HELP.
[captive.]
why should you?!
I am nothing!
Not a being that
is aware of himself?
Well, to you, I am money.
To you, I am entertainment.
And do you believe
I am stupid?
Let me see if you survive
in the wild.
Such a paradox—a man is a creature that is
supposedly civilized, yet always
falls short of his own
ethical reasoning.
So now,
let me see you fly without wings,
wag your tail without one.
I suppose you never did understand the call of the wild.
You lack these natural abilities,
and so you feign them
by venturing into the wilderness
to capture animals,
to beat them into submission,
to domesticate them.
And so I will sit in this lab
with my open skull
and expose my brain
to feel the pain
of science—
or I will think of my mother.
Oh, how sweet her milk must have tasted
to the strange men that raped her
for her yield,
drunk with capital.
And I am positive that they killed her
once she had no more use to the common good,
yet since when did we have a common good?
My brothers were killed by beings
who proclaimed proverbs with morals.
And my sisters suffered
the same fate as my mother.
It happens in a cycle—
So act like my family was unaware
of existence, and excuse me
for anthropomorphizing—
and then you have an excuse
for using me—
but I am aware of suffering!
I am so aware of suffering—
for it is all
that I have ever known.
My basic interests
are lost to the common good
of another animal’s society.
[When I stop contributing
to man’s dependent society,
they will kill me.]
Author notes
Animals share the basic interest of avoiding pain. That being said, if a man is an ethical creature, he would respect the right of another animal to avoid this suffering.
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." - Aldous Huxley
Go vegan.
How can humans be above animals in terms of sentience/intelligence/ethics, yet not above depending on them for resources?
Comments
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I agree with dissonance. But my baby, im not gona tell you your wrong. This sort of thing i like to debate. Its a matter of each to his own. I love meat n no amount of guilt trippings gona make me ashamed of that. Im glad though, that we have people like u, saving the planet one animal at a time. I also believe that there r worthier topics to pay our attention to. World hunger, poverty, aids. Animals, this includes humans, have been killing each other out of instinct, for survival for eons and no amount of poetry will stop that. Spend more time on a less futile cause, my dear, and make a real difference. Your really just fighting nature here. Dont know how u expect to win. Nature is INFALLIBLE!
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Mind-blowing!! A thought-provoking piece of writing. Very powerful!! Way to go......
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lookit, if you're going to assign rights based on the ability to suffer, then you make SUFFERING the supreme value in your ethical system. rights are something earned... by your ability to feel pain? pain is what gives you the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
perhaps the avoidance of pain... but even an amoeba can act to avoid harmful influences... it completely destroys any value that human beings may have to equate that value with the same in animals. this is not to say we are not ourselves animals, because we are. the fact that we can reflect on our actions rationally and choose the "best" course is what "separates" us from them in the general sense of the term, and it is THIS ABILITY on which we assign rights. this aligns rights with value, that is protecting something one values, ie protecting rational choice.
if you want to protect "the ability to suffer" then feel free. just seems to destroy value, or turn it into a meaningless concept. what is valuable about the ability to suffer? if anything it seems to have a negative value, because the ability to suffer is what enables suffering...
anyways i'm kind of rambling but these are my thoughts on the subject.
i really REALLY enjoyed reading the poem even though i disagree completely with your ethical judgments. its very well written.
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Self-awareness distinguishes animals from prokaryotes and lifeless objects. You say we have rights based on the ability to rationalize, and of course I agree. However, in my experience, many humans seem to lack this ability overall, especially those impeded by a mental disability, and I would not say that one person has more of a right to live than another based on intelligence. If we chose to kill the one who could not rationalize, or forcibly impregnate her so that we could take her milk and kill her children, then most would agree that this is extremely wrong. She has worth because she is human. I do believe that humans are the most valuable creatures, but this does not justify treating animals like they have no worth aside from monetary. I just cannot understand how people can kill or even objectify the creatures I love.
Humans are the most valuable species. They should not have to use other animals as resources.
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excellent
Thats an interesting question. we do depend on everything around us for resources. but then again so does the rest of nature. I think, perhaps, our existence works because of symbiosis. the only difference between us and the rest of creation is that we must make concscience effort to be a part of that symbiotic process and the rest just does, by nature. The question i pose, now is what do we do for the rest of creation that is NATURAL! perhaps you will enjoy my poem, Weeper. Check it ou on my page and let me know what you think about those random thoughts. -
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"Symbiotic" relationships generally entail that the organism on which another organism depends is neither harmed nor helped. However, in the case of human symbiosis, the host organism (on which the human depends) is most often harmed as a result. Because of humans' selfish desire for animal products, factories are built to quickly convert sentient beings into food, treating them as commodities rather than loving them as the animals they are.
Simply because another creature engages in an act does not justify that a human does the same. For instance, the genetically closest relative of the human being, the chimpanzee, usually eats his enemy after killing him. I believe, on the other hand, that war and cannibalism are immoral.
I also believe that this world would be so much better if all humans would treat all creatures with compassion, and I can't see any reason why this shouldn't be so. -
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Yes, you're right there. We are of higher intellgence, but one cannot deny that we need to kill in order to live. We are, after all, animals as well and its where we evolved from. Perhaps one day our bodies will no longer need the protein that we get from meat but until then, we have'nt much of a choice. Granted there are other sources of protein but one cant deny ones animal instinct. Its nature. The yin and the yan. The good and the bad, light and dark, evil and pure is what makes existance the experiance that it is. We have, however, exploited this to our benefit alone, I do admit, but we must let evolution take its course. This is where we have ended up but it wont be were we will remain. The age that we are in begs these circumstances, unfortunatly, so that creation as a whole will grow and evolve to its next phase, its next age.
Oh and please dont neglect to take a look at my work and let me know what you think. One I think you will identify with is "weeper". -
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Our bodies do not need meat. In my experience and research, a vegetarian diet can be much healthier than an omnivorous one.
Because we need to kill in order to live, I choose to kill those that were not aware they were alive in the first place (plants and yeasts). In doing so, I practice harming none. You believe in a balance, and I think that part of this balance should include living in harmony with nature and peaceably with those with whom we share this world.
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Wonderful Aries
Your poem should be on the front page of all the
newspapers.Sadly you have stated the horrific truth of man's treatment of creatures.Animals die with dignity
(humans should note)They accept mistreatment,by retreating 'into themselves'. A well treated/loved
animal responds with faithful/love and intelligent
respect for a 'fellow' being in this world. Terrific
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amazing.
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