My name is Pete Mander. A special effects Artist in ontario canada, (petemanderfx.com) and a Animal Rights Activist. My work has me tied up for long hours and sometimes unexpected deadlines occur out of the blue,it is a very unpredictable industry to be in, but is all worth it in the end:) since it is so unpredictable at times It is hard to plan out, or to be involved in the issues that matter to me most, and it is one of the reasons for this project, which I will get in to more details about later.
On a side note UNTIL EVERY CAGE IS EMPTY does not just focus on the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) as the teaser makes it out to be. In short, without giving to much away, two of the four characters are involved with the ALF. the other two have a different view, thats all I'm going to say for now.
In the meantime since I am currently working on a project for a Haunted house in Texas I will leave you with a write up below called “Our dumbed down Society” I wrote a few months ago. In short its about how I see animal and human issues in the world today.
Pete
Our Dumbed Down Society.
Four years ago I cut off cable TV and have not looked back since. After all, we paid the bill for years prior and didn’t really watch it anyway, since I use the internet instead like a lot of people do for entertainment and educating purposes. It’s also a great place to network and talk with friends on the other side of the planet. The internet is an amazing tool if you know how to use it.
Without it I would not even have the luxury of doing what I love for a living, so I am dependent on it more so then most of you reading this. I must say that when it comes down to a majority of my time online, 80-85% of it is just networking and learning as much as I possibly can, and it has changed who I am today. After all, if you want to know something about anything, and I mean anything! you just have to look it up online. Over the last few years doing this, it feels like I have been sleeping for the last 30 years of my life.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized I didn’t know anything about the "real" world concerning our two most important topics, the political issues regarding human rights and animal rights. I’m not saying I am an expert, but I can say that this world scares the shit out of me, right up to the point that it’s made it a positive change. It makes me want to do more, to help, to change things, and to stand up and say, as Howard Beale said in the 1976 film NETWORK "I’m Mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore"!
What I have noticed is that there are so very few others who even care to look or help with the current issues in our society regarding Human Rights and Animal Rights; both can not be separated, since one issue leads into the next and vice versa. What I mean by this is, if our right to protest is taken away from us, then how can we possibly stand up for animal rights unless we confront those who plan to keep us quiet, so we are fighting for our human rights as well.
What I have come to learn Is that in the end, it all comes down to Power, which is all generated by our media and has been going on since TV was invented, and this issue now carries on into the internet, except here we are free to look up whatever we want, but this will not last long. And why is that? Because the internet is too open, too free, and it’s waking people up to the reality of what’s going on and they are getting pissed about it and standing up, and when this happens, guess who steps in? That’s right, Big Brother! I can see that 30% of our society thinks they are "middle class" and the rest are just trying to survive day to day. Middle class or not, we are all in the same boat. Comfortably numb.
To change our world and the future our children are going to inherit, we will need to be more involved in waking others up as well, getting involved in these topics and off the high horse of thinking we are better then anyone else, and the idiot mindset that, I’m a MAN! I like sports and drinking beers with my buddies and that guy is a sissy because he likes fluffy animals. the same goes for woman battling it out for makeup and who is hotter then the next etc. The list goes on, who has the bigger house, who is better then who, fast cars, iPods, iPads, Xbox, Gaga, American Idol, DISTRACTION! ADDICTION!
I for one do not have children and will not have any, not because I can’t, but because I have chosen not to. But I do have plenty of nephews and nieces and the friends I have here have kids and the many friends I have made online over the years have children, and what we are leaving them is a piece of shit planet to look after when we are all gone, and it bothers me that I have been “asleep” for the last few years unaware of the seriousness. What I mean by this is the "societal dumbing down" our media has fed us our entire lives, thanks to governments and corporations (they are one in the same) who would like to keep us at a lower level, or as some say, keep us as "sheep".
At first I didn’t believe it, but it’s not hard to check the basic statistics, and I find that the dumbing down for most people just carries into the internet world as well. I did some research on this lately so let me show you what I mean on some topics.
Google and Youtube, the biggest free open information sites in the world, Google has been around since 1998 and now owns Youtube who has been around for 5 years. So I’m just going to give the stats for Youtube alone, since anyone who has a computer uses it, especially our youth.
The most watched Youtube videos
ENTERTAINMENT:
Justin Bieber - 416,051,105 views
Lady Gaga - 322,756,931 views
Charlie bit my finger – again - 261,517,708 views
NEWS/POLITICAL:
Dear Mr. Obama - 14,204,825 views
Crush On Obama -20,622,039 views
Collateral Murder - Wikileaks - Iraq - 10,311,097 views
If you haven’t seen these videos, I’m sure you can see what I mean just based on views alone. First off I am not even going to cover the entertainment category, it has obviously won by a long shot, so let’s look at the top 2 Political videos.
The “Dear Mr. Obama” video is a war veteran sending the president an important message about the war In Iraq. The “Crush on Obama” is a music video about a girl who has a crush on Obama. To me, something is seriously wrong with these stats, a video parody of the President is more important then other issues in the world, why? Because its entertainment. I mean, even Bieber, Gaga, iPods, kitten videos and people in accidents, top over any other video online then any real educational Information, I could go on forever but I’m not, its all out there and its all free, until our Governments decide to restrict websites and important content, making the Net not much different then TV, but with more ads and commercials as I’m sure you are starting to notice already. You know those ads that come up before you watch the cute kitten videos on youtube? You know the 8 commercials you see before you watch the movie you paid $12.00 to see at the theatre. We are so dumb we need commercials reminding us to not drink and drive. And warnings labels reminding us not to not drink bleach.
If you go back and look at the Great depression it’s the same thing, mass entertainment, so guess where we are at this point and time but don’t really know it, or want to pretend it doesn’t exist. History repeats itself, always has, so know its going to get a hell of allot worse. My point is, we need to do something, all of us need to do something to make things change, to get out of the materialistic, brain-numbing, side track and busy lives we live, because we are so taxed, and get lower pay checks as our rent, mortgages, hydro, gas and everything else goes up in price. And what I believe is that if more people were aware, it would piss them off enough to want to do something about it, and every little bit helps, even if its taking 10 min out of the day to pass along some links online, or educate yourself, friends and your children on REAL issues, and REAL truth, Because I can tell you that tomorrow will be too late.
We have been denied the truth for years by media blackouts on more then just the topics I am referring too in this article, but it only takes some people a few days or weeks to see what is really going on out there, and I can tell you people are waking up fast, and our media and governments see this and will eventually start to not only limit out freedom online but also our freedom in our cities, making it illegal even to have a garden in your backyard, or collecting rain water to water your plants, so you only use the water you pay for, seriously look it up, these bills have already passed in some places. I am not stupid enough to believe that just because I live in Canada that nothing happens here because it does, I just think as Canadians we are more laid back which in turn, does make us more gullible as a whole.
This is my first write-up, blog I am not a writer by any means, I am an artist, but this world around us is just so heavy that I need to say it out loud now, and hopefully someone will understand where I’m coming from or maybe even wake up to these issues, this is all I have to offer for today, but It is at least something that may help. But sometimes I just want to give people a slap up side the head or force them to swallow the Red Pill to get them out of the Matrix. But unfortunately, that’s not how reality works and force will only turn people away, which is why we have a choice to read or look at what we want.
In the mean time, the Fight will never end for me. I swallowed the red pill so I can’t go back now, so I believe it’s important to at least try to make a difference in this world, because in my case it’s the only thing I will be leaving behind, and when Human and Animal Rights are threatened and I see my brothers and sisters are in distress, I will do all I can to be there, and I will be online to help spread the word for today’s important topics, and be at the Front lines in person to stand in protest against the injustices towards us and our sentient being friends. Our world is like setting up a maze of domino chips, its takes time to do, but it only takes one person and one second to start the effect, the rest of the chips just fall into place. Don’t believe for one second that you can’t be the one to start.
