(11-21-2011, 04:34 AM)Tenet Nosce Wrote:Bring4th_Monica Wrote:That's not fair. Many PETA people try too hard to save animals that are beyond saving. Personally, I see no point in trying to rescue a single lab rat. Better to spend my efforts trying to educate people about new technologies that make the old lab rat methods obsolete.
Of course it is fair! Actually, I would like to see some numbers. Because if we are just talking about numbers of entities then insect massacre surely would eclipse lab rat slayings by at least an order of magnitude. We could compare biomass? I dunno the little buggers might still come out on top..
Love Me!!!
What would be "fair" is to present all the facts, and for an organization about animals to fairly represent all animals. Or just simply let the "animals" thing go. If ethics apply to animals, then what is the principle by which we discern what is ethical?
What about the bees, for example? I've gotta say this is a much more dire situation than the cows.
How can you be so judgmental about PETA? Okay, blame their ad agency for the word "animal" in their name. But why? They have the directive to inform about, and stop, unethical treatment of animals. They are doing what they can and picking their battles. They can't do everything. Do you?
As for cockroaches, I do love them as I love all life (not in a personal, conditional way like a person would love their child or mate, but in an impersonal objective way). One time I was in my house barefoot. I was standing at the sink. I felt something tickling under my toes. A cockroach had hidden there and I felt the antennae. I got this rush of gentleness, that it was out there trying to survive. I don't care about "germs," I handle that by keeping my environment clean, not by killing entities attracted to my garbage.
What's wrong with trying to save one lab rat? One life is important. Have you thought about the suffering? Pouring horrible chemicals in their eyes, on their skin, injecting them with stuff many times that of the concentration needed. Can you imagine what sort of life this is? For what? So humans can take medications and use chemical products that harm them too, and the planet? Humans should test on humans, if they want to test at all. There is no reason to test, as computer modeling would suffice.
Sometimes when I let even a fly outside, I think, wow, that fly has a short life. It can now fly free in the beautiful desert, instead of desperately walking the window pane to get out there.
(11-21-2011, 04:34 AM)Tenet Nosce Wrote: I suppose. I still wonder why a soul with such potential for individuation would choose to be a cow out in the middle of some Texas ranch. What purpose would that serve?
If I were going to individuate, I might choose to be an eagle. Or maybe a polar bear. Even a spider. Something which has a high degree of individuality. A cow just wouldn't be on my list really. But everybody is free to individuate as they prefer.
Perhaps the cow, in choosing to be a cow, has in part made an agreement to show humans what they are doing that is out of balance with the whole? I surmise that's why whales beach themselves--to tell us that we are polluting the oceans.
It is your ego that wants to be an eagle. Your spirit may choose otherwise, as it may have different considerations which include something beyond yourself.