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originally posted in:Secular Sevens
Edited by King Dutchy: 4/24/2013 7:38:53 PM
47

Animals and Rights.

This has bothering me for a while now. I've been struggling with trying to find a good justification for my position on animal rights. To simplify my position in a single sentence, I think it's unethical for humans to kill/torture any animals that are "cute", but it's ok to do so to "ugly" animals. And for some time I've come to the conclusion that my justification sucks, but I found it too difficult to try to find a better justification, and way too painful to simply change my position entirely. So I've been ignoring the subject entirely until now. And since I can't stop thinking about it now, I really need to find to find a logical standpoint with logical justifications so that my mind can be at ease. And I think you guys can help me. So, Secular Sevens + The public forum people, I would like to know your positions on animal rights and your justifications. EDIT: My stance has changed and I'm currently working on defining/polishing it.

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  • Edited by Bolt: 4/23/2013 12:44:05 AM
    There are no such things as rights, human or animal. Do what you think will benefit you the most (even if that's altruism). (Vegetarian since 2007)

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    • As long as they are put down [u]humanely[/u], then it's cool with me. Just look at Temple Grandin. She's a prime example of an Animal Rights Activist with a lot of common sense.

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    • What is this? The Socialist Nation of Nature?

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    • I suggest you stop doing so much navel-gazing and just enjoy the things you enjoy. Life is too short to worry about silly things. You can eat meat, or not eat meat. Nothing in the world will change as a result of that choice, except whether or not you eat meat. Alternatively, if you need a justification for your carnivorous desires, just turn on a nature show that shows predators being predators. Note that predators have two eyes in front (better depth perception for pursuing and taking down prey), and that prey has their eyes on the sides of their head (wider field of vision for a better chance of seeing predators). Note also that you have two front-facing eyes. Nature has crowned you predator. Live it.

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      • Animals have the right to be delicious.

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        • I too have had hard time justifying my desire for meat. Here are some points I'd like to bring forth: 1. We need to eat. The whole need for a justification for eating meat is because we have started to compare ourselves with animal and started to grant them some "human rights". I think this should work both ways. As animals have the right to eat meat in order to stay alive so should we. After reading that, the token vegans among us will say "But we DON'T HAVE TO eat meat!". To that I say: "tigers can eat tofu too". 2. What is a good life and what isn't? Is a bad life better than no life at all? There are 2 possibilities. Either the cow you'll eat gets born, has a decent life on cow standards and gets to be eaten by you OR it won't be born in the first place. The reason we have cows, chicken and pigs is that we eat them. If we would all stop eating meat they would go extinct. Well, we'd perhaps still eat eggs and drink milk(if that isn't immoral too then?) but the cows and chicken producing the fore mentioned products would still die naturally and what is the difference in that to having them to die for food in the first place?

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        • I believe it's okay to kill livestock (for a good reason), but not domesticated animals. It's also not okay to torture either.

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        • Killing livestock is fine. Domesticated animals, not so much. Torture is never okay. /stance.

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        • I honestly only find necessary hunger as any justification for killing anything. I'd describe your position like this: "I think it's a shame to kill a good looking animal, because they are aesthetically pleasing, and interesting. But less attractive animals are perfectly fine for killing, because they are less interesting/fun to look at." And you're right, your opinion does kind of suck. Mostly because, there is no supreme ruling of what animals are interesting and cute and which animals are not. You might think something like the mountain goat is ugly, but I might think that they're pretty neat animals.

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        • I think its okay to eat animals for food and test them for scientific purposes. But I think we should draw the line at using animal testing to test stuff like cosmetics, which aren't as beneficial to humanity as food or science especially when they have other methods to test cosmetics to see if they're safe.

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        • Too many people need to get over themselves and realize that people are animals, too. Doing something horrible to an animal and saying, "It's just an animal," is no different than Hitler saying, "They're just Jews." The only acceptable reasons to kill animals are: 1. Food 2. Protecting yourself/others 3. Getting rid of pests in your home 4. Mercy killing

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          • Well rights are made up things.

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            • What's the stance of people here on animal research, then?

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              • The "Animal Farm" endgame comes to mind but only because I recently read it.

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              • Animals are food and food gets eaten in the end. Who cares what happens to them when they're on the journey to my plate?

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              • Edited by Entraps: 4/23/2013 6:08:46 PM
                Certain animals I think should have rights above other ones based on their intelligence. I think animals such as dolphins, chimps, orangutans, and bears should have greater rights then animals of lesser intelligence. But regardless of intelligence, animals should always be treated humanely at the very least. I also agree with what Calamity said.

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                • Aside from the legitimate reasons to kill an animal (self defense, food, fishing, accidental road kill, etc), killing animals is pretty bad. Like the kind of people that murder their neighbor's pet cat(s) for no reason or just because they hate cats. Those dou­chebags should rot in jail.

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                • next tress will have rights. then bugs then bacteria lol.

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                  • As some people have already stated. Theres only a few legit reasons on why you would need to kill an animal. Food, To end their suffering, protecting yourself/property. I enjoy hunting and fishing. Both of which, I'll choose my kill carefully and when I do kill, I eat the animal and use as much of it as possible.

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                  • Not considered a "cute" animal but isnt she just adorable!!! ^_^

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                    • Edited by Postwarbean: 4/23/2013 7:40:40 PM
                      Dolphins kill Porpoises for rip apart Porpoises for fun.

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                    • Ohhh Dutchy, you're so far left, it's a surprise you're not a socialist yet.

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                      • Not very many species on our planet show compassion. And being one of the few that do I would think we would take pride in it. Lions tigers and bears (oh my) kill for food, which is understandable, and beef is a good food source for us as well. So I am all for eating animals and what not, but I do not take pride in inflicting pain on anything. I feel bad about killing spiders even though they terrify me or are even a threat to my health. (black widows) I do not kill for sport, I will not inflict pain unless I must for some greater reason. (which I doubt a greater reason will arise)

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                        • Animals have he right to be tasty.

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                        • My opinion on animals has really changed over the years. I grew up hunting and not particularly caring about ethical or moral treatment of animals. Having dogs started to really clue me in on the idea that animals have more feeling and intelligence than I ever gave them credit for. Biology classes and naturalist documentaries shifted my opinion even more, and now after getting into the subject and reading up extensively on evolution and primatology, I try not to make a distinction between us and animals anymore. I guess I take a utilitarian view of animals. We are designed to eat both meat and vegetables. Meat is a far more efficient source of calories that make our large energy diet possible. There is no point in denying that we are predatory animals and some are resigned to be our prey. So, I do accept that it is simply the lot in life of some species that they will be food for us. That is what domesticated farm animals have evolved to be. Docile, fast-growing variants of animals. I prefer they are treated well during their life, but realize and accept that they will become food before their natural end. That's how the food chain works, and that's how it has to be. However, I have come to morally oppose the killing of animals for any sort of sport or entertainment, and oppose the destruction of natural wildlife or habitat for trivial reasons. The more intelligent the species affected, the stronger I feel opposed to it. Morals are driven by empathy, and all mammals are hard wired to be empathetic. However, that empathy is limited only to those we can relate to. If you can convince yourself that animals are emotionless automatons driven purely by a genetic code, you likely won't have any empathy towards them. Once you learn enough about them to see how much like us some of them really are, the more empathy for them you will feel.

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                        • I don't believe in unnecessary suffering and killing of animals.

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