I recently heard an interview on the Diane Rehm's show on NPR featuring animal rights activist, Steven Wise.
I never really knew that there was such a thing as animal rights lawyers. It's quite the challenging case, and much more so as most judges haven't dealt with these kinds of cases before.
I definitely think that it's the wave of the future. That these issues will be pressed more and more. It's not just about animal rights, but also humans. For our moral integrity, to treat life with respect. The more we can treat those 'lowest' in many peoples views, with respect, the more we will be able to uphold fairness to our fellow human beings as well. -- Or so at least I would like to think. It seems reasonable at minimum.
The celebrity that is nice to those who can do nothing for them, is typically that much better perceived by the public eye. It goes for all of us though, who are those beings that people assume to be of sub par material, that can be treated poorly for arbitrary reasons? We base our judgment essentially on our ability to use tools in a way that has dramatically shifted the ecology of our planet. No other animal has done that. If cheetahs ruled the world, they may judge a species by how fast they run, and we would be totally out of the 'running' in that situation--both figuratively and literally. And hence would not have a 'voice' per say. But who do we arbitrarily allot as not having a voice today? They have a voice, we just typically don't like to listen or understand. Many people take advantage of these 'voice less' at every meal-- or at least in industrialized nations. They may not murder the animals physically, but they do with their paychecks. It's basically saying, 'I deserve to consume you, because I am a more worthy entity on planet earth than you are.' It's not that we don't have choices, we have plenty of choices. We have the beautiful opportunity to live off of plants, and actually we can dramatically improve our wellbeing, planet's wellbeing, many species of animal's wellbeing and our own consciousness in doing so. (for a rebuttal of the question, "but animals consume animals in the wild, why can't humans?", see to the end of this article for the answer)
I adore that people are dedicating their lives to animal liberation. I majored in Environmental Policy and I think if I was more familiar with what animal rights was, as I am today, I would have given it perhaps a proper consideration.
Maybe the world isn't quite there yet, in understanding that animals deserve liberties just as much as we do. Not human liberties, but liberties to live out their own lives in a way that is natural to them. Not stolen from their habitats, not enslaved by us for our own selfish needs. We don't need animal products for survival -- and we especially don't need enslaved animals for our survival. The more I think about it, the more sick I feel inside, to know how ignorant and unconscious as a species we have been in our treatment of not only each other, but of all life forms on planet earth.
Even if the world isn't quite there yet, the more those of us who are on board, can talk about it, and really share how imperative it is for the nonhuman animals -- in reducing unnecessary suffering for them, the more it can become part of mainstream.
No rights movement ever started off as popular. It seems that most of the people who aren't for animal rights, are those who will be directly affected by the repercussions -- farmers, scientists.. etc.
Isn't that the same as with human rights, even today, granting rights to 'immigrants' without documentation, would affect agricultural business. Granting African Americans liberty, also affected farmers in the south. So many people earn quite a bit of money (unfortunately) by the exploitation of beings -- both human and non human.
And I think the biggest argument against non human animal rights, is the argument of how to possibly care for non human animals when so many people's rights are taken advantage of, and so much can be fixed among injustices today among people.
And it does seem to be relatively true that those who fight for non human animals are typically caucasian of middle class. I guess in my mind, there are so many people working on human rights issues, and most people really don't seem to even take note that non human animals are autonomous creatures with full awareness of themselves as individuals and can suffer, they can also have the same types of psychological disorders that people have. But unlike human beings, they are lacking a voice in our mainstream culture. And currently there is no group of individuals that I am aware of that is being more acceptably tortured in such astronomical numbers globally, than non human animals in captivity, especially those found in laboratories, and factory farms. I think this is why some of us, have gravitated towards doing what we can to be a voice for these animals. And it isn't because I am not aware of the global wars and the devastations, and it's not that I don't help when I am able to for those causes, it's just that I see our infliction on animals as actually the biggest malady of human consciousness. I really believe that if we can become more compassionate in those areas, that suddenly all killing, especially of other humans will have totally no meaning. If we gave rights to animals, suddenly that would open up the re-wilding of the world. In so doing, this would help those poorest people who depend on natural areas for their livelihoods. I really see this as an all inclusive great thing. Let's have peace reign. Let's stop killing unnecessarily in all areas of our life.
I care just as much for people, but I also realize that if those of us who feel strong compassion for the animals, didn't try to get their voices heard, it just seems that no one would. When it comes to people-- many more are on board with this, and many more are working very hard in this area. And even the people themselves who are being mistreated, still in many cases do have a voice. And in some instances are able to rise above and make shifts that are totally unprecedented. Look at Rosa Parks.
For me, I think that humans deserve rights of course, but at the same time, I think human rights has really been the crux of many of our issues in the world-- in the respect that human rights have basically given legal rights to people to own land, water, resources and anything that actually doesn't even belong to us in the first place. Humanity in general is mostly very selfish. Everything is about us. But actually the universe really only bestows its gifts on us, when we start thinking about that outside of ourselves, and wanting the best for all that surrounds us. All that we are cognitively aware of in our lives. In helping the helpless, we actually help ourselves. Think of a world where we equally valued all of life. Where trees and wild places were equally as important as human abodes. Think how much beauty our children would be able to experience, and the connection to wild life we could have, if we weren't so focused on 'me', 'my' and 'mine'. Humans are the most possessive creatures on the planet and nothing is ever good enough, it seems that all of life that has no means to serve humanity has no point in existence.. so what do we do.. we kill it.. because this is 'me', 'my' and 'mine'. I don't personally believe in a God, but since many people do, I will use the terminology. I do believe in a higher life force.. but I don't really have any words for that.. it seems to be just the energy flow.. the energy transfer in life.
Anyway, if there was a god, and if he created the earth. Why in the world, would he put things on the earth that had no meaning? What's the point of life.. if humans think it's all about them?
It just seems bizarre to me.
In my eyes, human beings are animals. We are all animals. We just have different characteristics. We all experience life differently. Yet, blood runs through all of our veins and the will to survive pounds on all of us, 2 legged, 4 legged, 8 legged, it's the same.
I see 'meat' in the store, and in my eyes, it might as well be 'human meat'. An animal is an animal.
I don't mean that in a derogatory way, I just mean it literally, actually. Yes, non human animal meat, disgusts me, just as much as if I were to see human meat. One of the same.
Here are some interesting further reading/listening on the topic:
http://responsibleeatingandliving.com/?p=14401
Video: Animals are Persons too
NPR Diane Rehm show --interview with Steven Wise
Should a chimp be able to sue its owner? -- Article
Blog post connecting animal rights and human rights
*** note *** I mentioned that I would answer the question about why can animals kill and why is it different for us?
Animals only kill what they need, many animals do not have a choice, and animals actually benefit the overall ecology because they take the weakest, sickest, eldest of their prey. They also use their talent, wit, speed, strength and embrace the animal fully upon its death. What do we do? Well, we are completely hopeless without tools -- unless it's literally a bug-- and even if someone was able to capture something like a snake -- I have yet to see someone act on their 'carnism' impulses and eat it raw, being with the prey fully as it dies in that person's mouth. If someone were to do that, they would most likely be labelled insane. So we use tools, we also pick and choose what animal parts that we will eat, we also flavor the meat so it actually tastes more like a plant (we use plants to flavor it, last I checked we don't use blood or fur or other animal body parts for flavoring). We also take the strongest, not only do we take the strongest but we will inseminate them, and take their young, cage or kill their young and then drink the parent's secretions -- that was actually for their young. And then we further inseminate them, till we have thousands, mutilate them, lock them in small crates, and kill off all the possible wildlife that may actually get in the way of this process. Is this not the actions of an ill society?
I never really knew that there was such a thing as animal rights lawyers. It's quite the challenging case, and much more so as most judges haven't dealt with these kinds of cases before.
I definitely think that it's the wave of the future. That these issues will be pressed more and more. It's not just about animal rights, but also humans. For our moral integrity, to treat life with respect. The more we can treat those 'lowest' in many peoples views, with respect, the more we will be able to uphold fairness to our fellow human beings as well. -- Or so at least I would like to think. It seems reasonable at minimum.
The celebrity that is nice to those who can do nothing for them, is typically that much better perceived by the public eye. It goes for all of us though, who are those beings that people assume to be of sub par material, that can be treated poorly for arbitrary reasons? We base our judgment essentially on our ability to use tools in a way that has dramatically shifted the ecology of our planet. No other animal has done that. If cheetahs ruled the world, they may judge a species by how fast they run, and we would be totally out of the 'running' in that situation--both figuratively and literally. And hence would not have a 'voice' per say. But who do we arbitrarily allot as not having a voice today? They have a voice, we just typically don't like to listen or understand. Many people take advantage of these 'voice less' at every meal-- or at least in industrialized nations. They may not murder the animals physically, but they do with their paychecks. It's basically saying, 'I deserve to consume you, because I am a more worthy entity on planet earth than you are.' It's not that we don't have choices, we have plenty of choices. We have the beautiful opportunity to live off of plants, and actually we can dramatically improve our wellbeing, planet's wellbeing, many species of animal's wellbeing and our own consciousness in doing so. (for a rebuttal of the question, "but animals consume animals in the wild, why can't humans?", see to the end of this article for the answer)
I adore that people are dedicating their lives to animal liberation. I majored in Environmental Policy and I think if I was more familiar with what animal rights was, as I am today, I would have given it perhaps a proper consideration.
Maybe the world isn't quite there yet, in understanding that animals deserve liberties just as much as we do. Not human liberties, but liberties to live out their own lives in a way that is natural to them. Not stolen from their habitats, not enslaved by us for our own selfish needs. We don't need animal products for survival -- and we especially don't need enslaved animals for our survival. The more I think about it, the more sick I feel inside, to know how ignorant and unconscious as a species we have been in our treatment of not only each other, but of all life forms on planet earth.
Even if the world isn't quite there yet, the more those of us who are on board, can talk about it, and really share how imperative it is for the nonhuman animals -- in reducing unnecessary suffering for them, the more it can become part of mainstream.
No rights movement ever started off as popular. It seems that most of the people who aren't for animal rights, are those who will be directly affected by the repercussions -- farmers, scientists.. etc.
Isn't that the same as with human rights, even today, granting rights to 'immigrants' without documentation, would affect agricultural business. Granting African Americans liberty, also affected farmers in the south. So many people earn quite a bit of money (unfortunately) by the exploitation of beings -- both human and non human.
And I think the biggest argument against non human animal rights, is the argument of how to possibly care for non human animals when so many people's rights are taken advantage of, and so much can be fixed among injustices today among people.
And it does seem to be relatively true that those who fight for non human animals are typically caucasian of middle class. I guess in my mind, there are so many people working on human rights issues, and most people really don't seem to even take note that non human animals are autonomous creatures with full awareness of themselves as individuals and can suffer, they can also have the same types of psychological disorders that people have. But unlike human beings, they are lacking a voice in our mainstream culture. And currently there is no group of individuals that I am aware of that is being more acceptably tortured in such astronomical numbers globally, than non human animals in captivity, especially those found in laboratories, and factory farms. I think this is why some of us, have gravitated towards doing what we can to be a voice for these animals. And it isn't because I am not aware of the global wars and the devastations, and it's not that I don't help when I am able to for those causes, it's just that I see our infliction on animals as actually the biggest malady of human consciousness. I really believe that if we can become more compassionate in those areas, that suddenly all killing, especially of other humans will have totally no meaning. If we gave rights to animals, suddenly that would open up the re-wilding of the world. In so doing, this would help those poorest people who depend on natural areas for their livelihoods. I really see this as an all inclusive great thing. Let's have peace reign. Let's stop killing unnecessarily in all areas of our life.
I care just as much for people, but I also realize that if those of us who feel strong compassion for the animals, didn't try to get their voices heard, it just seems that no one would. When it comes to people-- many more are on board with this, and many more are working very hard in this area. And even the people themselves who are being mistreated, still in many cases do have a voice. And in some instances are able to rise above and make shifts that are totally unprecedented. Look at Rosa Parks.
For me, I think that humans deserve rights of course, but at the same time, I think human rights has really been the crux of many of our issues in the world-- in the respect that human rights have basically given legal rights to people to own land, water, resources and anything that actually doesn't even belong to us in the first place. Humanity in general is mostly very selfish. Everything is about us. But actually the universe really only bestows its gifts on us, when we start thinking about that outside of ourselves, and wanting the best for all that surrounds us. All that we are cognitively aware of in our lives. In helping the helpless, we actually help ourselves. Think of a world where we equally valued all of life. Where trees and wild places were equally as important as human abodes. Think how much beauty our children would be able to experience, and the connection to wild life we could have, if we weren't so focused on 'me', 'my' and 'mine'. Humans are the most possessive creatures on the planet and nothing is ever good enough, it seems that all of life that has no means to serve humanity has no point in existence.. so what do we do.. we kill it.. because this is 'me', 'my' and 'mine'. I don't personally believe in a God, but since many people do, I will use the terminology. I do believe in a higher life force.. but I don't really have any words for that.. it seems to be just the energy flow.. the energy transfer in life.
Anyway, if there was a god, and if he created the earth. Why in the world, would he put things on the earth that had no meaning? What's the point of life.. if humans think it's all about them?
It just seems bizarre to me.
In my eyes, human beings are animals. We are all animals. We just have different characteristics. We all experience life differently. Yet, blood runs through all of our veins and the will to survive pounds on all of us, 2 legged, 4 legged, 8 legged, it's the same.
I see 'meat' in the store, and in my eyes, it might as well be 'human meat'. An animal is an animal.
I don't mean that in a derogatory way, I just mean it literally, actually. Yes, non human animal meat, disgusts me, just as much as if I were to see human meat. One of the same.
Here are some interesting further reading/listening on the topic:
http://responsibleeatingandliving.com/?p=14401
Video: Animals are Persons too
NPR Diane Rehm show --interview with Steven Wise
Should a chimp be able to sue its owner? -- Article
Blog post connecting animal rights and human rights
*** note *** I mentioned that I would answer the question about why can animals kill and why is it different for us?
Animals only kill what they need, many animals do not have a choice, and animals actually benefit the overall ecology because they take the weakest, sickest, eldest of their prey. They also use their talent, wit, speed, strength and embrace the animal fully upon its death. What do we do? Well, we are completely hopeless without tools -- unless it's literally a bug-- and even if someone was able to capture something like a snake -- I have yet to see someone act on their 'carnism' impulses and eat it raw, being with the prey fully as it dies in that person's mouth. If someone were to do that, they would most likely be labelled insane. So we use tools, we also pick and choose what animal parts that we will eat, we also flavor the meat so it actually tastes more like a plant (we use plants to flavor it, last I checked we don't use blood or fur or other animal body parts for flavoring). We also take the strongest, not only do we take the strongest but we will inseminate them, and take their young, cage or kill their young and then drink the parent's secretions -- that was actually for their young. And then we further inseminate them, till we have thousands, mutilate them, lock them in small crates, and kill off all the possible wildlife that may actually get in the way of this process. Is this not the actions of an ill society?
LOVE this post Esther. I think animals rights is a huge issue - and continues to be a huge issue today. It makes me mad when people who stand up for animal rights are ridiculed or made fun of (which seems to happen frequently). Animals have feelings and experience love, fear, and many of the same emotions that we do. How can anyone who has experienced the love of an animal think otherwise?
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