I was finally able to articulate my views on animals and turned it into a comment at Crunchy Chicken’s blog. I am putting it here to I remember how I feel about animal rights issues.
On a poll that Crunchy was running to figure out how her readers felt about animals and human consumption of those animals, I originally said:
I picked the last option: "People should be able to eat whatever they want regardless of how it was raised or dispatched (this includes hunting wild animals)".
I am mostly vegan (and eat meat when its offered) but I don’t care what people eat. I sort of actively dislike all animals - don’t like them, but don’t mind them either. I am upset about the latest downer cow incident…but am honestly not upset enough to do anything about it. Animal issues just don’t rank very high for me. I personally will avoid causing them harm (except for mice) but don’t think I should decide how people ought to behave toward them.
My views are clear to me but am not sure I articulated them well here.
A few people agreed with me on not being particularly attached to animals, but one person did get a bit upset:
Greenpa speculated that I was afraid of animals:I cannot believe there are people like Beany who say that they actively dislike animals. It makes me feel sick, and understand why our country is in the state that it is in. Not to pick on just one person, the same feelings were hinted at by many. But if animals rights are so low on the priority list, what’s to say that soon children won’t fall off there, or the elderly. For me, there is no real division between people and animals when it comes to ethics. Suffering is just not allowable.
Then again, I can see by the health statistics how Americans are treating themselves, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised how they would treat something they actively dislike. Yuk.
So I decided to articulate what I was having trouble articulating to myself:I think; I’m guessing- that in most cases the reality is they are AFRAID of animals. For many reasons, but 98% of the time this includes growing up in a city, with very little happy animal contact.
I also had something mean in there (not directed at anyone on the comment thread…I don’t think), but removed it. I am trying to be a nice person so it wasn’t very nice to type that in.To explain why I dislike (do I explain opinions? Seems a bit silly) animals…I have grown up around them (domesticated cats, dogs, chickens, goats, cows, elephants)…I just don’t like them…the best I can explain this dislike is that some people love cilantro (me), and some people absolutely hate it (people I know).
I feel alot of empathy toward animals and their suffering and it really bugs me…but animals rights don’t rank very high up as I have to prioritize. My big concern is overpopulation and oil consumption. I do take care of feral and stray cats that doesn’t mean I’m going to cuddle up with one. Also can I get points for being a vegan? How many vegans dislike animals?Sorry greenpa…my feelings have nothing to do with fear actually. Also I think that in an urban environment its somewhat impractical to own cats or dogs because of the lack of space and problems involved with having one(using plastic for scooping poop for example). I think its cruel that people own large dogs in the city.
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O also to be clear. I dislike kids and old people. I’m child free by choice and avoid contact with anyone over 40 (with some rare exceptions). Actually on some days I dislike every one and every thing.
But…I read blogs by parents that post baby pictures and watch the latest exploits by junior on youtube. I like to enjoy the good parts of parenthood without actually being one. I love baby sitting toddlers. And there are many people over 40 whose share their thoughts and opinions that I really value.
I guess I am saying that I am a very complex individual. And I’m very cheeky
And yes there are wonderful dog parks, and pets provide much companionship, etc, etc…but that is not my view.
I was puzzled by the responses to your statement about not liking animals. What the hell does liking have to do with empathy? You are a vegan and whatever your reasons, that’s a lot better than someone being all shmurpy over the cute wittle bunnies while they munch a burger. And of course you have the wiser than anyone who proposes to provide reasons for you. You don’t need any freakin’ reasons! All animals are a pain in the ass sometimes, people are the worst of the lot. Doesn’t mean you want to kill them. Hey, your entitled to like what you like. Good for you for being honest.
Comment by Roger Nehring — March 24, 2008 @ 7:34 am
Thanks!
I originally became a vegan to challenge myself. Many friends confessed veganism would be a huge challenge so I wanted to see how much of a challenge it actually was. I was mostly a vegetarian so it wasn’t that hard to do. I don’t eat cheese very often and dislike milk and eggs so the challenge wasn’t particularly arduous except when I wanted to dine out. I then found out why being a vegan could be a pain because restaurants don’t tend to cater to the vegan crowd. I was a strict vegan for awhile but that led to uncomfortable situations at public events with family and so on. So I learned to be a bit flexible rather than hurting feelings and being a vegetarian is alot more flexible than being a vegan.
Comment by Beany — March 24, 2008 @ 8:56 am