Apes Gain Human Rights in SPAIN? Uhhh…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/spain_apes_dc
Apparently, Apes are equal to humans in Spain. Are there even apes in Spain? This has brought up controversy on whether or not Apes deserve equal rights as humans. What do I think? HECK NO! What is the point of giving rights to an animal that doesn’t even take advantage of nor realize its rights? It’s a waste of resources. While people are yelling about how Chimpanzees have like 99% same genes as humans, they could be spending time helping others or something. Besides, it probably takes money to organize efforts, meetings, w/e to argue that apes deserve rights. If you think otherwise, please tell me. I would like to know what other people believe on this topic. Pointless, is what I think.
Elizabeth said,
July 26, 2008 at 3:48 pm
It depends completely on exactly what kind of rights we’re talking about here. Giving the following rights to apes would indeed be “pointless”:
1. the right to own property
2. the right to free speech
3. the right to trial by jury
4. etc…
… I think you get my point. And I think these are probably the kind of rights you are thinking about.
HOWEVER, the kinds of rights that animal rights people talk about are the following:
1. THE RIGHT of animals to be free from exploitation, cruelty, neglect and abuse.
2. THE RIGHT of laboratory animals not to be used in cruel or unnecessary experiments.
3. THE RIGHT of farm animals to an environment that satisfies their basic physical and psychological needs.
4. THE RIGHT of companion animals to a healthy diet, protective shelter, and adequate medical care.
5. THE RIGHT of wildlife to a natural habitat, ecologically sufficient to a normal existence and self-sustaining species population.
6. THE RIGHT of animals to have their interests represented in court and safeguarded by the law of the land.
These are the “Animal Bill of Rights”. As you can see they are different from the human Bill of Rights. They are not “pointless”.
“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.” ~Thomas A. Edison
“As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower livings beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.”—Pythagoras
“Our task must be to free ourselves— by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”—Albert Einstein
Do you still think it’s pointless?
thatoneblogger said,
July 27, 2008 at 3:03 am
Actually yes I do think its pointless still. Animals don’t need “rights” to not be used in experiments and stuff, people can just stop doing that. For example, I know that pepsi and coca cola stopped testing their drinks on apes. Even if they had rights, not everyone is going to respect those rights. After all, there are harsh punishments against poaching and cruelty against animals, and yet it still happens. So why would they stop just because animals have rights? Yes I understand that you believe that animals should not be mistreated, and I do too, but giving them rights is just pointless.
1. THE RIGHT of animals to be free from exploitation, cruelty, neglect and abuse.
Then we shouldn’t catch fish, slaughter cows, pigs, chickens, or even dogs for food. Isn’t it neglecting their will to live and exploiting them just for our benefits? I have a pessimistic view of Humans, and I believe that humans are driven by, well, greed. Anyways, to wrap this up, I do agree with Einstein too, but I don’t think that wasting money and time to give animals rights will do them any good. Why not use that money and time to save animals directly instead?