A favorite argument among anti-animal rights activists:
THEY ARE NOT HUMAN.
To which I reply, this is a tautology.
YES, BUT I MEANT THAT THEY ARE NOT IN OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT.
Okay. I knew this is what you meant. A tautology no
more. I just wanted to make you say it. What you are saying is that
human beings are in power. And by giving away power (rights) we are
giving to those who are incapable (if not unwilling) to return it. In
other words you are saying you ascribe to the most depraved of ethical
systems. Some would say that you and those of your mindset are not
ethical at all, since you do nothing that does not in some way guarantee
a return in material form from your neighbor.
If your neighbor was truly in need, and you surmised
that this neighbor was not in the contract, you would not even offer to
allow him into it but would commit the most atrocious act of suffering
upon him, and be without guilt by your system, since he was not a
participator, a priori, in this all-important contract. You might have
given kindness and seen if it were returned, but you were not bound by
such contract, so you are faultless.
You ate this individual's flesh for the shear pleasure
of taste; you wore his skin for the lush feeling; you experimented on
him for search of your and your co-contractors' immortality. You could
have shown kindness to your neighbor, (dog, cat, cow, rabbit) and maybe
he/she would have shown it back (entered in the contract) but you did
not. The people of your mindset two hundred years ago, were perfectly
content owning slaves since they did not seem to show the promise of
intellect to gain power or wealth or voting power; and they certainly
possessed none at the time. You knew that you never could become them;
as you congratulated yourself for being white. (maybe you are not but
those of your mindset surely did).
People of your mindset, are called tyrants because they
are in power, and they say that those who are their subjugates are not
worthy of consideration because they have not power to share. Do not
disguise your scorn for animal rights as a love of people. You have a
love for power, which you mask in the insidious term, SOCIAL CONTRACT.
Go on to Thoughts
to Think About While Holding The Cutest Puppy in the World
Return to 7 November 1999 Issue
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