Some of my influences come from the ideas I’m exposed to, and as such, here is a list of some films and books, and more for your reference. This page will be updated as more titles get added.
Films
Food Inc Like just about all six billion people on the planet, I love food. However, I don’t like to eat crap, and it started when I gave up soda before high school and fast food in college. Unfortunately, we are eating crap: from the industrial farming methods that slaughter cattle disallowing people to clean and disinfect them as they spill excrement all over the animals to the antibiotics they are force-feeding them and the disgusting conditions, I haven’t touched fast food for a long time. Even when I do have it on the occasion, I usually don’t feel nourished at all. But when chemicals are bringing down the nutritional value of food and destroying the environment, that’s when it gets ugly. Do yourself a favor and buy it or find some way to download it. You’ll be sad and disgusted, but happier when you make a difference.
The World According to Monsanto <http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/> Mentioned often in a few of these documentaries I’ve listed. Personally, I would never trust a corporation who manufactured DDT and Agent Orange with making pesticides, let alone researching ways to “save” the world’s food supply. When you see how many of their executives are in the U.S. government and vice-versa, it is hard not to smell a conspiracy.
Supermarket Secrets, part 1 <http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=157> and part 2 <http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=158> Because I love food and there is more information here to elaborate on some of what Food Inc has covered.
Vanishing of the Bees <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2UQyd57fRY> Though I’m not a fan of insects, I do love honeybees because of their contribution to the world with their honey. Until I saw this video, I did not know how important they are to the environment, and how their disappearance directly relates to increased food prices that have created our current global crisis. Also, bee products are super foods, with their honey, pollen, and royal jelly. No bees means no more super foods from them.
The Cove <http://www.documentarywire.com/the-cove> Dolphins, as far as I’m concerned, are equal to humans in terms of intelligence. Unfortunately, some people think it’s okay to kill them, imprison them, or eat them. Those who eat them somehow deny that there is more than thirty times the amount of mercury in one serving of their meat than people can handle at any given time–and these were given to school children to eat for free in their lunches in Japan, in spite of the effects of mercury poisoning creating deformed and disabled children almost at the level of Agent Orange victims.
The Corporation A psychological profile of a corporation designates it a psychopath. When you think of Monsanto (also mentioned in this film), they certainly fit the bill. The fact that a corporation is considered a real person with rights of a human being only goes to show you how wrong the system is.
Who Killed The Electric Car? <http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=336> We can make a greener world, and it would be better! But who doesn’t want that? Hint: money talks, people walk.
The Tobacco Conspiracy <http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=348> Everyone’s favorite industry of death and another reason I refuse to smoke, date smokers, or be around smokers. Killed my grandfather with lung cancer and I just can’t stand the smell.
Sex Slaves <http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/sex-slaves/> I lived between the American and Japanese embassies in Manila growing up, so naturally, there were quite a lot of brothels in my neighborhood. I did my own undercover investigations before, and I sadly saw a few of my classmates (expats and rich locals) in the brothels buying young girls as young as 15. Truly abhorrent.
Slavery: A Global Investigation This isn’t sweatshop labor, oh no. This is slavery as it has existed for centuries, still prevalent today.
Manufacturing Consent <http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=138> Based off of Noam Chomsky’s work. I watched this in college for my sociology class. Who would’ve known how much sense can be derived from a simple analysis? The sad thing is people deny this, no matter how often the media in practice proves Chomsky’s point.
Why We Fight <http://freedocumentaries.org/int.php?filmID=93> War is serious business–just ask the mercenaries and the other industries that flourish in conflict.
The Story of Stuff A simplified version of everything that’s wrong with the world in animated form and under 20 minutes. The best part of it is that there are some solutions offered!
Arundhati Roy’s “We” This is where I move on to the artistic side of being a globalist and focus on the attitude. Nationalism is a plague: dividing people up into terrorists and anti-Americans or freedom-loving progressives doesn’t say anything about people at all; it is merely an indicator of a lack of creativity and imagination, which further separates us from being connected as one species. Watch it and enjoy Roy’s words to some amazing music by some of my favorite artists.
Baraka an old film by Ron Fricke, it’s a great way to see that the whole world is not just politics and idiots destroying the planet and betraying humanity, but that we are all pretty awesome around the world and worth saving.
The "Johnny C Rocks The Planet!" Project Blog 