This is a quote from someone I met before becoming a vegan. I thought it was so beautiful so I will share it here. It explains the meaning of animal rights, since there are people who think that animal rights equal human rights, like the right to vote and marry, which is obviously false. So, here it is: Same rights as human? That’s NOT what Animal Rights is about. It’s about allowing animals to not be the property of humans, allowing them to decide what they want to do in their lives, them not being subject to torture and murder out of convenience or luxury. But we, as humans, are out of balance. Because it’s beneficial to us, we hide behind the “inferior” argument. We argue they are less intelligent. We argue they don’t have “society” as we have. We argue they have no “culture”. And that suddenly makes it “okay”. Makes it “okay” that we cage thousands, no millions of animals into a space where an individual can hardly move. Makes it okay that we force pregnancy. Makes it okay that we practically rape them, mutilate their bodies, often without painkillers (not that it’d make much of a difference). Makes it somehow acceptable to take away their kids as soon as they’re born, makes it “humane” to shove them, “guiding” them to the place where they’ll be slaughtered. Makes it just a simple “nuisance” when they try to escape, makes us think: “Come on, just follow the orders, it’d be much simpler, you wouldn’t feel anything…” We think we have a right to “domesticate” those animals, denying them their own, chosen lifestyle, maybe a partner, a few kids. We think they’re “cute” when we force them into little sweaters and think they like it when we force them in front of crowds where we show off “our pets”. Wake up: We ARE already forcing them into a human mindset. Or none at all – we deny them every right. Only those who are “cute” or “useful” or “beautiful” deserve to be, but then, too, it can only be to our rules, playing OUR game. Just because they don’t break free, doesn’t mean they are happy. Every now and then it does happen – humans get killed – and we are all shocked and angered at those “monsters”… And yet we don’t realise that WE are the true monsters who just fail to see how what we are doing affects millions of lives. A few things for the end: Animal includes humans. I am as much against human exploitation as against the exploitation of other animals. Also, I realise that a perfect world will never exist. Murder happens, even though it’s generally accepted to be a crime. But there can be a state in which there is a balance. And that is where I’m getting at. There will always be a certain rivalry. We must protect ourselves, that’s for sure. But we don’t have to make them our slaves – it’s disgusting, perverted and sick. Not to mention that to them, it’s their everything that’s lost. They never had it. Food is not everything. Many captured individuals in zoos go mad. Animals need freedom. Movement is one of their key needs, as is a life in their natural environment. “Animal Welfare” is a fake word. It only makes ourselves feel better. ~ Wasserbienchen
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 19:48:00 +0000
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