Do you hold animals as equals or higher than humans?

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you are lucky to be able to be temporarily ignorant while you are youthful and partake in the delights of your self perceived superiority.

if you can manage to hold that attitude until old age, then it will be a rickety and brittle castle of self identity that you inhabit.

if you do not become worried as to the structural integrity of your beliefs by then and act upon it, then the surprise you will experience at the collapse of your world of self ideation will sink you below the level of the surface of satisfaction with your lot.

and if you wish to excur from your shambolic habitat after it starts to crumble, then good luck to you who blasts off without enough fuel to make it to your intended destination

sorry i am sick in the head due to sad events and i am not responsible for what i say here.

I have a dog and don't want any human children. The trouble I have is trying to convince my family that I would not love Ein more if he were human. I had a fight with my brother when he suggested my husband and I put up an electric fence -- I asked him if he would use electric shock on his sons, to which he replied that of course he wouldn't, but a dog isn't a human. I told him, "You're right. Dogs aren't humans, they are significantly better!"

I don't really think of animals as superior to humans, but I would rather spend time with my dog than I would with most humans! My mother says I'm just like my great-aunt Aggie, who lived alone on a farm she bought and liked animals better than humans. She certainly thought they were superior!

Well, I believe that animals deserve respect and dignity but by no means should they be held above a human being. Maybe it's because I care more about my own species. Like, for instance, if I had to choose between the life of a human child or the life of a, endangered animal, I'd choose the human child in a heartbeat.

I'd feel guilty about the endangered animal, but that guilt could not compare to the guilt that I'd feel if a human child had died.

Oddly enough, this reminds me of the debates about Peter Singer that I've read lately and I find it interesting that he believes that humans can lose their value depending on their "personhood". For instance, he'd consider someone with Alzheimer's to be a "nonperson"(unless I've misunderstood his beliefs). Also, I think he believes that some animals can be considered "persons" (such as elephants and dolphins) which I think is silly. Not that i think anyone here particular;y agree with him. I just think it's interesting.

Anyway, that's a different debate for a different time.

You mistake ignorance for arrogance. I am vain and arrogant, but in no way stupid nor do I lack the knowledge of what I speak of. These are my true opinions, whether you agree or not, we have made guns. We have made bombs. Animals have not, therefore, animals are inferior. Another reason is that they have not adapted to survive such things, so they are inferior. As for you, I assume you are not a vegetarian (most people are not) and thus enjoy in the partaking of eating a slaughtered and "denaturalized" pig and/or other mammal? Me too. I feast upon this slaughtered, cooked pig and, as with many others, I enjoy it. I am fully aware of what that pig must have suffered when being led to that slaughterhouse, yet to taste that tender pork I had for dinner I somewhat realise that it had a reason to be slaughtered. To satisfy the needs of our great human population.

As for my self-perceived superiority, are we not all alike? Do we not all, as described above, feast on that tender pig-meat given to us? How, therefore, can we be expected to harbour more feelings for that "poor, defenceless puppy" than for the poor, defenceless pig that was slaughtered to bring us food? I, for one, see them as one in the same. Inferior to the human race. By liking one animal more than another, as I said, is merely a biased opinion.

As for the rest, I will dismiss it due to, as you stated below:



EDIT: However, I would like to mention that the above semi-quoted post was not necessarily a valid argument, but a question of morals and character.

I respect animals, but I still eat them, though I wish free-range meat was cheaper so that we wouldn't have to put money in factory farmers pockets. Even if they're destined for our dinner plates, they should still have some manner of dignity.

You're an idiot.

That is all.

He can't be an idiot he's to young, if he still sticks to his views of superiority when he reaches his 20s then he can be called an idiot. For now b9 said just what I was thinking, young.
Don't worry he'll get it he'll get it, we all had a time where we thought we were immune to change.
Time will take care of that for you Etular.

Just personally, I hold human beings higher than animals. I don't get the whole putting your pet in clothes and carrying it around in a purse and acting like it's your baby..it's not a baby, it's an animal...I know some people who are absolutely nuts over their pets and do anything for their pets while their kids don't get half the attention as the animal..makes no sense to me. I know one girl who stopped her car by the side of the road on the Interstate to rush into the traffic to save a cat...which was about half dead anyway.

I am all for animal love and I think they deserve to be treated with kindness just as much as anything else because they are alive and feel things too...but I would hold human beings higher than an animal...if it was a kid or a dog about to get hit in the road I would risk my life for the kid, not the dog.

Very true, I love animals to death as well but in such a situation I would also choose the kiddo. It is only the right thing to do, even if we adore and respect animals we have a duty and a natural instinct to save our own kind before the other. They would both feel the same pain if struck by a car but priority is heavier towards our own kind due to pure instinct and not because we value humans more over animals.

People who dye their animals fur and dress them up are just bat s**t crazy. They do not do it because they feel that the animal is equal to them but that it is something that they can control and don't have to worry about it rebelling towards them since most tame animals do not bite the hand that feed. They are in no sense equal but just a live dress up doll for deranged poor creative minds who are often very lonely (they might have families but often no one to share their interests with or talk to about things).

I agree! I haven't loved anyone, except for my mother, as much as I love my cat.

I'd like to see which part of my opinion is wrong or invalid...

Again, it is an opinion. Opinions do not make people idiots. Jerks, maybe, but not idiots.

i think animals are just as conscious as we are.
they may not be conscious of as much, but their consciousness is the same.
an animal that runs from potential danger does so with an urgency equal to a human running from danger.
animals can not lie or cheat. they are simple recipients of what the world gives them.

when my kookaburras are lined up on my railing and i miss one while feeding them in a line, the one i miss just waits for the second pass silently. they do not get angry and act like "what about me?!?!?" they just wait innocently.
i am sure that if i consciously excluded a kookaburra from my feeding production line, then he would fly away after i close my doors with out any hate or malice.

i could never do that of course.

animals just take what they can get, and they do not deceive and steal and amass a fortune that far exceeds their simple daily needs.

animals can not tell if you are beautiful or ugly.
if a "gorgeous girl" attempts to pet an animal she does not know, the animal will take just as long to trust her as they would to trust a warty old granny.

i love animals and they are innocent of all the things i hate about humans who are exploitative and vain and selfish and egotistical.

i love all animals including insects. they have a hard time surviving in this world and they work hard to remain alive, and humans do not have to work as hard.
a human that falls to the floor with a failing heart will be surrounded by help whereas an animal or insect will just kick in agony until they can kick no more.

you may say that proves humans are more valuable than animals but i think that animals are deserved of my sympathy more because no one really cares that much about them.

especially insects.

i saw a big dragonfly that i thought was dead that was wrapped inside a cobweb, and i noticed it for a few weeks until i thought i should clean the bench in the laundry and throw it out.

as i went to pick it up i noticed that his leg moved.
i was flabbergasted that he was still alive after all that time and i felt very sad for him.
i went and got a needle and spent about 1/2 hour extricating him from the web without hurting him.
once i had got all the web off him he was very slow and almost dead still.
i dropped a drop of water with sugar in it in front of his head, and i moved his body so his head was just touching the drop of water.
i noticed that the drop of water disappeared quickly and he must have been so relieved to get the water and nutrition after his nightmare incarceration.

then he became able to walk, so i got a pencil and he stepped onto it, and i took the pencil outside the laundry into the free air, and held it for about 5 mins when he was well enough to fly away.

unfortunately, as he was flying off, a bird intercepted his path and ate him.

i was very very sad at that,


i bet not many people are living on such a simple level as i am , but i will always remember that dragonfly and his sad life.

If you really believed in what you were saying then you would have no need to repeat that it is a opinion. Saying that it is your opinion can still be classed as right or wrong, there is no need to say that it is an opinion if it's something you truly believe in.
If I can't make you understand that an opinion can be invalid then it loses the right to be valid as well, it is just a personal theory.


As long as you know I guess. You are basically saying that an opinion can not be wrong it is simply an opinion. That means that change is impossible for your mind as you clearly can not be proven invalid in your opinions and they don't make you wrong they make you a jerk. If this is the case then you need to clear storage because if your mind is set on only your opinions then you'll be filling up on "jerk" a whole lot. And if everything you believe in are opinions then you can NEVER be proven wrong and if you are not proven wrong you will never change your "opinion" and you will never accept other views or contradictory evidence. You cannot change your mind unless you yourself chose to. Stubbornness is a dangerous thing backed up by opinions.

Opinions, the superiority of arguments.
Let's agree to disagree

Not all ends well but that was a nice story.

(a human would have cried like a baby and died a couple of days later if in the same situation)

Equal, possibly higher. I can understand animals better, their less complicated than people and often kinder

Agreed. In my eyes, your opinion of animals being equal or higher than humans is the biggest pile of rubbish I have ever heard, however, you do not see me criticising your opinion. Instead you have the nerve to criticise mine despite the fact that you know said opinion would never change. I formerly used to do that, but now I have grown and learnt that arguing with others who are consistent in believing their own thoughts is futile.

I could go on and on arguing the same points, and you really could find no defence other than "It's morally wrong". Well, let me tell you that everything is morally wrong or corrupt in the world. Infact, we should know that - as due to the prejudice and harassment we receive from the uninformed, the "elite", those who are "normal" in today's society, how can you get all fussed up over one person's opinion on animals? Not once did I say your opinion was wrong, I merely disagreed.

In the end, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there - and we all need to look out for ourselves. Although you may disagree, when I think of animals I think "Food/Resources" in the same way that when I think of absolute strangers I think "untrusted/untrustworthy". Again, I repeat, in Medieval times they tried to cure people by boiling puppies until their fur fell off then using the liquid as a medical "oil" of sorts. Not to mention the whole eating of animals... Again...

I'll leave it at that. My opinion is my opinion, and it's not going to change because "someone else thinks it's wrong".

As for your argument, no, an opinion can not be "wrong", however, others can decide for themselves whether they think it is wrong or not. To argue about it being wrong, on the other hand, is a huge waste of time as you will never be able to convince the person that considers the opinion "correct" of your own thoughts that it is "wrong". I, myself, know how others may see the opinion as "wrong", however, I have no plans to change my said opinion. Want an example? Stereotyping - It's not illegal to think about someone badly for whatever reason, but to actually put those thoughts into actions (E.G: Harassment, Assault etc.) is illegal. We have no way to change people's opinions on others unless they change them themselves, therefore, arguing against their opinion is only going to make them defend it to the extremes and get you nowhere.