h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, I think we are too sentimental about animals. I think it is because of all those animal films like Lassie and those Disney films. They show animals to be cute and cuddly with wonderful personalities, and we grew up on this sort of stuff. I find that generally speaking the closer people are to real (not pets I mean) animals, the less sentimental they are about them. Who is less sentimental than a farmer?
To a very large extent our emotions about animals are given to us by the society we live in. Few in the west would relish the thoughts of eating horse/dog/cat flesh, but the same people will happily consume a burger made from the dodgy parts of a cow. This is inconsistent, and I think it shows that our emotions towards animals are quite irrational. Though I would plead one exception: dogs are man's best friend, and I'd never eat any animal that would (potentially anyway) die to save my life. Or am I being irrational too??

I on the other hand believe we are not sentimental enough about animals, and also I believe we are not sentimental enough about humans. We neglect our feelings, our compassion, our sympathy, way too much. We consume humans even as we consume animals.

Wow, Pillowcase. That's a bold statement to make.

Indeed, Pillowcase! I'd love to hear you elaborate on that statement!

I eat dogs, and regularly take Daisy, my cow, for walks in the park. She never brings back sticks though.
Does this make me irrational?

wide

I think that is great to eat dogs and cats and everything that has 4 legs .
where is the problem??
where is the difference??
aren't all animals equal??
why schould we prefer dogs and cats? only because they are pets??


!!Für die MASSE!!
Dekan-Condor

What about long-pig? Mmmmmm, long-pig I used to work in a vets, and you have to wonder about some people - couple came in with a hamster that had to be put down, all the tears over this furry rat, way to much emotion attached to it - go and attach it to a humanbeing, and you should have heard the vets complain about horse owners who wanted there horses put down by injection, it takes an injection of about a litre to kill a horse. The vets would rather put a bullet in its head - quicker and easier - and I must really agree with them....
BCNU - Crescent

What I mean about consuming people: millions of poor people all over the world lead miserable lives and die early so that a few rich people can enjoy their comforts and luxuries. Very few people seem to even care about that.

Makes sense, Pillowcase. On last night's episode of 'Voyager,' the Doctor was kidnapped to an alien space station. There, people are give 'TC' ratings that determine their level of medical care based on factors like career, education, hobbyist skills, and so forth. Of course, the ultimate result is woefully inadequate care for the lower classes and unnecessary treatment for the upper class patients. Other social services like education are treated similarly.

This struck me as a very good analogy of the class problem in place on Earth -- not only with medical care (especially the American version of it) -- but also with social services, access to education, quality of food, and so on. Countries seem to have an 'upperclass' or 'lowerclass' designation depending on their economic development, and there are further designations for people based on their respective income within each country.

We dismiss inadequate care in the same way Voyager's administrators did. We have set up an arbitrary system, and now defend it as practical despite all evidence to the contrary. Will humanity ever learn?

I'd even eat a human if it would save my life in an extreme situation; I am not sentimental about meat. My husband ate dog curry in Indonesia but was throwing up for most of the next 2 days. I didn't and wasn't :o)

In Animal Farm, the slogan is: ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.
Fits in nicely, doesn't it?

Maolmuire, you're right. I think those Disney films spoil our kids ... they definitely spoiled me. I actually caught me wondering what my pet rats would have to say if I could understand them. I contemplated this for about half an hour, then I suddenly shook myself: Say? What am I thinking of? They're driven by instincts! Disney is evil!

Pillowcase. you talked about humans consuming humans and it reminded me of a history lesson once. It told of this rich community somewhere in the united states that damed a river to form a lake for their country club only the dam collapses and crushes and entire village of lower class people below it.The people in the village would have survived with warning but the rich community thought they needn't worry the commoners I can't remember the name of the town or where it was located but I thought It definitely fit the situation.

Johnstown was the name of the town. It was named the Johnstown flood.

and about humans too. all that weeping and such when they die. they are just animals, after all. rather, it's less about sentiment and about animal rights, than about our lack of rights. we do not have the right to exploit everything we can lay our hands on. we also dont' have the right to decide which are the "friendly" animals and which aren't.

This is right there are no "GOOD" and also no "BAD" animals!
WE are animals too but when i think about it I think we are the only BAD animals because we really exploit everything we could get and think that we are the f*****g best creature on this little f*****g planet.

!!FÜR DIE MASSE!!

BZ[MASSE]Dekan-Condor[RIF][212a][UED]

any animal will destroy it's own habitation if given the chance. Cows defecate in their own water, rabits multiply untill there is no more food, they are just as bad as us. Worse infact, because they never try to stop themselves.
Not a nice thing, but nature all the same. No-body ever said it was all sunshine and daisies.

wide

I don't know of many animals that knowingly defecate in their own water supply. (excluding aquatic animals of course)

I do. Have you never seen nature programmes set in Africa? With all those animals going to the waterholes? Do you think they go behind a bush?
And like I said, cows are horrible. They poo everywhere.

wide

And that's different from humans... how?