Marxist Animalism
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There were more than 4,000 severe breaches of animal welfare regulations over the past two years at British slaughterhouses, according to data released by the government’s food watchdog under freedom of information laws. The data, comprising reports by vets and hygiene inspectors, details instances of needless pain and distress that include chickens being boiled alive and trucks of animals suffocating or freezing to death. More than 900 million farm animals are killed for food each year in Britain.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/28/fsa-4000-breaches-animal-welfare-laws-uk-abattoirs-two-years
Millions of turkeys are killed every year for the Christians to celebrate the so called Thanksgiving day. In reality it is the celebration of an Indian massacre
alanjjohnstone wrote:Do animals mourn and grievehttp://www.dw.com/en/do-animals-mourn-their-dead/a-19564029http://www.tynemouth.frankgillings.com/dog.htmlWllie's still in the same pub, which is known to the locals as "The stuffed dog" It's a really good boozer as well!
alanjjohnstone wrote:Do animals mourn and grievehttp://www.dw.com/en/do-animals-mourn-their-dead/a-19564029Well, I'm an animal and I can assure you that I do morn and grieve. As for other animals; if they were able to articulate, I would asume they would reply 'Yes'
Well worth a read about how society fears the consequence of discovering the true nature and intelligence of animal specieshttp://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37826-we-are-not-alone-listening-to-the-8-7-million-other-animals-who-live-on-earth
alanjjohnstone wrote:Well worth a read about how society fears the consequence of discovering the true nature and intelligence of animal specieshttp://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37826-we-are-not-alone-listening-to-the-8-7-million-other-animals-who-live-on-earthYes indeed Alan – an interesting read. Apropos that there is a fascinating link here concerning Dolphins and their ability to communicate with each other. Dolphins according to the article " have possessed brains that are larger and more complex than human ones for more than 25 million years" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/09/11/dolphins-recorded-having-a-conversation-for-first-time/ Going back to the piece you linked to, this comment is central : "It's a phenomenon leading primatologist Frans de Waal calls "anthropodenial." It's the reflexive "rejection of humanlike traits in animals and of animal-like traits in humans" and it still persists despite mounting evidence to the contrary. De Waal collected much of that evidence himself during years studying primates like bonobos. They are 98 percent genetically similar to humans, they exhibit many of the hallmarks of humanness and they are famous for the ribald complexity of their culture.And yes, it is a culture." "Anthropodenialism" gained ground as evidence for evolution began to accumulate in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Mediaeval concept of the Great Chain of Being – actually it goes back to the Ancient Greeks – held that God's entire creation was a continuum in which there were no gaps (the principle of "plenitude"). However the whole structure was essentially static. Apes for example might resemble human beings but could never evolve into human beings. They were part of God's grand design. Two developments then occurred that are relevant to this discussion… The first was what was called the "temporalisation" of the Great Chain – that is, reconceptualising it as a dynamic process. The evidence from such fields as comparative anatomy and palaeontology contributed to this development. For example, the evidence of fossils of extinct creatures did indeed suggest there were gaps in creation and so cast doubt on God's limitless benevolence The next development focussed essentially on human beings and in particular their perceived relationship to primates. European expansion and colonialism gave rise to what was called the "Problem of the Savage" – how to fit strange new exotic cultures that Europeans encountered within their cosmological view of the world. Some of the armchair travellers speculated from their comfortable estates in the Home Counties, that the "primitive natives" in faraway places with their strange incomprehensible language and customs, must have constituted intermediate species between the apes and true humans. In my native country of South Africa there was a tradition among early white settlers of organising hunting trips in the Western Cape to kill members of Khoi people as trophies – much as the hunting fraternity today chase after foxes Polygenism – belief in the multiple origins of different human groups – represented a transformation of the Great Chain into a racial hierarchy – and became quite popular in the 19th century, While it appeared to offer a materialistic or biologistic account of human diversity – indeed many polygenists were atheistic – the rival theory of monogenism which a posited a common origin for all humans was ironically in large part religious inspired. The gulf between humans and animals became absolute due to the former's possession of a soul which, needless to say, was threatened by talk of human beings having evolved from the apes. It was really only with the rise of Darwinian evolutionism that the monogenists emphasis on the uniqueness of the human species came under sustained threat. Might I suggest that in some ways "anthropodenialism" today is a faint echo of this early monogenist perspective?
If anybody got a spare hour, watching this speciesism video might pass the time usefullyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqT82oGeax0
Another bit of interesting research also relevant to the other thread https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/06/apes-can-guess-what-others-are-thinking-just-like-humans
Quote:The findings, in chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans, are the first to clearly demonstrate that apes can predict another’s beliefs – even when they know that presumption is false. “This cognitive ability is at the heart of so many human social skills,” said Christopher Krupenye of Duke University. “I think our findings start to suggest that maybe apes have a deeper understanding of each other than we previously thought.”America's legal system decides primates are not peoplehttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-chimpanzees-idUSKBN18Z2LT
I would be interested in what those of you who are speciesist would answer:How do you explain so many people today being unable, in the advanced countries, to stomach scenes of cruelty to nonhumans?Many are able to tolerate cruelty to adult humans but unable to watch cruelty to nonhumans.When I was at university, two films were shown – one of Auschwitz, and one of abattoirs. Before the second was shown, the lecturer gave us the chance to leave. There was a mass exodus, including myself. (No, scoffers – it wasn't down to students wanting to skyve!)…I have to switch off a film if there is a baby or a pet to whom something is going to happen, but I can happily watch a murder mystery or documentary with only human adults in it.This is not a challenge about anything. I'm not saying I am "right" or "wrong". I just want to know what you say about so many people feeling, viscerally not intellectually, since before they intellectualised about anything, as I do.Others, of course, watch cruelty to nonhumans and participate in it and even enjoy it. In the advanced West we hate them for it.So, how would the speciesists among you, for whom, surely, we should viscerally put our own species first, explain so many people not doing so? Are we all mad?
Parliamentary vote says other animals don't feel pain.
No, but will justify them scrapping what animal protection laws exist.
I take it as given that animals feel pain and should not be made to suffer it. But I followed the links to try to find out what exactly had been decided. It seems that an amendment to the Brexit Bill was voted down. I wouldn't have thought this represented a change in government policy on the matter, certainly not "scrapping what animal protection laws exist". This sounds like exaggeration by a well-meaning pressure group.
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