Essential

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Queer Vegans

The vegans claim that I am attacking humanity by denying the humanity of the animals. We HUMANS--the rulers of the world--EAT MEAT. Oh my. I have just one question: What humanity are we talking about when lions eat meat? Yet, we cannot kill lions because it destroys the "eco balance"? Please give me a break. Vegans are so foolish to destroy themselves and condem the world to soy. Obvisouly, intelligent people will not fall for such stupidity.

As Prof. Carl Cohen lectured, Why Animals Do Not Have Rights. I think every veganite and those leaning in this direction needs to hear this lecture.

Animals (that is, non-human animals, the ordinary sense of that word) lack this capacity for free moral judgment. They are not beings of a kind capable of exercising or responding to moral claims. Animals therefore have no rights, and they can have none. This is the core of the argument about the alleged rights of animals. The holders of rights must have the capacity to comprehend rules of duty, governing all including themselves. In applying such rules, the holders of rights must recognize possible conflicts between what is in their own interest and what is just. Only in a community of beings capable of self-restricting moral judgments can the concept of a right be correctly invoked.

Or read this short essay by
Russell Madden. Here's a quote.

If a gazelle has a right to its life, does the lion then not have a right to its life since it needs to kill the gazelle or some other such animal to survive? It is also true that humans are animals. If a lion somehow does not violate the rights of a gazelle when it hurts it or kills it, how can a human do so? (And does a lion violate a human's rights if it kills and eats a person?)

...People who advocate the myth of "animal rights" are at best ignorant of what rights truly are. At worst, they are anti-human, preferring that a humanity "infecting" the planet and disturbing "Nature" or "Gaia" be obliterated. Their anti-rational actions serve only to dilute and destroy the very concept of "rights." Promoting the moral position of animals over people -- the mantra that a rat is a pig is a human -- undercuts the distinctive and unique quality of free will that makes us who we are.

Nuf said.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

"The holders of rights must have the capacity to comprehend rules of duty, governing all including themselves. In applying such rules, the holders of rights must recognize possible conflicts between what is in their own interest and what is just."

If we are to follow this logic, small children and the mentally disabled should not have rights either.

I suppose you are advocating that we start factory farming two year olds, or maybe we can now justify testing dangerous chemicals on individuals who suffer from severe mental retardation.

Prince Todd said...

I am going to totally disagree with this article. This is comparing apples to oranges, seriously.
In nature the predator/prey dichotomy is necessary. Granted, I do know vegans and vegetarians who are DUMB enough to classify lions and hyenas as "evil" simply because they kill other animals; however, they are not the matter here.
Animals preying on other animals is the natural way.
However, to say that lower animals (in intelligence) don't deserve protection from human beings is inhumane, callous, and stupid too.
For the record I am not a vegan or a veggie; but I still love animals and I support animal rights.
What it all comes down to is the circle of life. Something dies for something else to live.
That does not mean we have to disrespect and allow things to suffer just because you have an anti-vegan agenda.

Robertangel said...

how foolish humans are

Liberty Belle said...

Emma, humans as a SPECIES have rights and corresponding responsibilities as a result of our nature to formulate moral and ethical values. Immature or mentally incompetent humans are still humans, and therefore do have inherent rights. IMHO, that includes unborn humans as well.

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