I will write succinctly, at the cost of risking misconstruction of the ideas and thought experiments presented below. For a detailed and academic treatment of the subject matter at hand please refer to :
www.amazon.com/Case-Animal-Rights-Tom-Regan/dp/0520243862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267610760&sr=8-1
www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/amazing-animals.html
1) Pain has two components: physical and emotional
2) Physical and emotional pain are mutually exclusive. Analogies:
- You can feel emotional pain without being physically hurt as in a loss of a loved one or a breakup.
- You can feel physical pain without emotional pain as an athlete may score a goal for his team and get physically hurt in the process but the achievement evokes satisfying emotions.
- You can feel both simultaneously.
3) Science cannot measure physical/emotional pain empirically and there is no threshold for emotional/physical pain oppression. I am aware that there is a scale to measure pain in the scale of 9, but its shrouded in controversy.
There are many kinds of physical pain, like pulsating, throbbing etc. Same is true with emotional pain.
Even amongst humans, the threshold of emotional pain is different. A real example. An middle aged couple lost their son and his family in a road accident caused due to the negligence of the government. The same indecent happened to both the father and the mother of the deceased. But the mother went insane and had to be put under psychiatric treatment. The father was relatively composed and was giving interviews to the media.
Since there is no threshold of emotional or physical pain, we cannot empirically draw a hypothetical line somewhere and say: from the scale of 3 oppression begins. Is it ok to inflict emotional suffering on a human who does not go insane under emotional trauma? Most people believe no, and the same logic can be extended to all sentient beings.
4) The "killer" whales in captivity are on human antidepressants. They are not fish but mammals like us who are capable of both physical and emotional pain. They are not jokers who love to perform tricks for us. They are kept hungry and beaten into submission. Seaworld must shut down and free all mammals and fish.
5) It is difficult to scientifically predict how 2 humans will react to an emotional or physical trauma. Every creature has their own brand of physical and emotional suffering and expression. This is how they ensure their survival, by avoiding painful experiences. Otherwise they will be unable to distinguish between survival and extinction.
6) All animals are survivors in the process of evolution and as such possess mental faculties that humans don't.
- Cows can tell magnetic north (magnetometer)
- Elephants can 'hear" from their feets
- Wasps know how to make penicillin
etc.
We should be humble to admit that:
1) We will not drop dead if we discontinue the use of animal products / entertainment
2) We have not discovered all the species in the world
3) We don't know anything about these magical earthlings. All the scientists in the world cannot make a mosquito from scratch. We don't know where Riddle Turtles navigate or where whales go to mate.
4) when dealing with sentient beings, give them "THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT". When in doubt leave it out. If you doubt whether your goldfish has a lifetime of memory or is capable of feeling physical pain - give them the benefit of doubt. They belong where they have evolved for millions of years, with their own kind, living free and taking risks. This is not about attributing human emotions to animals, its about discovering a hen's emotions and attributing it to them and respecting it.
5) Just bec we dont have a magnetometer, etc, can cow kill us?
The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. - Henry Beston, American novelist, Naturalist, The Outermost House, 1928
5) Man is not the center of the universe and everything does not have to look like you or be like you to deserve respect. A hen is not a chicken, it has its own language, its own culture and its own life. A cow is not beef, and baby cows are not veal. Pigs are not pork and dogs are not fragrance.
6) We should mind our own business and not share our cancers and depression with other earthlings. Instead, we should share our happiness and joy with them. We should eat healthy and environment friendly, enjoy our lives more, love more, and then share this joy with others.
Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife - birds, kangaroos, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes and dingoes - by the million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal- health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year, sends out cards praying for "Peace on Earth." - C. David Coats, from Old MacDonald's Factory Farm
Read chapter 9 of:
www.amazon.com/Golden-Ratio-Worlds-Astonishing-Number/dp/0767908163/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267612914&sr=8-1
There are many things we use in science that have no proof. we should not wait for a proof that a fish is capable of felling human like physical pain and can remember it too and avoids it and that it has an IQ. A fish is sentient and lives in its own "fish" world. We should not judge it.
www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/articles/amazing-animals/item/88-fish-may-feel-pain-much-like-humans.html
Many people don't know that many laws of mathematics break down for infinitely large numbers.
www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=1411
This is one of the reason some mathematicians commit suicide. (
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rpp)
The point is, when we don't know everything and we should stay hungry and stay foolish. Science has a lot of catching up to do and if the outcome of an action is mutually harmonious, one should not wait for proof.
For example: I don't need scientific proof that mothers love their children for me to love my mother back.
Since we share a common ancestor, we also share many attributes with other creatures. To say man is the only animal who cares about their young ones and that wasps and cows don't is arrogance and ignorance.
Instead of guilty until proven innocent, we should say the animals are innocent until proven guilty. Instead of believing they do not feel pain until proven we should believe they DO feel pain until proven otherwise.
All living beings, including plants have rights. They may differ and may not be interchangeable, but they do. If humanity cannot accept this, we will perish.
research on fruits so plants are not killed
Our relations with other earthlings should not be based on our tongues, but our hearts. A cow if befriended can give a lifetime of joy and its been shown that when we love animals, our heart rate decreases - its relaxing. We have so much to learn and share with these beautiful earthlings. We are missing all this due to our egos that tells us that might is right.
Please go through the resources sited in the post.
Further Readings:
www.kranti.org/knowledge-base/library/books/psychology/75-world-peace-diet.html
