Animal Cruelty Vs. Human Cruelty

I'm not saying what is natural or what is not natural, healthy or unhealthy. I'm sure the animals that are killed for food did not want to die. I'm saying killing animals is cruel. So unless they wanted to get boiled or gutted, I don't think there's a way to say it isn't.

 

What I think he was getting at is what's the difference between killing dolphins for food and killing fish for food? Hell, a lot of people don't fish for food, to be honest, but there's no big commotion about fishers.

 

You would be surprised. There are organizations that try to deal with issue of overfishing, and some of them try to spread awareness of the problem.

Maybe that's one reason why why people react so strongly to animal cruelty, once unaware of the problem and just want to help. People who profit from it try to hide it from view. When on the news they show so much human-on-human death and corruption that we have become desensitized to it.

 

I think it's also a natural instinct to protect those who are less off than ourselves, as it has been said animals lack voice and self-conciousness (well as far as we know). We sort of feel that we need to preserve them as they can't do it themselves. I also think it's do to with all the "Carbon footprints and how man made structures are destroying nature", we all hear this as it gets battered into our heads and so we worry about preserving all things natural, we also start to get annoyed at humans subconsiously as they 'contribute' to global warming so we feel we must take action to save nature as that is what is taught to be right. We can also be quite selfish and think, humans are the same- 'what can I do that they can't?' They can aid themselves, when really this could just be an excuse for not wanting to help them.

 

I think a great deal of it is actually due to the fact that there is already a great deal of protection for humans, while the same limits are not in place for animals. For example, if I kill a human, I will get serious jail time. If I slowly torture an animal to death, I will get a fine, or a few months in prison, at most. People are outraged at this inequality, which leads to the effect of some people protesting against animal cruelty more than human cruelty. They're not stating that animal cruelty is more important that human cruelty; they're merely saying that animal cruelty needs more attention than it is currently getting.

While I suppose it's possible that they think humans are less important than animals, I think that it's likely that the majority simply feel that animal cruelty does not get enough attention, while human cruelty does.

 

All forms of cruelty disturb me, although I confess, animals and children have more impact to my mind. But you asked why people react more to animal cruelty than human cruelty. I think there can be a variety of answers, so I will list them.
First: That animal cruelty is much more circulated than human cruelty. It's virtually impossible to watch TV and not see a comercial for abused animals, not so with humans.
Secondly: Our culture, and our movies precondition us to violence against fellow humans. I love action films, and I don't flinch when I the violence against humans.
Thirdly: There are more activist groups for animals then humans. People that are inverts and don't like other people like animals, so they are more willing to put time and money into protecting them.

 

Oh, wow; this is an old bump. Ah, well. Might as well post.

I completely agree with P on this; that animals are not often regarded as better than humans any more than the civilians killed in a war are viewed as better than the invaders. Humans very much hate hypocrisy and feel that everyone and everything should get equal treatment. I, for one, would not have such a huge problem with it if people were open to cannibalism and human cruelty as well. That would still upset me a lot, but not as much as a double standard. That is salt in the wound.

I have mixed feelings about killing animals for food. I am not against the idea of eating your fill, but I am completely against killing for wealth. I view all animals as equal until they make a choice that determines their individual worth, including humans. I can substitute any example about a human in for another animal.

I have few qualms with a person hunting and killing a deer. I have a great many qualms with a person hunting and killing twenty deer and trading the rest with his neighbors.

I have few qualms with a lion hunting and killing a zebra. I have a great many qualms with a lion hunting twenty zebra and using the rest to bargain for more territory or females.

I heard a member or two speaking about vegetarians and how they do not get the same nutrients and do not grow to be as strong as meat eaters. There are at least two problems with this statement.

Firstly, vegetarians still use and consume animal products that contribute to animal cruelty such as gelatin, animal fats and oils, and dairy products. What you mean is a vegan; someone who abstains from any product of factory farming or animal cruelty on principle, not for health. A vegetarian either does not care about animal cruelty as much as eating vegetables, or is failing to think their actions through.

Secondly, there are vegan options for every single vitamin and type of protein found in any given kind of meat or animal product. I say type of protein because most alternatives have incomplete proteins, but products with complete proteins are available if you care to find them. If you have ever spoken to a dedicated vegan on the subject or looked into it yourself you would have found these products.