A Silent Look at Our Consumerist Culture


SAMSARA food sequence from Baraka & Samsara on Vimeo.

The above is an excerpt from Samsara, by Ron Ficke.


CosmicPurple on Reddit summed it up perfectly:
"Keep an open mind! This isn't an attack on eating meat. It is not propaganda to push every to become vegan. Most people realize that meat is a natural part of the human diet. However, the amount of meat that we consume is far beyond what is necessary for good health. We have evolved to have a strong desire for salt, sweets, meats, and fat. When these nutrients were hard to come by, it was necessary for us to consume as much as we could when it was available. Now we have that same drive for those types of foods and the ability to consume as much as we want whenever we want.

Meat lovers: don't get offended. This is not an attack on meat eaters; it's an attack on mindless consumerism. We don't like corporations getting wealthy as the vast majority of the population suffers, right? Well, those of you who are coming to the defense of these practices are also coming to the defense of those same billion dollar corporations who are selling a product pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. Our overindulgence is literally killing us. Humans were never meant to consume the amount and types of meat that we do, and it shows. Children are now pre-diabetic before they hit teenage years. Kids under age 20 have hypertension. The health crisis that is coming in 20 to 40 years when this generation hits the midlife point is going to be earth shaking. This isn't about feeding the world, it's about us being able to indulge in meat.

As far as animal rights go, that is a moral/philosophical question. There are lots of good arguments to be made. In my opinion though, it is immoral to treat the animals the way that is shown in the video. If it was absolutely necessary to maintain such a practice so that people could maintain a healthy diet, I would reconsider my position. The truth is that those animals are suffering not because we need to survive, but because we want to indulge ourselves with cheap animal products. Their suffering to fulfill our lust is not moral. Coupled with the fact that these animal products are more harmful to us than they are beneficial, it makes a good case against the practices shown in the video."