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By Punkerslut
It is commonplace in our society that the animals are here to be consumed by humans. It is believed that they have no rights -- or that their rights do not extend beyond the dinner plate. It is this that I shall question. Animals are conscious beings. By this, I mean that they are fully capable of many of the things that humans are capable of. They can feel pain and suffering. They can feel joy and happiness. The virtues that have been bestowed upon humanity are ever present within the animal kingdom. Anyone who is a pet owner can attest to this. Individuals have always been quick to deny rights to one group. Slavers refused to give African humans rights. Chauvinists denied women suffrage. Inquisitors denied humans Freethought. If all these individuals, African humans, women, and Freethinkers deserved the right to life as any Humanitarian will guarantee you, then in what fashion can we justly slaughter an animal against its will and then consume its body? It is an injustice, plainly put. Animals can feel as any human can. There are those who say humans cannot be separated by race -- if this is so, then how can animals be separated by species? In my opinion all individuals who are capable of suffering deserve the right to life and liberty, despite race, species, sexuality, gender, or creed. There are those who will ask about the moral condition of plants. To this, I say that plants are not conscious beings and therefore undeserving of rights. Some will say that the flesh of an animal is tasty and therefore murder is justified, but this is no more justified than the pleasure of rape -- despite rape being something that can make a rapist happy, it is no more justified. Some will ask why human teeth are capable of consuming flesh, but this is to no avail. A gun is designed to kill yet murdering a human with a gun is not justice at all -- the same goes with carnivorous teeth. Punkerslut,
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