Another Change of Heart About Animals Post

First of all, I totally agree with Jeremy Rifkin on how animals should be treated with the respect and care they deserve. People should extend more “empathy” to animals because they do have feelings and emotions, and are very similar to humans; more than we ever imagined. Rifkin proved that animals are intelligent by talking about the crow bending the straight wire to retrieve food and Koko, the gorilla, learning sign language. Both stories are quite fascinating by learning how smart animals are and we do not even recognize it. Also animals can have feelings and show emotion such as depression. Rifkin talks about how elephants stand next to their dead kin for days and display a mourning period. This heartwarming story showed how animals are alike to humans by having feelings. The articles we read in our packet in class all had topics supporting animal rights but there was none with a counter-argument. The only thing close to this was the letter to the editor which was simple and cheap. Although I believe in animal rights, I am afraid that too many of other classmates may have a different view but do not have any supporting backup; therefore they just choose the side everyone else joins.

The Value of Life

In her thread "Animal Rights," Kaitlyn mentioned that animals should be given rights "so... their lives [are not] wasted" during experimentation. I found this very interesting because it reminded me of our previous unit of the value of life. Though we merely focused on the monetary value of a human life depending on money needed to support a lost loved one’s family, I feel that we should think the same with animals. Of course we wouldn’t give them money (What good would that do?), but in its place something much more valuable for animals to allow them protection and comfort from painful and harmful experimentation: rights! So many animals are suffering from abuse, mistreatment, neglect, and other terrible treatments, so I thought that it would be nice to give them a helping paw. What do you think about granting animals rights, and if so, to what extent- un-human personhood, or simply enough to prevent animals living in harsh conditions under the hands of oppressing mankind?

Undecided

I am sure many of us check the undecided box when talking about animal rights.  We are conscious that animals feel pain, but scientist convince us that animal research is for the better.  I speak for all of us who are indecisive when I say, that I am in the middle.  I do not think that animals deserve the same rights we, the superior beings, have.  As I read through the articles, I noticed that all of them were biased towards the need for animals rights.  A Change of Heart added how the Swiss believe that their should be some plant rights...now, in my opinion, I think they have gone too far at that point.  If animals do not obtain the same intellectual thinking we possess, what makes them think plants do?  My point is that many believe that animals feel the pain and emotions we can, which is why they think that they deserve equal rights, but they will never get to our level.  We have become very advanced in technology and our knowledge has expanded to great lengths.  Animals, not even dogs or monkeys, will always be below us and that may sound harsh, but it is true.  All in all, I believe that animals should not be abused for any type of enjoyment, but if animal research will truly help, I give my full support.

A change of heart about animals

After reading and annotating the article 'A change of Heart about Animals'  by Jeremy Rifkin it has me thinking more about how animals really do have feelings like us humans and how they are more like us than we thought.  In this article Rifkin talked about how two crows strategized a way to get food with just a hook and a straight wire from inside a tube, I don't know about you guys but I was pretty amazed that two crows could figure that out on their own. I was also amazed by the gorilla he talked about that was taught sign language and mastered it and also scored between 70 and 95 on a human IQ test. I have tried to learn a little bit of sign language myself and it's  hard, so for a gorilla to know over a 1,000 signs is crazy to me. By reading this article I've learned a lot of new things about animals that I didn't know before, they are really capable of doing most of the things that we do they just may take a little longer learning how to do them.

It's All About the Money

So I know were getting closer to break. We're being told to blog and to blog and to blog. Personally I would never blog if I didn't have to. My point is that I don't see what blogging helps us with. I don't see the point of any of the homework given to me from my Spanish class, Economic class, or government class. Honestly at the point I'm at in my life, my life out of school doesn't care about my life in school. My whole life revolves around trying to find work. Just trying to make enough money to help my parents out. When I have enough free time in the weekend to do homework and other crap I really don't think to do it. All I'm doing is trying to find where the money is at. I do care for college and would like to attend a university but I'm just trying to do enough to get by senior year. I don't want to be copying vocab words and coloring thinking maps my senior year. How old are we? I'm already checked out.

Animal Rights

I feel like we are constantly hearing about animal rights and whether or not animals should be tested on. I personally think that if an animal has to be tested, it shouldn’t be to the point where they feel a lot pain. There should be a certain level of pain that the animals feel.  I know if I were that animal I would not want to go through horrible pain, we humans have an advantage because we can actually speak for our selves, so we have a say in what we want. Animals, however, cannot speak for themselves, so I think they should be able to have rights so it is not like their lives have been wasted. The article, “A Change of Heart about Animals,” by Jeremy Rifkin, says that our fellow creatures, “feel pain, suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love.” Rifkin gives an example of elephants experiencing grief. He says that when one of their kind dies, the elephant will stand next to their body for days, this shows that, “mourning for the dead represents the real divide.” Which means animals have feeling and memories and should be able to have rights so they can have a feeling of protection.

A quote by Gary Provost

First of all, I found this quote pretty recently and thought you would all enjoy it. Gary Provost was a famous writing instructor who lived from 1944-1995.

"This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important."

Next time we write in class I am going to try and use this with my writing, and I think it may help with keeping everything interesting. Hope the rest of you liked this quote too. 

Break!

Hello everybody!

We are approaching Christmas break and I know all of us are extremely excited about being able to relax for a couple of weeks. I know these next three days are going to be challenging and stressful but I know all of us can push through these next days with enthusiasm, knowing we are one step closer to break. Keep up the hard work and get everything done so we can have a stress free break. See you guys tomorrow :) "Believe you can and you're halfway there." -Theodore Roosevelt

How do YOU persuade?

Aside from the widespread discussion concerning animal rights on this blog (which quite frankly, I could not write about, because similar to Duyen, I am struggling to decide on which position to take), we have also read an article by John Edlund discussing the "three basic ways to persuade an audience of your position:" ethos, logos, and pathos.

To quickly summarize these strategies: ethos is the writer's character or image, logos refers to logical arguments, and pathos appeals to the emotions of the audience. Ethos, according to Edlund, is the "speaker's character as it appears to the audience" as well as their "authority to speak knowledgeably about the subject matter." Logos relies on logic and rationality and "is usually privileged over appeals to the character of the speaker or to the emotions of the audience." Pathos is the powerful influence of our emotions to our rational judgment.

In order to make a convincing case for your situation, it is best to use all three strategies together in one. Personally, however, I seem to notice that I rely mostly on the appeal of logic and rationality in my arguments. I feel as though I have been trained to provide as much information as I can in the form of facts, quotes, and similar information in order to persuade my audience. I am not saying this is the most effective way, I just find it the easiest and most useful way to persuade, especially in writing prompts. Do any of you agree with the idea that logos is the most common way to persuade? If not, which one do you find the most common?

Do Animals Deserve Rights?

One of the big discussions in our class recently is if animals deserve rights or not. This discussion has been very interesting. I believe the animals do deserve to have rights. They do not speak, or seem to have the emotions that we have, but they do. In the story "Hooked on a Myth" the writer explains how the fish feel the pain as the hook is attached to their jaws. When something bad happens to a fish involving pain, their gills beat faster, lose interest in food, and they have problems making decisions.
Taking advantage of animals is something that we should not do and is extremely cruel. I agree that creatures that feel pain should have their moral status. Animals go through times of sadness, lonliness, and even depression. The studies on pigs show that they crave affection, and they are easily depressed if they lack playtime with one another. Last year I was asked the same question whether or not animals deserve rights, and I did not think they should because I ignored the fact that they have the same emotions we do. I thought they should be tested because they help humans out with sicknesses. A year later, I know they feel the pain and emotions that we go through and I would not want anybody or any animal to have to go through that. I think the animal testing needs to come to a stop quickly and show the animals the respect that they deserve. We also need to show them the love that they deserve as well.

Rights: Belongs to Living Things

I believe some living things in this planet should have rights. Not only humans, but also plants and animals deserve rights. Even if they are not smart enough or do not have pain receptors, they deserve good care, and love from humans because humans cannot survive, and make it this far without them.
Animals do feel pain. Like humans, animals also have emotions, they laugh and cry. Yet, some people still abuse and kill them slowly for no reason. This is clear immoral act of humans. Animals need to be loved, and they deserve to live a better life.
Plants, especially trees, provide many benefits to our planet. Trees provide oxygen and food. They help prevent global warming, water pollution, soil erosion and many more. And yet, humans are not aware of how illegal logging can have serious consequences to the environment. Humans are still doing it because they are only thinking about themselves, specifically their businesses.  
People cannot put a stop to cut trees for papers, kill animals for food, and use animals as a test subject for medical research just simply because these things has been part of human life and has been necessity for everyday living. The only thing humans can do is to replace the life of each tree they take away by planting two or more trees, and help animals to reproduce so that these species won’t exterminate.
We need plants and animals in order to survive. If we do not put a stop with these immoral human behavior towards plants and animals, our planet will have great damage, and it will affect the nature and eventually, humans will struggle to survive. If we do not start right now for plants and animals rights, when do we start? When it’s already too late? It is hard to set boundaries about rights, about what is right or wrong, about what we can do or cannot do. But, it is very clear that humans are the smartest creature on this planet and should do the right thing not only for future generations, but also for mother Earth. 

Do fish feel pain?

Do fish feel pain? In the article, "Hooked on A Myth", the author states that fish do feel pain just like any other animal so what the author is saying because all animals are equally made and all animals should be treated the same or just like human. I agree with this statement because it is only fair that we give every mammal the same treatment. It isn't fair to the fish because they already have a shorter span of life, therefore they should at least be treated a bit better then how they are already being treated. The pain that they feel might not be as bad as ours but they are still feeling pain, which no mammal is happy about feeling.

A Change of Heart About Animals

After reading the article,  "A Change of Heart About Animals" by Jeremy Rifkins my whole perspective changed on how animals should be treated. I never realized how similar animals are to humans. Rifkin states that animals feel emotion’s like excitement, stress, affection and love, these are all emotions that humans feel so that means there not much different from humans. He made me think about when I use to go fishing when I was a kid.  It was never my intention to hurt the fish I just loved doing it for fun but now that he explained they feel pain just like we do I'm definitely going to think about going fishing the next time I'm invited. I've asked some of my family members and fellow classmates how they feel about the topic and a few of them brought up a very interesting idea. They said animals were out on this planet for a reason. We can't live just off of vegetables. We need meat to survive animals are over-populated why do you think they don't go extinct? It really blew my mind when I heard them say these things but it some what made sense in my head. Yeah it bothers me that we kill these animals just so we can feed ourselves but, it didn't bother me to the extreme to where I'm going completely stop eating meat. I don't know maybe if  some really good articles and videos about why we should stop hurting animals were shown to me I would stop eating meat, however this just wasn't good enough.

Humanity

         Morality, humility, compassion, joy, suffering, pain, depression, love; All of these are man made concepts. Animals can probably experience a portion of an aspect of these emotions, but that does not mean they are deserving of our compassion or sympathy. Those who are deserving of these are other human beings. People who can actually understand what the meaning of our actions are and those we can actually create bonds with that are deeper than our own understanding. Sure you can make bonds with animals. You can play ball with your dog, or pet your cat, yet that bond is nothing when compared to the bonds that you make with other human beings. Those hour long conversations you have with your best friends, whether those friends are your parents, siblings, or unrelated people, make bonds that go much deeper into your being than when you run alongside your dog. Just think about all of the loved ones you have. Think about how much they really are worth to you. Your best of friends are worth the world, so are they not worth a couple of animals? Maybe not even a couple. If your friend had a disease of some sort, speaking theoretically, and the only way for them to be saved would be for the mass experimentation on monkeys would you not say your friend’s life was worth more than that of monkeys? Well simply because your friends may not have anything that is life threatening, is it worth it to lower the chances of someone else’s survival for the lives of a couple of meaningless animals? If you had to choose between saving your dog or saving your best friend, which would it be? If you want to go out and save animals because it is your heart’s desire, then go right ahead. That is the right of mankind; to follow our hearts. Do not, however, try to enforce ones’ own desires among others. If there are scientists who want to experiment on animals because they want to find the cure for a disease, then one has absolutely no right to decide whether they should or should not. By stopping animal experimentation one is halting the progress of mankind; no one has that right.  No one has the right to decide that the life of an animal is worth more than that of human being. Or does one say that the life of a monkey is worth more than that of the life of one’s own mother? 

A change of heart about animals

    For the longest time we always considered animals below us and didn't care to much about them. We use animals all the time to accomplish out simple needs. Now we view animals completely different, we view them as equal. Our new research has shown us that these animals are more like us than we would of ever thought possible. they feel pain, have stress, excitement, etc. There are so many animal rights activists stressing the fact about helping the animals. Places everywhere are beginning to pay more attention to the animals and treat them better. Some may even say these animals are equally as smart as we are, but in reality animals will never be completely equal to us. Not all  People will never be able to stop eating meat whether we like it or not. Yes we can limit it but we can't erase it. We've come along way to limit the brutal abuse and hatred against animals.

Blogging competition

We have to beat Mr. Finzee's class in blogging. He only has two classes and we have three yet they have more posts and comments than us.What are we doing guys! We will probably soon pass them up though because everyone is struggling right now to get all there posts and comments in.Next quarter I saw we kick his classes but in blogging. He can not be bragging to the homie Fletchdog. Excuse my incorrect language in that last sentence but I just tried to get my point across. We do not want those kids in his class to think they are better than us. 

Guys and girls, I know we can do better than this. You can blog about anything to, and the quicker you blog, the easier it will be because you can write about anything without fear of copying anybody. I posted my first blog way earlier and was able to write it pretty much about anything because no one else had written. So come on class, let's do this!

Where does it stop?

Animal rights have been a controversial issue for a long time; however, it has become more prevalent. Many are fighting for more and more animal rights. The GAP is one organization that is pushing for animal rights, specifically apes. They believe that "a basic set of moral and legal rights for chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and orangutans" should be provided. These rights include banning the use of apes in experiments, entertainment, and commercial ventures, and would set better living conditions for the apes. They even got Spain to implement their laws. But once these laws are given, where does it stop? Surely dogs, monkeys, rats, or any animal will be next. Someone will want rights for all of them. And then next, plants. If this were to happen it would effect the whole world. What animal rights activists fail to realize, is how much we need animal testing. We have created countless vaccines and cures from animal testing. If that were to stop, we would be putting millions at risk. I know that animals are creatures with feelings, but they are not human beings. They are still animals. So I do not believe that they should have all the same rights as us.

A Change of Heart about Animals

After reading this article I noticed that Jeremy Rifkins states that animals are very much like humans and we should change the way we treat them. Animals show human characteristics that overlook peoples attention. I agree with Jeremy Rifkin,although animals have human like qualities its inhumane to treat animals like they are inferior to us. Koko,the 300-pound, gorilla managed to master and understand 1,000 words in English. Koko also scored 70 out of 95 on a human IQ test. People shouldn't under estimate the abilities of animals.We should show animals differently because they are more like us than we think. Animals maintain great skills and abilities. We both express our emotions towards life. Animals feel excitement, stress, love, and are very affectionate.Animals should be treated differently because they show great qualities and don't do anything to deserve cruel treatment.

Complete Pathos

While reading the packet of articles we were given, has anyone else noticed that a majority of each of the articles is the writer trying to appeal to our emotions? At first glance, the articles seem to have a neutral standpoint on the issue, but once I started annotating, I noticed that there are subtle hints here and there that kind of lean towards treating animals with complete equality or to stop animal testing. The clearest example I read pertaining to this was in paragraph 15 in A Change of Heart about Animals, by Jeremy Rifkin. "And for the thousands of animals subjected each year to painful laboratory experiments? Or the millions of domestic animals raised under the most inhumane conditions and destined for slaughter and human consumption?" He goes on to question the reader about the inhumane and terrible ways that animals are treated. But, a completely different tone has been established after this paragraph. Prior to paragraph 5, the article seemed neutral and was simply stating facts, noting scientists, and describing different studies. But, after reading the paragraph, I felt discouraged to finish the article. The repetition of questions and examples led me to think that Rifkin was using an appeal to pathos to sway us to recognize that animals should be treated equally. He finished his point by ending the article with "The human journey is, at its core, about the extension of empathy to broader and more inclusive domains." So, overall I just felt that whether he meant to or not, Rifkin included his opinion in the article and used it against the reader to make them feel or see the issue as he does.
The other article that had a clear example of pathos was Of Primates and Personhood...
I think that using an appeal to pathos was an affective way to sway the reader into looking at the issue differently, and that the examples included in the articles were clear enough make us feel bad or agree on different points.

Lost in Standing

I've been on this website multiple times and each time attempting to make a post. I would a draft and then discard it after awhile. My problem isnt that I don't want to post; it's that I can't come up with a standing on this issue. There are so many arguments for both sides and each side is so persuasive. One talks about animals forced into pain and suffering for our benefits; the other argues how animal testing helps find cure for diseases and improve our society. I feel pity for animals that would have to feel suffering through so much pain, but then again, I would want a cure for my detrimental disease.
I've tried reading more articles online about animal research and it only confuses my position on this problem even more.
Does anyone understand my dilemma?

My Opinion

The topic of whether animals should or should not have rights has been in the public eye for quite sometime. I never really had an actual side that I was leaning towards, for I really didn’t take interest in such issues. Last year was when I took notice of the animal rights situation. This was because my Anatomy class assigned a research paper on the ethical issues of animal rights. From my research last year, I finally found my stand on the animal rights issue. I do agree with what Jeremy Rifkin states that animals possess human characteristics such as feelings and self-awareness. Animals AND humans are both creatures. We both have a brain and heart that helps use function and live. Basically humans are no different from animals, which leads to my belief that there should be rights given to animals. Although I do believe animals should have rights, I still think that animals still can be tested or experimented on. As I did my research last year, I remember reading articles stating that animal testing has brought many medical advancements. If animals were given rights, there should be rights that protect animals from harmful or abusive testing. The people testing on the animals must treat them with care from beginning to the end of the experiment. The animals should be provided proper food and housing prior and during these tests. Also with animal testing, the benefits must outweigh the cost. This means that the test should only be done if the benefits will provide a big help or cure for the world needs. Animal testing for make up, vanity, or nonmedical reasons should not be permitted if animals are given rights. The use of animals for entertainment or fashion should be inexcusable as well. This whole topic of animal rights is a very interesting one. As for me, it was very difficult to choose what side of the spectrum to pick. How about your opinion, should animals deserve their own rights? 

COLLEGE

Hey classmates! Today when the counselor came in today to talk about Cal grants and FAFSA, I felt overwhelmed and stressed out. Just when I felt like the stress level was starting to decrease, it sky rocketed back up. There was so much information given, and I couldn't digest all of it at once. If it wasn't one thing it was another, and if it wasn't one website it was another. I couldn't wrap my head around everything that was being said. I kind of wish all of this information was given to us earlier in the year. I also feel like they only mainly focus on four year colleges, instead of community or technical school. I believe I know a lot about four years but not enough about community, which is where I will going in the fall. Maybe it is just me, but hopefully my input can help.

Hooked on a Myth

Before I started to read "Hooked on a Myth", I thought the article would give key facts explaining why we should feel sorry for certain animals. I began reading the article with an open mind, taking all of the facts she gave into consideration. After I read the article I felt genuinely upset and apologetic for how I have treated fish in the past. I never thought that fish could feel the same emotions or pain as us humans do. We don't treat fish like we treat our dogs or cats, and I don't understand why. Fish feel the same amount of pain as dogs or cats do and demonstrate the same emotions, so why do we degrade their morality? I then looked at it from a different point of view. How would us humans feel if we got put through pain intentionally and have animals look at us as though we don't matter? I know I would feel upset, unimportant, and depressed. Studies have shown that fish do demonstrate those emotions, just like us, but we don't pay attention because they aren't as important as other animals. I don't believe we should degrade animals of their morality, because in my eyes, animals are just as human as we are. Hopefully after reading this article, or other articles similar to this, our viewpoint changes on how we should treat animals.

Whose life is more important?

While reading Bob Steven’s response to Jeremy Rifkin’s article, I could not help but nod my head and agree with him. When he said that “There are many human children in the world who do not have these things. Are animals more important than human children?” I changed sides. I was against animal research before but when I read these articles in 11^th grade, it changed my point of views. And also having to do research on this in Anatomy last year, I felt like continuing animal experimentation is the right thing to do. We just need to do whatever we can to survive. I know that going against animal rights sounds like I’m a heartless person but I mean think about it; they have actually helped humans in so many ways. Many vaccines and medicines wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for animal experimentation. I do believe that animals also suffer and feel pain, but ask yourself, who is more important, your life or the animals? The answer is pretty straightforward and that’s why animal research should continue. Another thing is that humans are not the only ones benefiting from it; animals are also gaining something from animal experimentation. It may be true that animals react to things differently compared to human but if animal testing is banned, who else would researchers experiment on? Humans? That sounds more evil. Animal’s healthcare and lifespan have also improved because of animal testing. Also, animal experimentation is expensive but think about it, money wouldn’t be a problem if we’re talking about our own lives. So, what do you think?