Sunday, December 14, 2014
Humbled Holidays
Thursday, December 4, 2014
A Changed Heart Indeed.
Learning Before Grades
Double Standard
Consciousness
Guys, Come On
Pathos
Pathos is many used to make people feel a certain way in order to get the to do what you want.
Nicholas James on Empathy
Animals Are Friends!!
The Next Step
Uh yeah. Yay animals 🐷
The end?
Animal rights
Social Hierarchy of Animals
Why I support Animal Rights.
Another reason I support animal rights is that animals aren't bad. When animals kill its for food or protection. The only animals that kill just because they can are humans and apes (because they are so closely related to humans). Also, humans really haven't done anything good for this planet other than pollute and overpopulate it. Maybe this sounds crazy, but if there wasn't a law against cruel and unusual punishment, I'd much rather them test medicine on criminals than animals. Mostly because those animals have never done anything wrong in their lives, in fact most of them are born in labs, so they don't even have a chance to do anything that people might consider "bad". They've done nothing to deserve such a horrible life, while people like Charles Manson are just sitting in prison. I would probably feel better about testing medicine on animals if it weren't so inhumane.
I believe animals really need to be treated with more respect because they are so much more intelligent than we think. Every time I see something about Koko I'm amazed because a gorilla was able to learn sign language. I just don't see how we think of them as so much lower than us just because they aren't the same as us. I mean we keep whales and dolphins in captivity and have them to tricks for us when they are so much smarter than that. It has been proven that the have their own languages and they have names for each other, which is just mind blowing because that was something that was very distinctly human and now we know whales do that. Animals deserve so much more than being forced to sacrifice their lives for us.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
For animal rights or not?
Right now with this arguments between animal rights or no animal rights has got me stuck right in the middle. I say this because of my personality I am a really nice person that can never decide on debates or decision. So for now I am in the middle. I say this because yes we have moments where we feel bad for the animals, so then right on the top of minds without consideration we say that animals deserve animal rights. With that I feel bad for animals because animals play a huge connection to our lives, and they can change who we are. That it makes us sad when the animal research project torture the animals, that we say it's wrong. Yes I do agree but then I don't because humans have the same amount if rights when it comes to diseases and cancers. Shouldn't we consider the same respect because humans don't always have a perfect life just like animals, cause some of them are homeless, starving, poor, have cancer and diseases. If we do then the human's precious life will be better, so therefore the results will also impact the animals with better enviornment just cause of this little fix. Just like Yong, author of the article "Of Primates and Personhood: Will According Rights and Dignity to Nonhuman Organisms Halt Research," humans at the same time deserve dignity just like animals with all this corruption going on. Therefore I also agree with animal rights because it can help the humans in need get better and as of result can also make the lifes of animals better. Even though the change in animal genetics is a very risky option. As of result still can't make the decision to choose which side to be on.
Animal Stuff
This is a Title
Has the Meaning Been Lost?
Okay great there are rules for pigs to have toys so they don't fight with each other. There are crows who can fashion hooks out of wire. There's even a gorilla who can use sign language. Fish feel pain. Great apes have rights in Spain. Why is it that we put those matters over the importance of humanity's well being? We have people who put the importance of their dog before that of other people. There are individuals who are passionate about the fact that testing of medication of animals is horribly wrong, yet have most likely benefited from said medications in the past, or will in the future. There are millions of dollars being donated every year to animal rights. There are commercials from the SPCA that allow people to adopt a dog by sending money to take care of it. And yet there are still starving, homeless, and needy people everywhere. There are people who have hit hard times and have no homes, no jobs, no one to care for them. Yet some people will gladly invest their paychecks in animals rather than in those people in need.
Yes, Empathy is needed. Yes, there are animals that need help, but when did those animals become more of a pressing matter than Human Beings in our communities who are in need? I think empathy is plentiful, it is just ill-spent.
Fish Are Friends, Not Food
Braithwaite suggests also that if we can not determine what our own consciousness is, then how can we decided whether or not animals are conscious. I think humans are pretty selfish in the way that we breed animals for slaughter and don't even treat them in a humane way during the days that they have to be alive. Now, I am not saying that everyone should stop eating meat. I mean, people have been eating animal meat for centuries upon centuries, so there is no way you can convince everyone to stop eating meat. What, I think should happen, is that animals should be given a happy life even if they are only alive for a month or so. We as humans have assumed this role as "God" for the animals that are below us on the food chain (our food chain that is) and yet we don't take the time to at least provide a good life for these animals that we are determining fate for.
I think the least we could do is give the animals a good place to live not only for them but also for the cleanliness of the food we eat. Most animals that are bred for their meat are kept in dark dirty places and fed processed food that is supposed to speed up their growing process in order to meet a deadline for that meat company. Not only is this a sad way to treat animals but its an unhealthy way for us to be raising our livestock and the things we put inside our bodies. If we were to give the animals open places to live and the right kind of food not only would we be doing a good thing for those animals but it would also be a way for us to start eating "clean". These animals aren't here for long, and its up to us to give them good lives while they're here. Fun fact: it has been proven that pigs are smarter than dogs. Just something to ponder the next time you're chewing on a piece of bacon.
In short, what I took from the articles that we read in class, is that we as humans have a responsibility to take care of the creatures and animals that are around us and if we are determining the life span of these animals, why not provide a good life for them while they're here? We also need to take a step back when we speak of ourselves so highly in the animal kingdom; we are incapable of determining our own consciousness, so who are we to say that other animals aren't conscious as well?
Empathy
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Am I for or against animal rights?
Even though I believe that animals should have some form of respect, I just don’t know how much respect they deserve. I have no problem with giving them respect but in my opinion they will never be on a higher pedestal than human. We did not need an article to tell us that animals have feelings because that was super obvious. Dogs cry when they are sad or hurt. They will even get excited when their owner returns or when its play time. However, I still don’t know how much respect they deserve.
I was watching the Great Barrier Reef on television and I saw a crab attack a baby turtle and I got sad; luckily the baby turtle escaped and survived. I wonder why it’s plausible for animals to eat other animals but as soon as a human does it, it’s wrong. I am a meat eater and I always will be. So why am I ridiculed for my preference it’s a way of life, just like animals eating other animals is their way of life. Now this brings me back to the topic of respect because animals do not respect or care about the other animal it kills or eats. So why am I ridiculed for eating meat or not giving them certain “respect” that they deserve? And yes I did take this idea from one of our articles.