A quick reflection

I still feel disappointed about not seeing Milk, but I'd like to quickly reflect upon my happiness at Slumdog Millionaire doing so well. In a world of post-Prop 8 USA, there is no question that gay rights are still something to be fighting for, along with many other minority issues in the United States. These issues are no less important worldwide, and herein lies the crux of why I find (at least the concept of) Slumdog Millionaire more important.

I have this strange concept of a hierarchy, when it comes to ethics and politics, which for as little as I've read in the theories of these throughout history, are informed by Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and now, though I'm not sure how aligned the majority of my values are with his, Peter Singer.

Interestingly enough, I often tell my friends that I'm vegetarian but that it's not my core "stance." I don't think animal rights (of all animals non-human, that is) are nearly as important as human (animal) rights are. In a purely materialistic sense (philosophically, not talking about consumerism or shallow worldviews here), animals will never be given the rights they deserve until humans are. And I'm talking all humans. What does it matter if 6 of 7 continents are treating animals really well, either completely eliminating or drastically reducing their consumption, if just one country on one continent is still mining a rain forest to create grazing land? This is a question of balance and education, which in my eyes is a very human RIGHT. Until the mistakes and successes of each culture that have ever existed are made known to each and every extant culture, we will not know how to properly weigh in these different concepts of life as a human and act accordingly. In other words, first we must educate and address human suffering before the suffering of what the vast majority of humans consider "lesser" animals can ever fully be understood.

I feel that Slumdog Millionaire gives the Western world a very unique perspective on a thoroughly abject version of human living. Despite its vibrance and beauty, so many people should not be starving and living in squallid conditions. I make no claims as to their mode of living, just at how so much of it is done with little access to basic human needs.

Milk, at least as I've come to understand it through reading about it, should be commended for its educating principles, as rights for homosexuals, transgender, and all kinds of other minorities need severely to be addressed. I guess I just fear that if the majority of people aren't made to have concern for minorities in other countries, they surely will have a hard time addressing concerns of minorities in their own countries as well.

"To think out in every implication the ethic of love for all creation -- this is the difficult task which confronts our age." - Albert Schweitzer