“…what about animals, we’ve turned kingdoms to dust;
what about elephants; have we lost their trust?
What about crying whales; we’re ravaging the seas;
what about forest trails, burnt despite our pleas…”
What about us?
The Earth Song – Michael Jackson
I really don’t care if you wear animal fur, so long as you eat the animal you’re wearing. I mean c’mon, when was the last time you had a lynx or fox steak? Last week? Last year? Never? That’s what I thought. So why do you get so crazy when you hear an animal has “gone wild” and mauled a human? Animals don’t go wild, they are wild.
I am no vegan. I don’t eat meat but I do love turkey and seafood. I gave up eating chicken March 1st, and although I went kicking’ and scratching..I went nonetheless.
Over the past several years I have become cognizant as to how awful we treat animals on this great earth of ours. Sure, you might say we have more important problems affecting earth right now – air and water pollution, global warming, toxic poisoning, etc., but lately I keep finding myself drawn more and more to animal rights issues.
The idea of awarding rights to animals is not new. Critics of the idea say that animals are unable to enter into a social contract or make moral choices. For these reasons they cannot be regarded as possessors of rights. A philosopher named Roger Scruton wrote in 2000 that “only humans have duties and therefore only humans have rights.”
Now I’m not about to say to you that my cat “G” sleeps with me or has his own bedroom, or even (gulp) eats at the dinner table with me. I will say that he is part of the family. He is part of the family because he makes us feel better when we get home from a long day dealing with asshole humans. Come to think of it, I have never met an animal that I could honestly call an asshole. Whether animals should be viewed as food is not for me to say. I will just stick to my guns about never eating or wearing my cat.
Whatever you believe in, you must believe something greater than yourself planted the first tree, borne the first elephants, lions, tigers, bears..man.
I read that 97% of Americans believe cruelty to animals should be illegal. After viewing several documentaries dealing with cruelty in the egg industry several major chicken farms – one being Perdue made me sick to my stomach. Now mind you, Jim Perdue says they “take care of (their) chickens in a humane way.” I’m just wondering how humane it can possibly be when your chickens have breasts that outweigh them. How humane can it be when the chicken can barely walk without falling over?
