Friday, December 13, 2013
In a Human's World
The articles that we've been working through this past week regarding animal rights has opened my eyes to the way in which we are expected to value animals. I noticed that most of these articles emphasize constantly on the "feelings" or animals and how closely related they are to humans. I don't see it necessary that we constantly need to personify animals in order to care about them and have a moral judgement on the way we treat them. In the article "Hooked on a Myth", Braithwaite analyzes and confirms that fishes react to the same pain killers the same way we do; therefore, they also feel the initial pain. We are almost encouraged to act on the notion that unless something is relatively human, it is unworthy of consideration. This is the type of thinking that has allowed us to self-justify our throwing trash out of our car windows, and releasing harmful fumes into the air; these same actions that have resulted in the deterioration of ozone and overflowing of landfills.
Nonetheless, more research on the emotions and thought of animals is not going to halt man from mistreatment of wildlife. We will not be able to heal the wound of centuries selfishness and disregard for nature, until we realize that we don't infact need to understand the way a species feels and lives in order to respect it. Technology and advanced science has given us so much knowledge that we feel we have the power to understand, and therefore control every aspect of life. There are somethings that ought to be respected and acknowledged for what they are not broken down to make them seem like anything else. An animal is a life, shouldn't that be enough?
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I agree with the fact that animals should be treated much better and that they deserve more respect; we are in fact, all God's creation. But to be honest, I don't believe that they should have about how many rights we have! Hooked on a myth gave me a whole different perspective towards my view of animals. Nice article!
ReplyDeleteThis is by far my favorite blog on this subject. You're incredibly clear and absolutely right.
ReplyDeleteI can only compare this to last Tuesday when Mr. J was vying for and against federal programs that I deemed absolutely necessary. I was sitting there quietly fuming, thinking that basic healthcare, unemployment, food, and shelter should be provided to any and all human beings. People are going to abuse any system, but why punish the majority of the tried and true working Americans by taking out the very aid that a First World government ought to provide?
My point, before I go to far down my own rabbit trail, is that we struggle as a society to provide the necessities to our own fellow human beings, and it doesn't stop there. Animal cruelty is just another example of where we have gone wrong. They are Earthlings, just like us, and that, Miss Castro, is certainly enough.
Now, if only we would progress, empathize, and most importantly...reason. It is what our minds were built to do. I sure hope we use them (:
I don't think communism is inherently evil, but it just doesn't work.
DeleteWho said anything about communism?
DeleteAre you trying to say that if an organism is living and part of this world, they should be treated with the same respect we treat humans? If that is what you're saying i completely disagree. Level of cognitive ability and the ability to feel play major role in how much we should respect an organism. If we are to take your opinion that all life is equal if it is living, shouldn't we treat all living things as humans if we are to follow your logic to its completion? That means that not only should we not eat animals, but plants are off the menu also. Because these poor organisms are living and "earthlings" also. Level of intellect and emotion play the definitive role on the level of respect we should give organisms.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe they should be treated EQUALLY. I believe that they should be treated according to their cognitive ability, and to me, that is not butchering them up for our pleasure. I don't believe they ought to live as we do because they aren't us, but they ought to live in better conditions than they currently are. That is all: I seek improvement.
ReplyDeleteThomas, when I say "they are just like us", I am referring to the fact that they feel. I do not mean that they are like us in every sense. Obviously, humans and the rest of the world's animals are different. But we have similarities, and those similarities ought to be recognized and given worth according to both tangible and intangible qualities. I believe that animals shouldn't be tortured. I don't think chicken's beaks ought to be cut off just so that they won't go killing each other because their living situations are so disgusting that they become suicidal. I don't believe pig's tails should be cut off just so that they won't go biting them and each other because (guess what) again, the living conditions and treatment are so bad that the animals start abusing themselves and each other. Disease, both physical and mental, is rampant in most of these animal processing places, and it makes me absolutely furious. I don't think they should be on our land plots or that they should roam free among our streets. Of course not. That is ridiculous. I just think that they should be given some space to live where they can be kept alive and healthy, away from our knives and our plates and our pointy greedy teeth.
ReplyDeleteI think that people who rely on the meat, people who dwell in the wildernesses of the world, ought to do as they must to get by, but that those of us who live in the city, where there are plenty of other options, should do what we can to live our lives without taking too much away from others'.