Cowspiracy, Vegan Review (a Pol. Sci. Perspective?)

a new documentary film came out called
cowspiracy and the film presents many plain facts about ecology about veganism about the environmental devastation that's caused by meat production but the dramatic tension in the film is not created by any of these merely scientific factors really the sparks of life and human interest in the film are created by interviews with executive level directors of charities NGOs nongovernmental organization charitable organizations that are supposed to be representing the same agenda as the filmmaker himself but who come into a kind of tense conflict with the filmmaker despite the fact that he is not asking them hostile questions at all this is nothing like an interview between a vegan activist and the executive director of a fast food restaurant this is nothing like the kind of high tension interview you'd expect where one party is trying to trap the other or trick the other into saying something that will condemn them when you're watching this film the dramatic tension comes to the fact that this guy asks the simplest and most direct questions imaginable most honest questions imaginable and these executive level highly experienced people in charities squirm in their seats unable to give a straight reply as one example very simple question he asked several different people who are supposed to have specialized expertise in the rain forest and whose career is supposed to be an advocacy and intervention in rainforest issues and he simply asked what's the number one cause of deforestation in the rainforest and you know you would think this was a the people asking this question seem like idiots they're unprepared for it factually and they're completely unprepared to think on their feet and just have a creative and open mind sponsz to the fact that this film is drawing attention to the overwhelming importance of animal agriculture of meat production in causing a long list of the words world's environmental and ecological problems you have to ask yourself who are these people and why is there this pattern that I've encountered in my own life and my own work many many times why is there this strange pattern of people with no competence with zero competence being in positions of executive authorities in the charity sector well it's a remarkable thing the way the charity sector works one of the most striking examples if you see the film or when you see the film there's a woman on screen called Anna not off and not off seems like a [ __ ] she's not being factually wrong as one thing being factually wrong happens to all kinds of people for all kinds of sympathetic reasons but an not off isn't just wrong she's an idiot and she's being an idiot about a subject that's supposed to be central to her own professional work if you look down her resume she's supposed to have been expert on this for decades what diploma does she actually have her only diploma is in fact in urban planning it's not salient it's not a relevant qualification Lindsey Allen another executive level person in an environmental charity who's interviewed it seems like a complete [ __ ] on camera and I hope she takes it seriously because it's you know it's not just it's not like george w bush saying the wrong word at the wrong time these are really serious lapses on camera for all the people concerned her only diploma is a bachelor's degree in anthropology ba and amp okay how does the charity sector work why are these people in positions of such tremendous importance given that they both don't have qualifications and as the documentary shows that if you ask them the simplest question imaginable about this area of expertise they prove right away that they're complete morons with no pressure no trickery involved well what you have to remember is none of these people write an exam there's no equivalent to getting a driver's license to be confident into this job the only form of competence that matters is fundraising the only form of scrutiny applied in the charity sector is whether or not you're willing to say what it takes to get to the next fundraiser to make the fundraising happen to get the money into the institution I can't even really call it corruption the economics of the nonprofit sector are in some ways more persuasive more distorting than they are in the for-profit sector and you end up with ecological organizations where the people in charge the last thing on their mind is ecology I know some really sad and strange examples of that from Laos and Cambodia but if I digress into it this is gonna be a half hour video and only five people are gonna be able to follow what I'm talking about but in my own work I'm own experience I have a lot of have a lot of experience with exactly the type of people who are interviewed in this documentary and who look like such idiots um however not in all cases are they lacking credentials one of the guys who seems like a an idiot on camera seems like a complete idiot very good-looking guy is Chad Nelson he looks like a movie star and he sounds like a surfer and by his own description he has a PhD in surf phenomics the economics of the surfing industry but if you look at his CV he has several university degrees that are very impressive he seems highly qualified on paper he also seems like a complete idiot in this documentary and not for trivial reasons not for reasons that should be dismissed or ignored he can't deal with the simple central ecological questions that are put to him and another example that to me is telling a guy called Chester comes on screen and he seems to me a complete idiot he answers the questions in all the wrong way the wrong attitude the wrong facts the wrong outlook on life and he's an example of a guy who earned his ph.d while he was already employed by the NGO now again in my own direct experience and as a general political pattern that's a really insidious one because you can get a situation where people are hired by an organization and then they're in effect paid to get the credentials that will justify the job they already have now I do not know the details of this guy is a specific example but I have seen that again and again and that's one of the reasons why when you look at the resumes of these people if you look up who are they who are the people in this film and how is it they have decades of experience working the same steady job over this period of time that can that can be part of the pattern but again the only form of scrutiny that matters is saying we'll bring in donations now one of the people who comes out a little bit all right let's be blunt someone who doesn't look like an idiot on camera on this is a woman named Lyle s Salazar Lopez and that's an interesting interview because for the first several minutes it's very awkward it's very halting and you think she's gonna be a complete idiot like everyone else they've interviewed in this documentary you think she's gonna embarrass herself like these other representatives of charities and NGOs but they give her enough time on camera that at one point she stops she thinks about what the filmmaker has said to her and she basically says look I'm sorry I'm wrong you're raising a really important point she admits that she wasn't prepared factually to deal with this but that actually the issues the filmmaker is raising are much more important than the issues that her organization had prepared her to bring to this meeting they're more important than the issues that are on her own organization's website and that her organizations way of framing the issues in order to maximize fundraising potential are antithetical to the facts and to sincere concern theological outcomes so cowspiracy look it's a very interesting film if you already know the type of environmental facts that it presents if you're vegan and you already do know those facts then most of what's interesting about it is a glimpse into the world of government bureaucrats charity executives and a small number of research scientists they do have some people who do original research who appear in the film those those guys don't look like idiots they seem alright you get to see the politics and the psychology of why money keeps being poured on these problems but not only does nothing change there's nothing get addressed or get sold but even in terms of the optics and propaganda people are always directed away from making the one decision that would have the most direct immediate impact possible and that decision is not to change your shower head to being a low-flow showerhead the decision is to never eat meat and again in your life