didi wrote:
Sorry, I thought it was a poorly done disjointed speech without a clear main point and I was not moved to tears. He lost me right at the beginning when he compared the screams of his dying father with the screams of an animal being slaughtered. It is impossible to argue with someone who doesn't value his father more than a pig or see the difference between the drawn out suffering of a cancer victim and the rather very brief pain from the slaughter of an animal
I do not care to eat meat because of the filthy, disease producing conditions of factory farms and slaughter houses and see no need for torture but I have to place the worth of a human being above that of a cow. Perhaps there are some who would rather witness the death of a beloved child rather than test vaccines or antibiotics on animals. I am not one of them. There are some religions such as the Jains who sweep the ground in front of them so as not to step on any living thing and some religions which believe in reincarnation so that an animal is believed to hold the soul of someone who may have been or will be human. That is not my tradition. In the Jewish/Christian tradition, animals were at one time sacrificed and were and are certainly eaten.
To say that animal rights is the greatest social justice issue relegates to second place all the other abuses and examples of man's inhumanity to man such as the abuse of women or slavery which still exists in parts of the world or the child sex trade. I could go on.
Animals aren't people. They are animals. Anthropomorphizing them doesn't change that fact.
Didi
You are missing the point COMPLETELY!
Animals may not be people, but at the hands of people they suffer. You cannot expect that we treat humans beings with compassion, if we cannot restrain ourselves from harming the weakest ones around us.
So long as we imprison animals, we will continue to imprison people. As long as we murder animals, we will continue to murder people. As long as we view animals as property, we will view people as property too.
The way to ultimate freedom and justice on this planet is to include ALL species the right to live free and without suffering.
As someone who had to witness both the months of suffering that a dying cancer victim goes through AND the wasting away of imprisoned animals, I can tell you that the comparison between the two is very accurate and valid. I would even say so much as to put the animals in the "more suffering" group, since a dying cancer victim often has the advantage of pain killers, while animals do not.
If you feel that testing dangerous vaccines or drugs would benefit someone else, then why not volunteer yourself and get paid for it? Animals have no choice in the matter and making them our slaves does not set a good moral standard for society. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be forcefully "volunteered" to get cancer, colitis, infections, viruses and other diseases for the sake of a stranger. Try viewing things from the perspective of the one who suffers without choice or say in the matter. I hope you can see things in a different light.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
