Reply to Re: How cruel people can be
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If there weren't any humans, there wouldn't be this problem.
Have you ever seen a cute little kitty cat 'playing' with a cute little mouse? It doesn't kill it right away; it enjoys toying with the life and death of the mouse. It will claw at it, wait for it to make a run for it, and then claw at it again. Maybe bite off a limb or two. And when its finished torturing it (sometimes solely for entertainment, not consumption) the cute little kitty cat will kill it and put it on your doorstep, proud of its accomplishment.
All human morals/emotions are constructs we place on experiences. Animals have no such constructs. If the cute little kitty cat wasn't so little, and was, say, 20 feet tall, it would have an absolutely fantastic time torturing you, or any other human being, to death.
So yes, technically you're correct. Without any humans to judge something as cruel, there wouldn't be this problem. But it would still exist, in other forms, unjudged.
But people are special; they are able to recognize actions they do as cruel. But perception of cruelty isn't universal. I won't attempt to embarrass myself by my lack of knowledge about various religions, but I think there are a couple where harming (or eating) pigs or cows is just wrong, as they are sacred animals. I have no such belief; I'll gladly eat Bacon, Sausage, Pork, Beef, Hamburgers, and more. Does that make me cruel in the eyes of a member of one of those religions, as I eat a sacred animal with absolutely no problem? Probably.
Likewise... perhaps the person who dropped the guinea pigs in the middle of the road didn't perceive their actions as cruel, just as I don't perceive setting mouse traps or poison ant traps as a cruel behavior. And most people don't think cutting hundreds of plant life forms down to a shorter size and eradicating all 'weeds' to make their lawn look better is cruel. Its all based on perception. Your perception. My perception. Anyone's perception.
For an animal-rights person to be truly happy, we, as a human race, must commit suicide to prevent our realization of our harmful effects on any other species. Well, that's the logical extension. Some people like cows. We can no longer eat beef. Some people like mice. That means we can no longer have mouse traps. Some people like pigs. And on and on it goes.
Erm... this is more of a general rant, I guess. I don't think it really addresses your comment specifically (I think somehow the meaning behind your comment was altered while it was bumbling around the space between my ears).
Have you ever seen a cute little kitty cat 'playing' with a cute little mouse? It doesn't kill it right away; it enjoys toying with the life and death of the mouse. It will claw at it, wait for it to make a run for it, and then claw at it again. Maybe bite off a limb or two. And when its finished torturing it (sometimes solely for entertainment, not consumption) the cute little kitty cat will kill it and put it on your doorstep, proud of its accomplishment.
All human morals/emotions are constructs we place on experiences. Animals have no such constructs. If the cute little kitty cat wasn't so little, and was, say, 20 feet tall, it would have an absolutely fantastic time torturing you, or any other human being, to death.
So yes, technically you're correct. Without any humans to judge something as cruel, there wouldn't be this problem. But it would still exist, in other forms, unjudged.
But people are special; they are able to recognize actions they do as cruel. But perception of cruelty isn't universal. I won't attempt to embarrass myself by my lack of knowledge about various religions, but I think there are a couple where harming (or eating) pigs or cows is just wrong, as they are sacred animals. I have no such belief; I'll gladly eat Bacon, Sausage, Pork, Beef, Hamburgers, and more. Does that make me cruel in the eyes of a member of one of those religions, as I eat a sacred animal with absolutely no problem? Probably.
Likewise... perhaps the person who dropped the guinea pigs in the middle of the road didn't perceive their actions as cruel, just as I don't perceive setting mouse traps or poison ant traps as a cruel behavior. And most people don't think cutting hundreds of plant life forms down to a shorter size and eradicating all 'weeds' to make their lawn look better is cruel. Its all based on perception. Your perception. My perception. Anyone's perception.
For an animal-rights person to be truly happy, we, as a human race, must commit suicide to prevent our realization of our harmful effects on any other species. Well, that's the logical extension. Some people like cows. We can no longer eat beef. Some people like mice. That means we can no longer have mouse traps. Some people like pigs. And on and on it goes.
Erm... this is more of a general rant, I guess. I don't think it really addresses your comment specifically (I think somehow the meaning behind your comment was altered while it was bumbling around the space between my ears).
