Viewing Thread:
"Animal Rights"

It may seem quite controversial to argue against animal rights but I have a raging feminist girl in my college class who argues about absolutely everything and she has pushed me to the psychological limit and provoked a bit of deep thinking on my part.

Since the dinosaurs perished and mankind became the dominant species on Earth, we have remained unchallenged. Well over 2000 years have gone by and we haven’t had a challenge to our power, a single species (namely us) has pretty much unlimited power. People talk about how intelligent dolphins and dogs are and how they are almost as clever as humans and even show human traits so should be treated equally. A few hundred years ago before the slave trade was abolished, black people were treated worse than animals despite the fact that they were in fact human.

Before the world decides to give animals all these special rights I think we need to sort out human rights before. Racial hatred is at an all time high and before animals start getting treated the same as humans, other humans need to start respecting each other and treat each other as equals.

If animals are smart enough to understand they aren’t treated equally then why don’t they go ahead and do something about it? Why, because they aren’t that smart. I am against animal cruelty for sure, I love animals and hate so see battery farming, fox hunting and animal testing going ahead but we need to develop a perspective. Our fellow man is more important than any animals. No matter how much you love your little pet hamster, a human life is more valuable.

I’m interested to listen to your views on the matter, so go on, discuss.

maddmun wrote:
> Give me one good
> reason why we're more important than any animal.

We can make weapons to kill our enemies.

Right, let me ask you now, are we the only animals that can make weapons, probably, but, is that agood thing?

Think about this now, the weapons being used across the planet by humans are slowly destrying the Earth, however, no other animal makes weapons to destroy their enemies, so, we are the only ones causing it.

If we continue like this, there will be no planet left which any regular animal can survive on, which will mena, no animals, and, without animals, and no decent land to grow food on, the human race will resort to cannabalism, which will cause yet mopre sufferening until the entire planet becomes barren wasteland.

Now, are we still better than animals?

Here's a good point for the bunny lovers - We have the right to say we are better because we can actually speak for starters, and, as cookie points out, we're rather flipping good at making stuff to kill each other, which serves to advance our technology as a whole, hence ventually improving everyones lives, providing they are still alive of course.

Whereas animals, well evolution passed most of them by or just came to a dead end.

To me, Animal Rights peoples insistence that "we have no right to say we are better than animals" is stupid, only they believe it and it just turns others off their cause because it makes the campaigners easily dismissed as one crisp short of a packet...

It depends on how you define better really.

If by better you mean more evolved, more technologically advanced etc.. then yes we are better than other animals.

However as you pointed out human actions are having an adverse affect on the planet, in that sense we are probably the worst thing to populate earth.

And the weapons are not destorying the earth you fool, people yes, earth no.

*waits for the cliched "mankind is a virus" type references courtesy of whatever Hollywood junk the poster has seen*

It depends what weapons your are talking about.

If you said that atomic bombs dont destroy the earth i would probably begin to chuckle.

Belldandy wrote:
> *waits for the cliched "mankind is a virus" type references
> courtesy of whatever Hollywood junk the poster has seen*

Like The Matrix per chance?

cookie monster wrote:
> It depends on how you define better really.
>
> If by better you mean more evolved, more technologically advanced
> etc.. then yes we are better than other animals.
>
> However as you pointed out human actions are having an adverse affect
> on the planet, in that sense we are probably the worst thing to
> populate earth.

we are actually not more evolved, apart from our capabilities of making things. Animals are more evolved as they have their own weapons (teeth,venom,spikes etc) apart from our ability to design, make weapons, we naturally have none.

Belldandy wrote:
> And the weapons are not destorying the earth you fool, people yes,
> earth no.

*Thinks about Hiroshima and Nagasaki*

And on a non-weapons related matter...

*Chernobyl*