Why some people advocate for rights of animals while there are many humans who are treated unjustly?

Question

Pets are not humans. I do not mean to treat them harshly but humans must be the priority on the justicie issues.
I understand people may feel more loving towards pets. People is more dificult to talk to because people have a mind of their own. Pets do not love, they just respond to stimulae without logical discernment of the options.

Yes, I had a dog as a pet when I was a kid and ejoyed him very much. His name was Black. I have a heart for animals.
I am aware humas can make greater damage than animals. In that sense humans are more dangerous. But I think greater damage in made to people. even the fact that some people blame the poor for the condition they live in is a discriminatory statement.

Thanks all for your comments. Mark, you are good.
I think I made clear I am not romaniticing people. I have dealt with many personalities who are not fun to hang around with. But that does not takes away their inherent worth.
The problem with cultural points of view is that we end up in relativism and the concept of truth gets lost.

Answer 1

At an individual level, there is no cut-and-dry answer that would be universally true, as this type of choice is driven by a complex combination of personal beliefs and criteria.

Looking from a more general scope, there are several things seemingly presupposed here that are not necessarily true. First, it is presupposed that these are mutually exclusive; i.e. if you love and advocate for animals then you are not loving and advocating for humans. In my experience, this is not the case. Quite often in my experience, the same people who advocate for one also advocate for the other. By getting people involved in either issue, you are exposing them to the other as a matter of course.

The second thing that seems to be presupposed is that there is no correlation between these two concerns. In fact, there is a high correlation and a long body of research that shows that the abuse of animals is a precursory indicator to later criminal and antisocial behavior in adulthood. Some believe that this applies not only at the individual level, but also at the systemic level, thus by influencing how we treat animals as a culture, we might be preemptively affecting the treatment of fellow human beings. Some even argue that "human rights" are in fact a subset of "animal rights" so that protecting animal rights by definition is protecting human rights.

Finally, there seems to be a presupposition that humans are inherently more valued as a form of life. I would only point out that this is a culturally-based belief, and that members of other cultures may make distinctions that cut along differently priorities than the ones that we are considering.

Answer 2

Rights for animals and rights for people go hand in hand. For one, people who abuse animals are much more likely to become murderers. Treating animals poorly isn't good for people in the long run. Conversely, kindness is kindness and promoting it towards animals can only increase kindness towards people as well.

Also, I don't know how anyone can claim that animals don't love. Sure, some may act more on instinct than intelligence, but then, so do some people. And the intelligence of people varies quite a lot. Unless you want to say that developmentally disabled people are incapable of love, then you really can't say animals don't love. Plus, there are more and more studies about the intelligence and emotion animals are capable of (see the wikipedia article). These studies will continue to be debatable, but a large part of that is because defining emotion in humans is ambiguous. I think most logical people would agree that emotion does not always (or even often) include logic.

Answer 3

First, you are going on the assumption that all humans are worthwhile individuals. Second, have you done your research on just how many organizations try to protect the rights of human beings? The list is longer than your entire body.

But, back to the worth of mankind. A true innocent human being does not exist and will never exist. Do you think that Jeffrey Dahmer was innocent when he was a baby?

Society is too terrified to grasp that all children and babies are not the pure innocent gifts from the heavens. They want to believe that Jeffrey Dahmer was a perfect child until somehow someway somebody corrupted him.

On a less extreme example, do you think a child born to parents with some dysfunction (rage, addiction, intimacy issues) has innocently escaped those passed down genetic traits? No way. Like it or not we are a biological legacy of ancestors. No human exists without a dysfunction of some sort.

Look closely at the human beings around you that you so highly regard. Are they really and truly great people?

Show me a person who is cruel to animals and I will show that same person is cruel to human beings.

Answer 4

Because animals cannot speak for themselves. People can. And most of the times people are in a bad place in life over bad decisions they have made over time (children of course are not included in this comment, they may be born into a bad place in life, but they certainly can make the decision to do better with their own).

And pets most certeinly do love. My dog can read everyone of my moods. He can tell when I'm sad and need some comfort, etc. And of course he is very protective of me, he would rather have hurt done unto him than me - that is love.

Answer 5

I love my dog Sophie, and I hope to be the kind of good person she already thinks I am.

But if the choice is getting her groomed or buying my brother a wedding present...sorry.

I would never abuse my dog, and I wouldn't want an animal truely abused, but my dog sleeps most of the day while I work. I feed her twice a day, give her treats constantly, rub her tummy and let her sleep on my bed (aka her bed now). For PETA to look at me and tell me I'm "enslaving" her is rediculous.

PETA wants no pets, no zoos, no medical research (despite the millions of lives it has saved and continues to save) no nothing.

If you don't want an animal tortured with cosmetic testing, fine. I'm with you. Clairol and Mabalene can find another way. If you're telling me KFC is still throwing chickens against the wall...eh. If it's senseless, well okay. If you tell me to get my dog spayed to avoid stray starving puppies all over town, I can understand that. But please don't tell me that an animal shelter can't put a deathly sick animal down. If you love it that much, you adopt it.

Animal rights activists are selfish and have low self esteem. They need to feel better about themselves by taking up a cause. But they can't take up a cause to help their fellow man because a human can refuse their help. Animals are easier to treat as the 'victims' because they can't speak for themselves, literally. They can protest and spend time and call all of us bad while they do it to make themselves seem noble.

Now that's not to say that there is no abuse out there. There is. No animal should be needlessly hurt, but no human should spend hundreds of dollars to give to an organization that one year killed 2/3 of the animals it "saved" (PETA again).

In the words of one wise comedian, "Look I am completely against the mistreatment of animals. But if hooking up a monkey's brain to a car battery could cure cancer in ten years I have two things to say: the red is positive and the black is negative."

Answer 6

Pets Do love you. They are much more honest and loyal than people. When they try to cheat you it is minor - for example to get an extra treat. Also, there are countless stories of pets who have saved their human's lives.
Certainly, I think human rights are very important, but what kind of humans are we if we abuse animals? We are not worth saving or giving rights to if we do that. Apparently you think people are more loving, but that is entirely false.

Answer 7

This won`t be popular.
Everything in this or any other universe is perfect and just.
Actually there is no use for the word justice, never has been, and never will be. We would all benefit greatly if some manipulator hadn`t dreamed it up for his own greater greed.
All is well, I am sorry if I ruffled your feathers and I love you.

Answer 8

Both issues are addressed. If you feel more strongly about humans you should help change the way the US government keeps a third the people of the world living under with $2 a day.

Answer 9

Michelle Obama has stated that they will adopt a dog after the election. My vote goes to those who are willing to save the life of an unwanted animal rather than go to a posh puppy broker or breeder. OBAMA/BIDEN '08 TOMORROW!!!!!

Answer 10

its a matter of preference. some people love and admire animals , like I do! and there are many people who voice for humans... but not many care about animals.
pets do not love? hmm.. have you ever had a pet??? I have had pets (still do).. and i'm more than sure they have loved me... perhaps more than any human ever can!