Earthlings

It has been an exciting, but also a really hard week — both for the same reason. I spent the week reading a wonderful book about brain science. I learned a tremendous amount; the book is beautifully written; I’m grateful to the author and publicist who sent it to me for use in an article I’m writing; and often, I read things that so nauseated me that I had to lie down.

What I read was matter-of-fact descriptions of gruesome experiments conducted on monkeys and other animals. The author, a doctor and poet, recounted them with fascination and admiration for the researchers. After several chapters riddled with these descriptions, I had the sick feeling that I was reading beneficial research gleaned from the Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele’s experiments on children.

I sat for long periods of time trying to figure out a way to read this book without getting sick. Sometimes I skimmed the sections about the experiments. But finally I reached a chapter that recounted the “unfair” persecution of the doctor who performed the worst of them, how he was “ridiculously” referred to as a Mengele, how his work was distorted and photographs staged by an under-cover PETA investigator who exposed what was happening, how his reputation was destroyed and his family hurt, and what an awful thing it was for somebody who was only trying to do medical research that would help so many.

I suspect the man was unfairly treated if his family was stalked. And I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the photographs were staged. These things seem clearly wrong. But also wrong is torturing living beings who are just as capable of suffering as any human.

The book is the story of many amazing people who rewired their brains. It seems that when we’re given a challenge, our species rises to it, and I couldn’t help wondering what ways we would invent to learn if it were unthinkable to use animals as objects.

I am still sick from the feelings I’ve had this week. So that probably added to my difficulty watching a magnificent DVD called Earthlings. This award-winning documentary, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, presents us all — humans and every other animal — as inhabitants of our planet: Earthlings.

I have not been able to watch the whole thing yet. My stomach is still too tender. But suffice it to say that if you want to understand where we are in regard to the other inhabitants of our big, beautiful, moving planet, this is a must-see.  I wish I could be more articulate, more poetic, more convincing, but I'm ... well ... I'm just not. But I can tell you that this movie is —  poetic, moving, convincing, and much more.

Take a look at the  trailer and see what you think.