tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1983395024305707907.post342835159221098426..comments2021-12-29T01:44:40.684-08:00Comments on Pit Bull Patriarchy: No more pit bull smiles?spotted dog farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16999674340998464643noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1983395024305707907.post-28090674703114962662009-05-19T15:09:51.350-07:002009-05-19T15:09:51.350-07:00We've got more human slaves now than at any other ...We've got more human slaves now than at any other time in our planet's history (http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=301). So, human slavery abolitionists haven't even been able to get rid of human slavery, where the victims actually have an understandable voice and where there is some ideal of universal human rights based in religion and other popular moral constructs, I doubt very much animal abolitionists will make much headway with animal "slavery" where there is no coherent voice coming from the victims, no universally accepted moral code, no way of even getting a response to the question, "Do you want to be free?".<br /><br />Animal abolitionists, seem to me, to be a lot like some kind of utopianists (like the Nazis and the Communists and free market Capitalists), who believe in being able to achieve some fantasy based societal ideal. They generally see in only black and white. Their "solutions" to whatever problem they're tackling usually involve a lot of death and extinction. They have a very poor understanding of human nature and think that people are robots so that once the Utopian "ideal" is achieved, there will be no reverting back to the old ways.<br /><br />Also, I think there's a huge difference between owning companion animals and owning utility animals raised for work/slaughter. Factory farming may be hell for those meat animals but that's a very different situation from a beloved dog in a responsible pet owner's home. Of course abolitionists with their binary brains can't see that. It's all or nothing for them and extinction is always their cure for suffering even if the suffering is happening elsewhere.<br /><br />Even for modern day meat farm/factories, I think it's more realistic to try to get them to change their methods rather than to try to abolish them altogether. Someone's going to have a really hard time convincing the billions of people on the planet to stop killing animals and eating their meat. We can't even convince people to stop killing each other.<br /><br />I can totally see where the abolitionists are coming from, though. They're fed up with all the endless forms of animal abuse that go on a billion times or more a day and no longer believe that humans can have any good impact on animals. But, I believe that animal abuse starts and ends with people. People are the problem and it's our attitudes and behaviours that need to be addressed and, no, that's not an ideal solution but there is no such thing as ideal in our non-utopian world.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12243247582677457166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1983395024305707907.post-67098005482080941902009-05-19T10:06:00.000-07:002009-05-19T10:06:00.000-07:00Maybe this is a stupid question, but hey, I'm a st...Maybe this is a stupid question, but hey, I'm a stupid guy.<br /><br />What makes the relationship between humans and dogs any different from any other symbiotic relationship? Who is calling for the emancipation of those birds that pick hippos' noses for them?Mehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17610725583555003166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1983395024305707907.post-52190049924680210182009-05-18T11:57:00.000-07:002009-05-18T11:57:00.000-07:00I would not be adverse to seeing the bastardized v...I would not be adverse to seeing the bastardized versions of farmed animal breeds go extinct. <br /><br />Broiler chickens would never survive, their physical structure prohibits flying or perching. White leghorns wouldn't last long with their frail bones and egg-related problems...but they could interbreed with feral chickens. Domestic white-breasted turkeys cannot mate naturally. Holsteins produce an unholy quantity of milk (which causes health problems) and probably wouldn't thrive unless they interbreed with beef breeds (excluding the double muscled mutants some folks are fond of). Domestic pigs feralize easily and would thrive, same for beef cattle and goats. Domestic sheep with wool wouldn't last but a few years. Their wool is an unnatural side effect of human interference - wild sheep have hair that sheds, domestic wool/most meat sheep do not. Any climate with temps above 70 will pose a problem for a sheep with multiple years worth of wool.<br /><br />I'm not saying that if they went feral that that would be in the best interest of the ecosystem, just that some species/breeds would do better in a "natural" environment, that they could survive without us.<br /><br />I guess I don't see what the big deal is if these breeds/species went extinct or if they were allowed to feralize. Domestication has made life easier for humans, not for the animals (who are castrated w/o pain relief, tail docked, ear tagged, branded, torn from their moms too soon, caged, denied exhibition of natural behaviors and slaughtered by the billions in the prime of their lives). It seems disingenuous to argue that preserving dairy cows and broiler chickens is in the best interest of the animals being artificially inseminated, confined unnaturally and killed in slaughterhouses.<br /><br />I do think people become defensive with the slavery comparison. No one wants to be treated like livestock (and human slaves certainly were/are), which has always made me wonder why it's okay to treat other sentient, feeling beings that way.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14977410602426080310noreply@blogger.com