animal activision...aka... seeing what will be.
Carol · Jun. 8, 2008
there are folks who are really good at predicting the ripple effect. i am not much good at it altho at least i understand that ripples happen. sometimes i can think things out til the ripples are spread too far too see but i am never really sure of the ripples that turn to waves when they reach shore.
there was a recent discussion on one of the forums about abolishing animal slavery to man...this ranges from donkeys pulling overloaded carts in taiwan, to wearing leather, fur, or eating any kind of flesh, it even reaches into companionship because animals aren't meant to be human friends...so puffy and muffy and fluffy wil finally someday be free, pony clubs and cheap spay/neuter clinics will become a thing of the past. saddle makers and ferriers and vets better find a new job.
it is an interesting concept...every animal on earth forever free from human use, and human need, and human abuse and exploitation....this means ALL human interference and intervention. and i try to envision this earth-bound garden of eden, this fur/feather and scale-filled utopia where animals only purpose is to be born and to live their lives however they were meant to be.
i try to trace the ripple effect of what this will mean...i can't fathom it, it is too far beyond me and the world i see. i can trace out the ripples of a world where animals have the right to respect and compassion and are given fair payment for what we take from them, but the other is just too big for me to see...what would this garden of eden really be?
of course this is the problem with all great human ideas...god didn't give us all of the answers, he left out infallible sight and the crystal balls to see what this new future will bring.
the wright brothers would never have conceived that their invention would one day become a killing machine for suicide missions to take out buildings filled with people or to attack the pentagon...they couldn't see the hyjacks or the bombings of entire landscapes, the utter devastastion of their flying machines...all from one simple dream for man to fly. did edison and franklin think channeled electricity would be one day be routed thru a chair to kill convicted humans or used to torture prisoners of war or to power computers that can send a virus into everyones home? did they know that prolonged exposure to the giant electrical towers can cause brain cancers in the very young? what about the guys goofing with the atom...did they see hiroshima, did they see the cold war with fingers hovering over someones invented red button that could blow up the earth? did they see the destruction of Iraq as a precautionary measure just in case?
when the poppy seed was first harvested and discovered to stop terminal pain, did that ancient healer of medicine see an entire planet of addicts? what did plato see, what did freud?..did the good psycho doctor see the ranks of mental institutions soar? who invented ritalin to help ADDH kids function in society? did he see them dying of heart attacks, did he see the number one choice for cheap street drug turn into a teenage money making underground industry?
mankind is full of great ideas, we have been from the day we learned to walk upright...but where do those ideas take us, where do we end up?
i am too much of a coward to try to change the entire world of animals, i can't see what ultimately that means for them and the human race...i feel safer trying to change parts of it to ensure their use to mankind is guarded by strictly enforced and embraced by all laws that pay them with respect and compassion and kindness and above all a deep and abiding gratitude for their use. that world i can see.
I think, in our dealings with animals, humans simply need to say to themselves, "What would I want if I were in the same position?"
If my species were simply being bred so that in one year or two (or much less for some species) I would be herded into a slaughterhouse, hung up by my leg and my throat slit so that the dominant species could then garnish me with parsley and eat me (probably leaving a good part of my flesh to be thrown into the garbage since they had a big lunch that day) I can honestly say that I would want my species to die out. This is not a life I could bear.
Same if I were stuck in a cage for the rest of my life so that others could gawk at me as "the last of my species". Please just kill me.
How many of us have said, "Oh god...if I have to be hooked up to a machine to live, please just pull the plug" or "I could never live if I weren't free".
I always think that if the animals who live tortured lives could depict the human race in general we would be the equivalent of "demons" and "devils". We would be the darkness.
Shelley and Deb are so right...there is no utopia and there will probably be no equality in our lifetimes. But, it would be nice if we could start to consider animals as if they were our equals, as if their interests mattered as much as ours. That's why I like SAINTS...I feel that Carol does this with her animals....considers their interests from their point of view. In actual fact, very few rescuers do this. They simply make the assumption that what they determine is good for the animals they rescue is the infallible truth.
I wish that we could extend our consideration to all animals. How does the pig feel never seeing daylight? How does the calf feel ripped from his mother with a chain around his neck so he will keep his movements to a minimum? How do the sharks feel in the oceans which we pollute with no thought? How would WE feel if we were in the same position?
A world where animals are free doesn't scare me...this world once existed before domestication, before animal slavery. If we could get there again with a deeper level of understanding, with what we know about the destructive power of our species above all others, if we could get to a place where we were all free to make our own decisions about our own lives (in whichever way each species makes those decisions) we would need to find a new way to exist together. And I bet many animals would still choose to live with and love humans. But they were free to make that choice.
It doesn't scare me because the most dangerous animals to let loose are us. And a large portion of us have been loose for a very long time now. So, how can it be any worse than what we have today?