downfall of animals

by sam myers

This illustration captures the relationship between humans and the capitalistic systems that govern our everyday lives. Without thinking about it, we as individuals take advantage of animals through our choice of diets and harmful actions to the environment. Every time we litter, forget to recycle, or even keep on our lights too long, we hurt ecosystems crucial to our planet's functioning. The illustration in the middle with the animal dying above money depicts how the harming of animals and capitalistic systems are intertwined. Many people make money from animals being killed and tortured. The painting on the right with the prehistoric human killing an animal represents how the tradition of hunting has always been an aspect of the human experience. No matter how much we like or dislike it, it has kept our species alive and thriving for as long as we can remember. The Picasso painting of the cat eating the bird works in tandem with the previous painting since it shows that killing animals is something that other animals also do. No matter how much we question the practice of animal killing, it is something that many animals do and we are not alone in the process. However, what makes us different from other animals is that we have more convoluted motives related to profit and greed than other animals have. While they only kill for food, we have created a system where animal cruelty benefits certain people. Then the Uccelo painting in the background emphasizes the ubiquity of animal killings in culture. It provides context for everything else in the collage. Also, the hunters in the painting don’t all seem to want to kill just for food, but some seem to be doing it for fun. There is a striking element of human cruelty in this photo. After that, Warhol’s painting of a dog is meant to symbolize the relationship we have with our pets and how it fits into the overall narrative of animal cruelty. If humans kill animals for our own gain, why do we put our pets on a pedestal and protect them from the cruelty of human nature? There is a disconnect between our relationship with pets and with other animals that is worth exploring as we evaluate animal cruelty. Then lastly, the illustration of the person shooting the animal reflects the choice that we have as humans as we move forward as a society. Do we continue killing animals for profit or reflect on our choices and find a morally sound path forward? There is no easy way to solve these problems, as greed and animal cruelty and intertwined in our society. This is similar to the documentary Breaking Boundaries, which explores how our collective actions have led to less biodiversity, wiping out essential ecosystems. It focuses on how dry areas of Australia have been decimated by wildfires, which can be traced back to increased carbon emissions. Beyond the sphere of the individual, corporations are perpetrating climate change by prioritizing their short-term wealth over the planet's health. For example, oil companies lobby the government not to invest in clean forms of energy, and car manufacturers and airlines are trying to eliminate the growth of train travel in America for their own profit gain. In these instances, corporations are sidelining the health of our planet, hurting all types of animals in the process. This ties back to the part of the middle panel Bosch's painting where humans are trying to strangle some sort of flying creature. In this instance, they are not showing any consideration for the visible pain that the creature is displaying, and are selfishly taking it down. They show no compassion and are acting out of pure human greed. This contrasts with the peaceful illustrations of animals roaming the Garden of Eden in earlier panels, showing the influence of the worst aspects of humanity. Since this painting captures a Christain framework of society, in a world where God does not prescribe laws, the worst aspects of humanity will come out. These are the self-serving attitudes where people only care about what will benefit themselves, rather than the collective. In the Bodies Tumbled into Bodies introduction, it says “In the indeterminate conditions of environmental damage, nature is suddenly unfamiliar again.” This reflects on the fact that we are treating nature as this unfamiliar entity that we cannot reckon with. We separate ourselves from nature in order to actualize our position in the world as dominant creatures. In The Heart of Darkness, Marlow reflects on Kurtz and the nature of humans when he says, “This is the reason why I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to say. He said it. . . . He had summed up—he had judged. ‘The horror!’ He was a remarkable man.” Here Marlow is praising Kurtz for standing up to the cruel systems in the world and classifying them as such. Kurtz recognizes colonization and imperialism as “The horror,” making him different from the other men in the story who were part of the cruel system, rather than seeing its faults. Going back to the painting, no one is standing up for the animal, who is the vulnerable one in the system of the painting. Only human greed is present in the painting, contrasting Kurtz’s willingness to transcend human nature and recognize the systems that are causing pain for so many.