1292:
Edited by CJ
Tointon
The term Animal Rights is still not understood very well. It's
not surprising! How can animals have 'Rights' when they don't know they
have them or even know they want them? No, it's really about 'Human
Not-Rights'. That is the 'not-rights' of humans to abuse
animals, take away their lives or diminish the quality of their existence.
Imagine, if you will, a little puppy. The most beautiful creature you
could imagine; innocent, playful, trusting with big brown eyes.
What happens after a few blissful days of guzzling Mum's milk and playing
with his brothers and sisters? He's taken away and put with his new
'humans' who soon enough subject him to the nastiest experience of his life -
the destruction of his most sensitive reproductive organs. His body
undergoes surgery for the removal of its most fundamental function. His
psyche is assaulted in readiness for a life of seclusion - in a 'human'
house. From there he will be 'played with', incarcerated day and night
and let run at the end of a leash (tied around his throat) for his 'walk'
around the block. He will be fed a totally unnatural diet - a few daily
bowls of crappy tinned food - and that's it!!! If there is any purpose to
his existence, it is to be nothing more than a 'toy' or 'companion' for humans
to play with and fondle. He can look forward to no company of his own
species, no relationship with anyone other than his human and his death date
will be determined at the convenience of the same human he has been friends
with all his life. His use-by date comes when he eventually sickens and
it's no longer economically viable to medicate him further. That's when he's
'put to sleep' (that's the child-friendly euphemism we use for 'murder').
All this is a grotesque assault on another living being. What humans
do to animals for their own pleasure, convenience or profit is what Animal
Rights is all about. And it's not just about charming little puppy
dogs. It's about the whole pantheon of domesticated animals humans use for
company, for eating, for experimenting-upon, for their secretions, for their
skins and furs - and many other uses too numerous to mention. Needless to
say, for the added convenience of the human 'owners', the animals are not only
castrated, neutered and sexually isolated, but they undergo terrible
mutilations (and finally execution) without any regard for their feelings.
Advocates for the 'Rights' of animals are trying to explain something to
people that they've probably never even thought about before. Using
animals is so taken for granted these days that it's assumed there is no NEED
to think about it. As soon as any one of us dares to speak out against
using animals (let alone puppy dogs being 'de-sexed') hands are held up in
horror that we should even think of mentioning it!! But since animals
can't speak up for themselves, all we are doing is showing things from the
animal's perspective. And when we do that, people may start to
think. But just as quickly they'll shrink away, because they'll be
thinking to themselves, "What, no pets? No meat? No
...?". It's always about human loss. Never about a loss
to the animal, never about its sovereignty or its happiness.
There's so much to reveal, so much to tell people, so many human traits
connected with the using of animals. It's no wonder that one's first
forays into confronting people with the 'truth' are failures. But it
teaches us one valuable lesson: that human habit and social mores are very
deeply set. Nothing any animal advocate can do or say will shift things,
even revealing what is incontrovertibly true.
I consider myself to be a sensitive person, and it seems everyone else does
too. Everybody has their own way of justifying themselves. If you
have a dog or a cat at home, it's important to justify everything about the
'owning' of a 'companion animal'. For some people, the home is not
complete without a cat or a dog in the house. Without the animal
component, the sky would fall in!!
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