A favorite argument among anti-animal rights activists:
THEY ARE NOT HUMAN.
To which I reply, this is a tautology.
YES, BUT I MEANT THAT THEY ARE NOT IN OUR SOCIAL CONTRACT.
Okay. I knew this is what you meant. A tautology no more.
I just wanted to make you say it. What you are saying is that human
beings are in power. And by giving away power (rights) we are giving to
those who are incapable (if not unwilling) to return it. In other words you
are saying you ascribe to the most depraved of ethical systems. Some would say that you and those of your mindset are not ethical at all, since
you do nothing that does not in some way guarantee a return in material
form from your neighbor.
If your neighbor was truly in need, and you
surmised that this neighbor was not in the contract, you would not
even offer to allow him into it but would commit the most atrocious
act of suffering upon him, and be without guilt by your system, since he
was not a participator, a priori, in this all-important contract. You might
have given kindness and seen if it were returned, but you were not
bound by such contract, so you are faultless.
You ate this individual's
flesh for the shear pleasure of taste; you wore his skin for the lush
feeling; you experimented on him for search of your and your co-contractors'
immortality. You could have shown kindness to your neighbor, (dog,
cat, cow, rabbit) and maybe he/she would have shown it back (entered
in the contract) but you did not. The people of your mindset
two hundred years ago, were perfectly content owning slaves since
they did not seem to show the promise of intellect to gain power or
wealth or voting power; and they certainly possessed none at the time.
You knew that you never could become them; as you congratulated yourself
for being white. (maybe you are not but those of your mindset surely did).
People of your mindset, are called tyrants because they are in power,
and they say that those who are their subjugates are not worthy of
consideration because they have not power to share. Do not disguise
your scorn for animal rights as a love of people. You have a love for
power, which you mask in the insidious term, SOCIAL CONTRACT.
