Special Virtual Documentary Night! Speciesism: The Movie

Virtual Documentary Night is a monthly online event hosted by Community Documentary Night. It is designed to give people the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussions on a wide range of topics with people from various backgrounds. This event is in collaboration with Compassionate Action for Animals (CAA). CAA's mission is to encourage people to embrace their empathy for farmed animals and move toward a plant-based diet. They do this through increasing awareness of farmed animal suffering, building community with plant-based eating, and nurturing advocates in the Twin Cities region. For this Virtual Documentary Night, in honor of Veganuary, we are meeting to talk about the documentary, Speciesism: The Movie. This film is a journey into the hidden world of factory farming, but it explores well beyond that. Interviews with animal rights organizations, philosophers, and men and women on the street lead to the question of whether humans are superior to nonhuman animals, and – if so – why they are. Mark DeVries (Director) will be joining us for a special guest Q&A! You can watch the film for free at the link below. **PLEASE REMEMBER TO WATCH THE FILM ON YOUR OWN BEFORE JOINING THE EVENT** How this all works is you will first watch the film on your own prior to our event. Then we will meet on Zoom on the day of the event, where you participate in multiple rounds of small group discussions with a different discussion prompt and different randomized groups for each round. This gives you the opportunity to hear a variety of perspectives throughout the night. Then we will follow with the special guest Q&A! Again, you must watch the film on your own BEFORE the event. You will receive the Zoom link and password once you register for the event. Please remember your Eventbrite login and password. You may need that to access the Zoom info on the day of the event. If you have any trouble accessing the zoom link, have any questions or would like to be added to the email list, please contact CommunityDocumentaryNight@gmail.com. To learn more about Community Documentary Night and our past events, check out our website. https://documentarynight.wordpress.com/ We have generated a set of norms and expectations for our event. They were created to help us maintain a welcoming and civil environment for everyone in attendance. Please read through before attending. They will also be recited at the start of the event. 1. This event is open to all who are open to all. This is an inclusive event. We are open to anyone including all gender expressions, racial identities, political affiliations, etc. as long as you are open to hearing the perspective of others. 2. Step Up and Step Back. Step up meaning we ask that you step up and share your perspective so that we can learn and grow from your knowledge and experience. Step back meaning we ask that you step back on occasion, allowing yourself the opportunity to hear and grow from the experience and perspectives of others in attendance. 3. Allow others to express their full thought. This is just a nice way of saying try not to interrupt. 4. Be mindful of others wanting to speak. Try to keep your thoughts concise, allowing time for others to respond. 5. If you don't agree, this is not a debate but a discussion. So instead of trying to sway the other person, try to understand where they are coming from. That can be done by asking "What makes you think that?" This requires coming from a place of curiosity rather than competition. 6. But even though it's not a debate, feel free to challenge what is said. Not in saying "You're wrong." But by sharing the idea that you have and asking how that fits with what they just shared. This allows for both ideas to be in the same space and gives the other person an opportunity to explain their thinking. 7. Assume good intentions. We are all here to learn and grow together. If something does not sound right, ask first for clarification before jumping to conclu