Is mankind justified in its treatment of other creatures?
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Only insofar as that negative treatment of other creatures is necessary. For example if one can afford it one should pay a little extra for free-range animal products. The conditions that factory-farmed animals live under are horrific (Source 1). Sources: (1) http://www.lcanimal.org/index.php/ Hello W: Between grass fed beef, and grain fed beef, grain fed beef tastes BETTER. So, instead of accepting lower quality meat, we should IMPROVE conditions at the factory farms. Temple Grandin has great ideas but not much influence. excon You can get grain-fed free-range meat if you are so inclined. Most free-range meat is fed at least a mix of grain and grass, and solely grass-fed free-range is always labeled as such. Organic is far tastier too, if taste is your concern (though it's relatively expensive). I of course agree that we should improve factory farm conditions, however the only way to take action to this effect is by incentivizing the ethical treatment of animals. This only appears possible through personally buying free-range and encouraging others to also do so. It's hard to say. I feel like any argument I make to justify our treatment of animals is just my trying to excuse my carnivorous habits. If I were doing what I think is truly right I'd have to be a vegan, you might have gotten a hint of my feelings around this issue in my debate about the morality of squashing insects. Surely the joy we get out of good burgers isn't more valuable than the entire conscious experience of a cow's life? How could one possibly justify it? Some people will make arguments about how meat, eggs, milk, etc, is essential to a healthy diet, but I know plenty of vegetarians who are healthy. I'm no dietitian though, I could be very wrong. Maybe our treatment of animals isn't so bad / doesn't have to be so bad? Maybe one could say we're giving longer, happier lives to cows and chickens, etc, than they would have in the wild, and in exchange for this we utilize their meat and other production. Perhaps it would be better to complain only about animals that aren't treated well, like non-free-range chickens, or animals hunted for sport. I also have qualms about killing younger animals, calves, lambs, etc. I can't think of a good excuse for hunting a deer in the wild if you have the option of eating a farmed animal that has had a better than natural life. Cutting a deer's life short feels unfair, an abuse of our power over nature. Some might of course say that it is natures way that we dominate other animals, but I think we need to grow past just following what nature dictates. We can make our own decisions, and (cheesy, I know, but...) "with great power comes great responsibility." 1
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Hunting deer, depends on what you mean wild, is actually a vital form of conservationism. All the fees that go into hunting help preserve wildlife. Something I didn't know or think about until taking a class in college about conservation. Did you know in certain areas fires are actually necessary in destroying undergrowth so that the soil is fertile and ready for new plants/trees? Regarding the treatment of animals the main thing I think of is just the senselessly brutal treatment of animals that tends to happen in the fast food industry today. I don't necessary have qualms with the killing of animals in of it self, but I feel like there is a difference between animals of a certain level of sentience (what ever you want to call it). As such eating cows is fine, but eating primates would not etc. If an animal or creature has such a limited form of consciousness that it can not really experience well being, is not self aware, and is a slave to biological programming it's difficult to value such a life to the same degree as a human. It's also hard for me to project human morals on to animals since the natural way of things in the wild is kill or be killed. So long as we are properly treating animals and not eating those on par or comparable to us I think it is fine. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We do a lot of terrible and unnecessary and depraved things to other species. But we also live real lives where we need to eat and clothe ourselves and do labor and transport. It's a blend of good and bad. I don't believe every other living thing automatically has the right for us to just leave it alone though. That's not how nature works. A deer walking through a field has no rights to anything. And a naked human walking in the forest can easily be the prey of other animals if they have the opportunity. 0
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You know what I would love? I would love just once to hear animal right's people speak out against No Restriction abortions of viable late term babies supported by the Left. You just spent your time creating a debate trying to influence people to think before they kill an animal. Why do you never make debates asking if mankind is justified in the treatment of viable unborn babies up to birth. Where is this so called value and right's given to these discarded human lives? You should be first creatng debates explaining how women should think before ending a Baby's life? You could explain the many years of guilt many women have after abortions. You could explain how adoption would be allowing the baby to live without killing it. Nah, the sad truth is that the lives of animals are a more important an issue to you. It's truly sick the misplaced priorities from the Left. I might have respect for a person so compassionate that they even care for an animas life, were it not for the fact that most of these animal right's people never say word one to protect a viable baby's life. The Democrat party supports no restriction abortions up to birth for any reason. If you vote for them, you are supporting this inhumanity. I would guess you more often vote for Democrats because you think they care more for animals. Priorities? The GOP cares more for viable babies! |
