6 ms·
Except for the cow.
by hamax 6y ago
Except for the cow.
- fastball 6y agoIt's only 1/4 of a cow. The cow still has 3/4 to work with.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- rsj_hn 6y agoEveryone has to cut back in lean times.
- leadingthenet 6y agoThe cow wouldn't even exist if it weren't useful to us. Let's treat them as humanely as possible, while not pretending they're something they're not. If you want to help animals, let's tackle the issue of rewilding and reforestation more seriously.
- handoflixue 6y agoWhat makes rewilding / reforestation a better focus for helping animals? I'd have thought the current situation dire enough that one would want to focus on the low-hanging fruit like regulations against the current cruelties and elimination of "Ag-Gag" laws.
- hamax 6y agoThis is a really strange argument. Even though you wouldn't exist if not for your parents, but you would still probably agree that they shouldn't have you for dinner?
- belorn 6y agoWhen animal smugglers are caught at the border, the police has to handle the animals. They can't release them into the wild, they can't repossess and sell them because of the unknown health risks and costs, and they can't keep them at the border for all time. The most common result is thus to kill them. Similar when there is an dangerous pandemic among animals, the most common response is to kill all the sick and those close by. Culling is the most common response to bird flue. For obvious reason we do not treat humans in the same way, and it would be extremely inhumane to do so.
- globular-toast 6y ago> The cow wouldn't even exist if it weren't useful to us. I hate this argument so much. For a start, animals are perfectly capable of breeding on their own. They don't need you. You are not their god. Who is pretending they are something they are not? They are sentient beings whether you like it or not. You might think you are superior, but your cat and your dog are certainly not. And who says that being alive is good? They're born into captivity, without a chance and many of them tortured for their entire life. But that's OK, because at least they got to live?
- fastball 6y agoThe problem is that, as far as we can tell, they're not self-aware. They have no concept of "captivity". Their life is their life; they don't have hopes, dreams, or desires. They eat, shit, and fuck. That's all they do in the wild, that's all they do in captivity. The beauty of being human is that we are not controlled by our instincts. We have meta-cognition, which therefore makes us distinct from all other animals. This is why the vast majority of the earth's population agrees that killing a human and killing an animal are very different things.
- ant6n 6y agoI like meat, but this argument is wonky. Domesticated animals displace wild ones, because they take away the habitat.
- briefcomment 6y agoYou could say the same thing for plants right? They probably don't want to be eaten.
- cecilpl2 6y agoThe Arrogant Worms had a good take on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM
- nearbuy 6y agoSince they lack thoughts, they couldn't care less.
- briefcomment 6y agoRespectfully, you and most people have no clue what plants experience. There were those studies published in recent years that suggested plants "scream" when they are being eaten or destroyed, presumably to warn other plants.
- sjy 6y agoThis is ridiculous. Consciousness may be mysterious, but the fact that something emits sound when you break it doesn’t bring it into the same ethical domain as cows and other mammals with brains and an obvious desire and ability to avoid pain and death.
- briefcomment 6y agoThen why don’t we just anesthetize animals before slaughtering them? Seems like it would take care of your concern.
- sjy 6y agoThe same reason anaesthesia doesn’t make it okay to kill humans. There’s lots more on this in chapter 4 (“What's Wrong with Killing?”) of Singer’s Practical Ethics, if you’re interested.