After winning the Oscar for Best Actor last night, Joaquin Pheonix made a humble and eloquent speech calling for an end to injustice against cows.

Cows

“I’m full of so much gratitude now. I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room, because we share the same love – that’s the love of cows.”

He went on to say that his career in acting had given him an extraordinary life with may privileges and opportunities.

“..but I think the greatest gift that it’s given me, and many people in [this industry] is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless. Cows probably do communicate with each other by mooing, but for many cows English wouldn’t be their first language.”

He condemned the attitude of entitlement on display around the world as people continue to plunder the earth for its natural resources. His harshest criticism appeared to be reserved for dairy farmers for the way they take milk from cows without gaining consent from the animal, to provide nourishment for their own children, again without any formal written consent from the infant.

He concluded with an impassioned call for change, citing himself as an example to be followed.

“We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something; to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive. I only use water in my cereal now, and have done so for many weeks.

“I have been a scoundrel all my life, I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, putting milk on my cereal, sometimes even in my coffee and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance.”

As he returned to his seat, applause erupted, with many actors seen reacting to his speech with tears.

I have approached a number of dairy farmers for comment but at time of publishing none that I had spoken to showed any indication that they knew, or indeed cared who Joaquin Pheonix was.

One local farmer commented, ”I don’t know who he is, but he sounds like a joker to me.”