30 Days: Animal Rights
“I think half of that is bullshit” - George the hunter
Normally, I would go into an episode about vegetarianism and animal rights with a pretty strong opinion. However, since this is 30 Days, I know I’m bound to see and hear things that will, at least, give me second thoughts, if not change my opinions completely.
When it comes to animal rights, I have always been somewhere in the middle. I think killing animals for fur is cruel but I don’t have a problem with people who eat meat. I personally have an affinity for pigs, so I don’t eat pork. However, I think chickens are stupid, so I don’t mind some pollo asado now and then. I don’t think cosmetics should be tested on animals but I have found a lot of uses for prescription drugs. As far as hunting goes, well, I think you get the point. This episode was tailor made for a guy like me.
When George the hunter meets his vegan host family, it’s interesting to see him smile and act polite while his body language is completely defensive. To make matters worse, his first assignment is to dress up like a chicken and participate in a demonstration outside of a KFC. I, personally, found the demo a little insipid and it was clear that, if anything, it simply reinforced George’s opinions about animal rights activists.
When George reports for his first day at the animal sanctuary, it becomes clear what his biggest obstacle is. George, like many people, is turned off by the shock tactics and the platitudes that are used by most animal rights groups. Spurlock does a great job of showing how and why their rhetoric falls on deaf ears.
When George’s host, Melissa, buys a hunting magazine and flips through it with George, there is a glimmer of hope that she may be willing to see what George gets out of hunting animals. Unfortunately, she uses that time to continue to push her agenda on George who has already heard enough. I, personally don’t have a problem with the kind of hunting George does. Bow hunting is definitely a skill and since he eats and mounts what he kills, it’s not about the killing. Clearly, there are hunters who do things differently and some who are just flat out poachers but that’s a far cry from what George is doing.
The episode’s most informative scene came when George had a meeting with a neurologist who spoke to him in a way he could understand. Without spouting rhetoric, she explained that only 4% of all drugs that are tested on animals are eventually proven safe for humans. Moreover, she laid out viable alternatives to animal testing that made a lot of sense. It’s too bad this scene was so short.
The real powerful stuff comes when George visits what he thinks is an innocent dairy farm. When he sees how the dairy farm abuses and neglects the calves that they consider to be a byproduct of the milking process he is visibly affected and the irony is palpable.
Just when you think it can’t get any more personal, Spurlock works his magic and George visits an animal shelter. Again, the facts and the numbers are laid out for him in a rational way and it clearly makes an impact. When George sees that most of the animals in that shelter are killed because the owners simply didn’t want them anymore, you can see the anguish in his face.
If you haven’t already seen this episode I urge you to watch it if only for the last twenty minutes which include George adopting a calf and participating in an anti-fur demonstration.
In the end, the best thing that could have happened actually happens. George comes to an understanding and starts to question his own beliefs about animal rights. While he probably won’t stop hunting or barbecuing, I seriously doubt he will eat a piece of veal or drink a glass of milk without at least thinking twice.
Rob Lowe Takes Heat Off the Chef
Rob Lowe’s animosity toward his former chef has been placed on the back burner.
The actor has dropped his complaint-ridden breach-of-contract lawsuit against Peter Clements, reportedly because he and his wife Sheryl learned that Clements isn’t on the side of the former nannies who are currently suing the Lowes for sexual harassment.
Per documents filed Friday in Santa Barbara Superior Court, the Lowes would like to dismiss, “with prejudice,” their case against Clements, whom they had accused of, among other things, swiping prescription drugs from their home, having sex in the master bedroom, stealing their mail and overcharging them for food.
It’s unclear what sort of info Clements offered to help the Lowe cause as they wage legal war against erstwhile babysitters Jessica Gibson and Laura Boyce and the ladies’ high-profile attorney, Gloria Allred, but it was apparently enough to forgive his laundry list of alleged sins.
“Once Peter Clements provided Rob and Sheryl Lowe with accurate information, the Lowes willingly dismissed their claims against him without cost to either side,” court documents state.
Meanwhile, Allred doesn’t think much of this latest curveball.
“We believe that Mr. Lowe’s latest legal maneuver will blow up in his face and will not get him out of the hot soup that he has landed in because of the two lawsuits that we have filed against him,” the L.A.-based legal eagle said in a statement Tuesday.
“Whatever Mr. Lowe has attempted to cook up smells badand will leave a lasting bad taste in his attempts to go after two innocent nannies who loved and cared for his children.”
Gibson and Boyce filed individual sexual harassment suits against the couple in response to the Lowes’ allegations of defamation, breach-of-contract, misrepresentation and infliction of emotional distress.
CSI Dourdan’s Desert Drug Bust
Gary Dourdan should know better than anyone that crime doesn't pay.
Unfortunately, the soon-to-be former CSI star was arrested in Palm Springs early Monday for allegedly possessing a virtual pharmacy's worth of prescription and illegal drugs, among them heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy.
The Palm Springs PD said the 41-year-old actor was busted at approximately 5:12 a.m. when officers approached his vehicle, which was parked on the wrong side of the street at the time.
The officer who spotted the vehicle said the interior light of the car was on and that Dourdan appeared to be asleep behind the wheel.
According to the police report, the arresting officer described Dourdan (identified on his California driver's license as Robert Gary Durdin) as "disoriented" and appearing to be under the influence of either drugs or alcohol.
A search of the car turned up cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy, several as yet unidentified prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia, per the police.
The actor was taken into custody at the scene and booked at the Palm Springs jail for possession of narcotics and possession of dangerous drugs. He was held for several hours and ultimately released at 10:30 a.m. on $5,000 bail.
Earlier this month, CBS and Dourdan confirmed he would not be renewing his contract or returning as the pill-popping Warrick Brown on the smash crime procedural after the show's May 15 finale.
CSI’s Gary Dourdan avoids jail time
On Monday, April 28, CSI star Gary Dourdan was arrested in Palm Springs, California. He was asleep in his car and when a police officer approached, he found Dourdan disoriented. The actor was arrested after the cop found cocaine, heroin, Ecstacy, miscellaneous prescription drugs and paraphernalia in the car. Despite pleading guilty to drug possession today, Dourdan will not have to do any jail time. In fact, in the deal his lawyer struck with prosecutors, Gary will get treatment for his drug problems. Basically, he lucked out.
“Once Gary completes 30 hours of a diversion program, his case will be entirely dismissed,” said his lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, in a statement to The Associated Press. Dourdan won’t have to do any time in a drug rehab facility or behind bars, so all things considered, he’s very, very fortunate. He could have faced up to three years or more in jail .
Gary has already departed CSI, and in the season finale, his character was seemingly killed in a point blank shooting. However, when Jorja Fox returns for the fall premiere, Dourdan is reportedly in the show. And not as a ghost. So, now that he won’t be doing time, he’ll have time to film scenes for CSI and, presumably, wrap up the unfinished business of the CSI crew exposing the corrupt under sheriff.