The 'All-Important' Human

1110: 

Edited by CJ Tointon

Humans are the most important beings on earth, don't you know!!  That’s why we have dominion over all the rest and why we can do what we like with animals!  We can put them in cages, mutilate them and generally keep them under our control.  It’s to our advantage to do so in the highly competitive animal-food market. It makes economic sense to keep animals in low-cost, slum conditions, then kill them with speed and efficiency without considering their feelings.

How do we justify it?  By thinking that animals lack self-awareness.  By thinking they can’t foresee their coming execution so they don’t suffer until the very moment of their death.

How do we handle it?  By never getting to see them actually dying.  If we don't see it, we don’t have to experience their reactions.  We aren’t haunted by what happens.  It leaves the way clear for us to enjoy eating them.

For those on the frontline, there’s another factor making it easier to keep them and kill them.  It's all legal! The animals can’t fight back, so there'll be no repercussions.

 

On a smaller scale, we’ve probably all experienced a similar detachment and desensitisation when we drown ants in the kitchen sink or crush a cockroach under foot.  There’s no danger of being troubled by this because we don’t really experience the dying.  The creatures show no sign of suffering because they’re small and make no audible noise.  Conversely, one never gets to hear or see the killings of larger and more vocal animals killed for food, because the killing goes on behind the closed doors of the abattoir.

So, without even thinking about it, we destroy the small, irritating 'pest'.  Like we destroy the "no-longer-economically-viable" dairy cow at the end of her services.   Separation neutralises any empathy that we might feel.

  

It’s the same when we separate from fellow humans, in order to treat them in a way that benefits us.  Racism helps us separate from our coloured neighbours.  By regarding them as 'pests', 'illegals' or 'asylum seekers',

we confirm our feelings of superiority over them.  We don’t have to be too obvious about it either because they’ve probably experienced racism before in their lives.  All we have to do is not be too friendly.  By showing we’re not interested in them as individuals, we can maintain an advantage over them.

Whether it concerns animals or humans, by making them feel inferior or frightened of us, they can be handled more easily and made more useful to us. The first rule of racism is to never treat our 'inferiors' as social equals.

 

Vegans, who refuse to enjoy taking advantage of exploited animals, act more sensitively towards them.  We may also have a similar attitude when we see forests as things of beauty rather than a collection of  'logable trees'.  With people from other cultures, or with trees or animals or children, it comes down to respecting their differences to us, marvelling at their innocence and beauty, and never intending them any harm.

Contrast this with the destructive, careless attitude of those who either can’t tolerate difference or want to take advantage of the undefended.