Abolitionism and greatness

1515:

The very idea of putting another human into slavery is abhorrent but we do it to animals without a second thought.  We empathise with other humans because they’re just like us, but animals aren’t anything like us, so we don’t see them as individuals but collectively.  Each is part of a whole and not much more.  They’re rather like furniture - beautiful to look at or useful to us, but of not much importance in and of themselves.  An animal doesn’t even have a soul, so we say!

We’re so used to seeing imprisoned animals in paddocks or in cages at the zoo that we don’t see the ugliness.  In fact we see them as if living in natural conditions, and we regard both countryside and zoos as places that are fun to go to.  Kids love to see animals wherever they may be, especially when their appearance is guaranteed, unlike wild animals which are often not visible.  Adults don’t tell children that there’s anything wrong with these places.

Is it any wonder that all this needs to be brought into consciousness?  The principle of ‘abolitionism’ highlights this gaoling instinct humans have, concerning animals.

Our attitudes have been high-jacked, our thoughts are not our own, your mum, your friend, your doctor, your teacher, almost everyone has lost touch with their natural empathy for these imprisoned creatures.  We no longer hold opinions of our own because we have so thoroughly been manipulated?

We accept and support what is certainly the worst thing imaginable for the animals themselves - the torture of lifelong captivity, ending in a brutal execution.  And we 'manipulated' humans accept this wholesale, routine mass-murdering of animals.  Peaceful, harmless and completely innocent creatures.  Sentient creatures, like us.  Out thinking that it’s all okay is like thinking  child-molesting is okay.

The numbers of animals-in-slavery are greater than there are humans alive on the planet.  Animals are our slaves, and we’ve become so used to it that we no longer see what it really is.  It’s not until we consciously imagine what it must be like for them that we can see how we are hurting them.  And for what?  For the sake of a food that we no longer have any need for, only a desire for.