Please take what I say seriously – Philip Wollen
Try and get through this video. If you care about animals you probably won’t be able to but it’s worth it. This guy, a former vice-president of Citibank, has an impressive delivery. Very slow and powerful. It is compelling but shattering stuff. I think we knew it before he said it.
Note: Don’t forget to turn on the sound: click the icon bottom-right of the video player after starting the video.
Perhaps he is doom mongering but I don’t think so. It is a video about our failure as humans in our relationship with animals. It’s a horrible failure and nothing is happening to change course. It’s massive self-indulgence. If a disease caused the destruction that humans cause there would be fear and panic but humans are doing it.
Humans are blind to it. Unless we see it close up it does not exist. That seems to be the human mentality. When are humans going to grow up and realise that we have to improve our relationship with animals? We can start by stop eating them.
And what is the most dangerous and misconceived concept that humans created? Answer: Economic Growth. All the nations and all the businesses have to compete and they do that by growing. The only way to achieve economic growth is through population growth. More humans, less wild animals because there is less space for them. We steal their territories. They end up being in conflict with humans and who loses? Why of course, animals.
Sir David Attenborough described the human race a disease. He can say that. It does not mean that he hates humans. He is simply describing how humans are destroying the planet which sustains them. It’s self destruct time. Perhaps humans hate themselves so much that they subconsciously want to destroy themselves.
He isn’t doom mongering, he speaks an important truth. The weakness in this powerful speech is that he steers the message of compassion, via economics to perpetuating the supremity of human beings. The editing and words still give greater importance to the starving human child than to the suffering and myriad, agonised, daily deaths of other species.
He doesn’t seem to recognise that there are just too many human beings. The kind of agriculture needed to feed 7 billion plus of the buggers, a plant based diet, would still wipe out epic numbers of habitats and of course, many, many species.
It is easy to effect a total lifestyle change when you have millions in the bank and you can ‘choose’ to give up your private jet.
Good on him for highlighting the vast level of animal abuse that is involved in food production. Fantastic. I mean that.
Many have screamed out the message before, eruditely, or just plain loudly, but humans general don’t like to face change, especially if it involves looking at their own behaviour. Ergo, the message is soon forgotten, usually deliberately, often out of embarrassment or shame.
I wonder how ethical a vegan he is? I suspect he has medical insurance that provides any medical procedures or medicines that he needs, all created from the lives and deaths of other species. They don’t get a mention. But hey, his shoes are made of pleather, so he can trip the light fantastic all the way to a heaven made of hypocritical delusion!
The united states of all beings who deserve just as much as we? Sadly it is still a far off dream.
Roll on that ice age.