Spin off of the last blog post:
Excluding the “because it’s what my religion teaches” explanation, and trying to discuss this solely based on logic, why are human beings any more valuable and why do they have some kind of greater right to life than an animal?
I freely admit I am probably further to the animal-rights side of the spectrum than many of you. Well, I am and I’m not. I don’t eat meat but I like to go to the rodeo. I think that if I have to have a job, it’s only fair that a horse has to have a job. I consider my horse to be my employee, but I also seem to be pensioning out a whole bunch of other peoples’ employees at my expense, LOL! I’m not anti-racing, I just wish they’d let them grow up first and crack down on the drug abuse. Etc., etc., etc.But every time these slaughter/anti-slaughter debates start, someone comes out talking about how we anti-slaughter/animal rescue people should care more about children than horses, or whatever. Why? I truly do not get it. I never have. WHY are animals less valuable than humans? WHY do they have less right to be protected from suffering? WHY are they less important to get out of a burning building?
It can’t be because they’re less intelligent, because so are the mentally retarded, and the human-centric folks would argue they have the same value and right to life as an intelligent human. And intelligence is subjective, anyway. My horses would survive much longer in the wild than I would. Hell, I practically have convulsions if I have to go more than two waking hours without caffeine.
So, without using the “humans have a SOUL” or “because God said so” excuse, can anybody tell me WHY human beings are more valuable and have more right to life than animals? By the way, I’m not particularly fond of the “obviously we’re the most important ’cause we can kill and control everything else” excuse. That doesn’t make us look so noble, ya know.
(I can’t believe I’m doing this. I just know someone is going to beat me over the head with Scripture somewhere in this post. For the record, many have tried but at this point I’m not just going to Hell, I’ve pre-qualified for a management position and I’m not about to lose my place in line. Guess I’m just in a rabble-rousing mood tonight!)
P.S. Likewise, I’m not doing this to judge anybody else. I used to eat meat. I finally realized that if I thought about where it came from, I nearly puked, so that was probably a sign I should stop. So I did. I just think it’s good for all of us to question everything and really examine ourselves, what we believe and why we believe it. That’s how we evolve – that’s how our entire culture evolves. Yeah, I was fun as a child – my second grade teacher nearly killed me for asking why we had to send Valentines to people we hated and why we needed to learn math when everybody would have calculators by the time we were grown-ups, LOL!
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I freely admit I am probably further to the animal-rights side of the spectrum than many of you. Well, I am and I’m not. I don’t eat meat but I like to go to the rodeo. I think that if I have to have a job, it’s only fair that a horse has to have a job. I consider my horse to be my employee, but I also seem to be pensioning out a whole bunch of other peoples’ employees at my expense, LOL! I’m not anti-racing, I just wish they’d let them grow up first and crack down on the drug abuse. Etc., etc., etc.
Scenerio: An invalid child who you know has never spoken, fed herself or done anything remotely useful in her life is in the path of an uncoming tractor trailer. So is a cute little puppy. You only have resourses to rescue one- which would it be?
I would hope you would say the child. Maybe not all would. That is a society that may fully arrive someday.
To some the child is of less use than the puppy (maybe the puppy will grow up and be someone’s seeing eye dog or wake a family when there’s a fire. Not too many people would save a dog on the chance that it might grow up and save another dog’s life, but then again, I am sure it could happen).
Society accepts a dog that saves a human by killing another dog; but I can’t save a human life by killing a dog. Where’s the logic in that? We could say that people only do things for selfish reasons, thus the dog is nobler. But the fact that we want to rescue animals because it makes us feel good and is the right thing to do could be considered selfish and innoble, so that addressing this line of thought at all, is of no value.
If some horses are more or less on a higher scale of value than others- hence fugly horse of the day’s existence- then does it not stand to reason that humans as animals could be better than even the best horse?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job 39:19-25
it says it all about horses’ bonds with their riders. In the bible too
I really agree with you. I hate how people say – OH but there are children in the world living in poverty! Help them!
I have always wondered why people think that animals are less entitled to help than children, I would like to help both to be honest. But, I have to say, animals have less chance than humans. Theycan’t communicate as openly as we can, they can’t say “I only bucked because something pinched me” or “I’m colicing, I think I need a vet”.
Most children can communicate, they can say what’s wrong or why something happened. I can’t do a lot to help children, but I can help horses. I really think that people who can’t afford children should either buy condoms (although they are insanely expensive overseas I think) or they should be abstinate. I am confused as to why people feel the need to have sex, knowing that it may result in bringing a child into the world that they cannot look after. I feel horrible for the people who get raped and are forced into looking after themselves and the child, but I can’t help them. I have no credit card, I will not adopt a child at this age (probably never) and I cannot directly help them. Although horses get slaughtered in my country, there is an auction an hour away from here, I don’t need a credit card to help them and I am able to help them VERY cheaply due to my situation. I would like to help horses and children, but it’s not practical. Human’s also have an advantage in life, they can communicate and they have protection to a certain extent, in the form of police. These children are not as helpless as horses are. I surely know that children are not always able to help themselves, but they are MORE capable of getting out of a bad situation than a horse. It’s not as though a horse can tell someone they are being abused, they have to sit there and suffer, without any help. Horses don’t get to choose their life, they can’t change anything about it, and it’s LEGAL for them to be killed. Name me one child that was aloud to be murdered. Horses are at our mercy, and that’s exactly why I prefer to help them. They have souls, how can they not? While I would LIKE to help both, I can’t. I feel horrible for both, but people in third world countries still have the ability to help themselves.
When my daughter was in about 6th grade (she’s in 8th now), the whole 6th grade class, made up of several individual classrooms, wanted to take on a charitable project. There were all sorts of prospects, all of which involved helping the poor, children, etc., all noble endeavors. My daughter came up with the idea to take contributions of money, food, toys, cat litter,etc., for a local animal shelter and for the animals while they hopefully await adoption. Well, she got razzed by many of her classmates for wanting to help people instead of animals, got told the whole idea was to help people, etc….
I told her not EVERYTHING has to be about people, that it takes all kinds to make the world go ’round, i.e., some people want to help children and the poor while others want to help animals, and that’s okay; and that there are charitable groups aplenty to help people and many less to help animals…all of which pumped her up and I like to think helped her to be proud of her suggestion to take contributions for the homeless animals and to stick to her guns.
Well, all the suggestions were voted on and guess whose won? After the hard time she took from some of her classmates, my daughter’s suggestion won, and that’s the project her class took on. In fact, the head of the animal shelter came and talked to the class and singled out and thanked my daughter individually for coming up with her idea and shea and her classmates went on a field trip and toured the new animal shelter.
I refuse to buy the whole either/or BS. Just like breeders should work towards horses with great dispositions AND confirmation, we (all of the civilized non asshats) should do our part to make the world better for animals AND kids. These are NOT mutually exclusive goals. In fact there are several programs that do both at once — Rescue Horses finding use in therapeutic riding, animal assisted therapy for troubled teens, etc.
Even if all your time, attention and money is pointed at animal welfare, you’re helping kids by setting a good example. If all your time, attention and money is pointed at children you’re helping animals by doing all you can to ensure they become decent adults and not asshats. Decent adults are responsible animal owners (or know that they can’t handle an animal and therefore don’t have one!)
And I wonder how many times AC and DHS end up involved in the same situation?