Why does society not tolerate a harmful action of a man against another man, but very often they overlook a harmful action of a man against an animal? I think this question must be understood if we are ever to change the rights animals have. I feel strongly that animals should have rights. When I was a child I didn't believe animals had any actual rights, rather humans had rights that involved animals. My view of this has changed over the years. If we allow animals to have rights the same or similar to humans then we must first define what it is that makes us feel as if they are entitled to rights. But in order for us to do this we must first define equality.
I think that the overuse of the word equality has been a set back in the movement for animal rights. Obviously a dog is not physically equal to a human and it would be outlandish to state that a dog has equal mental ability to that of the average human. However, there are humans that have fewer mental capabilities than that of the average dog. We would not subject this human to product testing and research but we feel it is all right to place animals in this position. A general defense to this is that the human life matters more than that of an animal, but what allows us to make that judgment. Now that I think back on it, for the majority of my life, I have considered myself a person in favor of animal rights.
It wasn't until I came upon the subject of animal rights in this class that made me think back on what I thought about it. It also brought back a memory that I had long since forgotten. I was raised by my father to respect life, even if it was the life of an insect or rodent. Instead of squashing a bug he would take it out side and let it go. When I was about eight or nine he caught me shootin ...