Visualizing Animals

The abstracts presented on the theme of "Engaging with Animal Subjects: Ethical and Ecological Concerns" during the Finding Animals conference yesterday were very interesting to listen to. Cary Wolfe with his "Animals Before the Law" excerpt from what I understood is a book he is planning to finish this summer, made some highly stimulating points. He compared the mass murder of people during the holocaust to the way humans treat animals who are slated for food production. The big difference that can be seen here is that people need animals for food in order to survive. The holocaust was extremely immoral in that the Nazis did not need to exterminate people in order to survive. If the country was to all of a sudden become vegetarian, there would simply not be enough food supply to provide everyone with enough vegetarian food. One of the main requirements of a human diet is protein. Protein is needed to regenerate and repair human nerves tissues and bones. Yes, protein can be obtained through vegetarian foods such as grains, but it is not nearly enough. Proteins from grains are incomplete proteins. To receive a necessary amount of protein from vegetarian foods, several different vegetarian food sources need to be combined. So, eating animals for the obtainment of protein is the most efficient way of helping us survive. Finding the most efficient way to survive seems to be in the basic instinct of every creature. Valuing human life above all others is engraved in our DNA in order to help us remain alive as a species. Killing our own species on the other hand does not help humanity survive as a whole, but rather hinders survival while creating no benefit to anyone.

  The second talk by Gregg Mitman was also very significant. He explained how nature has recently come to be portrayed based on human feelings and emotions. He used the film "March of the Penguins" as an example, saying that Morgan Freeman's narration constantly attributes human characteristics to the penguins. He also explained how companies and corporations are changing the way nature films are made by solely focusing on what would be entertaining to the human mind so that they could make the most profit. He used the most popular video on YouTube from 2007 as an example. The video currently has 40,000,000 views. Battle at Kruger  portrays a very intense battle between different animal species. Click the link to watch for yourself. Greg reasoned that the video was so popular not because it was a nature video, but because it had all the necessary elements that entertain humans. With nature films becoming more and more about entertainment value, the real and important educational values of nature are lost in the process.

The third and last talk by Donna Haraway did not appeal to me as much. She seemed to convey a number of different points instead of focusing on a single subject. One of the main things she seemed to be advocating was the relationships between humans and animals that allow them to coexist together. She talked about the Churro sheep that were almost wiped out at one point. The commitment and dedication of different people in order to revive the species created a better way of life for both the people and the sheep. She also explains how Asian Water Buffalos are used for trophy shootings, as safari trophy animals. The buffalo becomes a sort of an icon and is constantly needed for both humans and for itself, since humans reproduce the animal, helping it to survive as a species.