much disgust and sorrow for how we (and I include me) have behaved in the past and are currently continuing to harm those other innocent beings. This is criminal and somebody needs to stop the game and assess some severe penalties.
If this is a test, the best human animals can hope for is a do-over...cause if we are graded on our performance so far.......
Benson rules!
You give great comment, Krissa, your thoughts really got me going, excuse the verbosity. :-)
Very interesting. I dont believe I have ever seen a sheep wag their tail. Adorable.
The sheep's name is Grace, she lives at the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY. The blurb accompanying the video says she is very empathic, for instance she leans against other sheep when their hooves are being tended to in an effort to comfort them. Way cool.
I just thought of something that is loosely related to this post and the comments.... If you've never seen it, look up Michael Jackson's video "Earth Song". But be forewarned, it hits you in the gut.
I hadn't seen the 100 people video before, although read something similar. And it reminded me of a statistic I once read that says that globally women do about 65-75% of the world's work and produce 45% of the world's food, yet receive only 10% of the world's income and own 1% of the world's property. Talk about disparity!
Loved the apology from humans -- just wish it was available in its entirety on a T-shirt! :)
Thank you for commenting So I'm Thinking of Going Vegan. Well, it is also true that 75 to 80% of all volunteer work is done by women (including animal rescue work) and that about 75% of the employees of non-profit organizations are women. One stat I saw said about 27% of world wealth is controlled by women. The case for women is hurt terribly, however, by the fact that they are the mothers of all the destructive slackers known as men. :-)
I think the T-shirt idea is terrific....let's start bothering the writer of the apology to make it happen.
Grace is just beautiful... Thankfully she's in a place where her trust will not be betrayed.
I've heard the hollow apology many times. It often starts out with "yeah, I feel awful about *it*... but... The devil is in the details? Perhaps - I think rather in the "buts".
And the video on capitalism - I'm at a total loss. I used to be a Milton Freedman/Ayn Rand "capitalist". I thought once that many would always do the *right* thing because it was in his (selfish) interest. But all that belief of mine didn't take into consideration that others don't find a clean environment, a healthy human population, fairness, justice or compassion of "value". Yes, I was quite naive once.
I'm very certain our economic structure will collapse. I think it's the only way to begin anew. Hopefully having learned from the centuries of robber barons and billionaire CEO's, I hope we build an equality into what is considered "resources" and "share the wealth".
The 100 humans video... I'm embarrassed to say how fortunate I am - It's just horrible for those left out. :(
Thanks for your insightful comment Bea. I saw a quote that said "we all have to forgive ourselves for our youth".
I am embarrassed at some of the notions I once held....and probably now hold some that will embarrass me down the road (if the road is long enough). The really spooky thing is that there are many humans that never experience that embarrassment.
Yes, thank you for posting this! The video of the sheep is so incredibly heartwarming. So glad they are in good hands.
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