What if a higher being were to come to earth and enslave the human race? What if their intelligence far surpasses that of any human being? Will they treat us like how we treat animal, perform experiments on us, make us go extinct?
Right now, we are the top animal on the food chain no doubt, but what if that were to change? These other animals would be able to do what ever they want with us. Our weapons might be virtually powerless and they would be able to do cruel experiments with us. Perhaps they would do cruel experiments to determine vaccines and cures on us. We would become the animals and they would become our masters. They would determine what is right and wrong. They might not be able to communicate with us and not know if we have feelings or not. The tables would have completely turned, and the only thing we could do is pray that they go gentle on us.
Is this what animals feel like? Do they have feelings and pray that they will be okay? There are many studies that show animals have intelligence and a sense of individualism like in Rifkin's article "A change of Hearts". They probably do have a sense of individualism but that won't stop humans from doing experiments on them. I agree with the experiments that involve trying to find a cure, but one day we may be the test subjects.
I love how you put all of your thoughts together. I completely agree with all that you wrote. I know if we were treated like animals, we would not tolerate it, so why should we treat animals the way we do? I don't think it is morally correct and I really hope some changes are made to stop these horrible actions.
ReplyDeleteDylan, your approach to helping us understanding the underlying dilemma we face with these articles is great. By putting us in the place of the "lesser beings" of animals, the situation is much easier to see. This mindset can help us approach the question of where we draw the line with the treatment of animals and the rights they have. Turning the tables makes me unsure of where I would draw the line. I do agree with you, Kaylin, Ana Mae, and Christian about the part where experiments on animals in order to find a cure for humans is justified. In the context of research and experiments for the health and well-being of the human race, not putting animals at the same level as humans makes sense. This is because I am in the biased viewpoint of being human. My empathy toward animals and the fact that we share Earth with them prevents me from completely ignoring their rights and labeling us as the far superior creatures.
ReplyDeleteYou summed up the main ideas of this topic perfectly. I am not completely for one side or the other on the topic of animal testing, but your post did tug a heart string. You're right in saying that we wouldn't like, or even tolerate being treated like we treat the animals around us. If anything even close to what you just described ever happens, I think alot more people would come around to agreeing that all of the tests and experiments being done on animals are wrong. But, I just can't bring myself to agree that they deserve human rights. On some points, the deserve specific rights so that they aren't abused or killed, but human rights? I think that once this whole animal rights activism starts, it will never stop and we will live in a future where animals will roam freely among us whether they are trained or not, which is kind of scary, too. But, your post did get me to question my views on this issue.
ReplyDeleteI love how you brought this up. I never thought of it that way. If we were treated like we treat animals we would have a huge change of heart. What if we were considered the animals ? We would have no way to express our feelings and don't have any say in anything they do to us. We would forced into things that may kill us. This is what animals have to go through to help us, and people can complain about it all they want but will we really choose an animals life over a humans?
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