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All Animals Are Equal

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All Animals are Equal The argument I’ll be addressing today is to decide if “All Animals are Equal” by Pete Singer. Singer’s essay “All Animals are Equal,” develops an emotional debate for how we view or treat animals as humans (Singer, P. 1989). He also stirs up an argument regarding the equal treatment of animals and the equality with how we treat human beings as a whole. “Singer calls for the beginning of a “liberation movement” similar to those that were sprouting up during the period in which he wrote his essay and focused on such issues as gay, women’s and African-American rights.” There has been a lot of media coverage of an American dentist whole killed a lion in another country, while ignoring some senseless killings in our own country.

Has the time come for us as human beings, beginning to respect the rights of animal’s verses our own kind? Will we continue to enjoy that nice steak dinner, hamburger, or thanksgiving turkey? Is it fair to say the sport we call hunting, is inhumane as abortion, the death penalty, or sending our defenders of this country to war for some people? Could his message be subliminal in this essay by referring those animal to human beings that endured struggle? Are we born into this world to be vegetarians due to our teeth structure and development of our body composition? We very well be but that decision should be left to the individual to decide.
Pete’s utilitarian direction, due to the theory of an animal that suffers, should be avoided, because it don’t have to lead to people being vegetarians. Picture an animal slaughterhouse where their no aware that they are going to be killed, so they didn’t worry, and the death was completely free from pain. Sigler’s theory would’ve had an issue to stop that from occurring at the slaughterhouse. I think the deductive aspect could be valid if you consider that option. The inductive argument can be weak or strong also. I after reading that essay, what makes us better? Why do we kill to consume food? Why can’t we be vegetarians but on the other hand, if a bear attacks me do I reserve the right to defend myself is its aggressive or do I allow it to kill me? The inductive argument can go either way regarding the person’s mindset.

Step Two: Create a Counterargument My counter argument for the thought of an animal being equal is a little observed to me. I don’t consider the human race as a dominate race as we carry ourselves in this world, but I do believe we are all placed here for a specific reason. Think about this for a second, a tornado has destroyed a neighborhood, and theirs a triage going outside. A human being and a dog for example are lying on the ground suffering the same pain. Singer’s ideal says the dog should receive the same immediate medical treatment if found. They would be receiving equal medical attention. You would be wrong if you thought the humans injuries mattered more than the dog’s.
My premises to counter his argument is something I lived through. Can you image witnessing this life changing event, and thinking an animal has equal or fair treatment when you see people with serious injuries lying there. “On 20 May 2013, an EF5 tornado formed over northern Newcastle, Oklahoma, and subsequently moved east-northeast into Moore. The tornado eventually dissipated in the rural countryside just west of Stanley Draper Lake. This is the third violent AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY OCTOBER 2014 | 1549 (F/EF4 or greater) tornado that has impacted the greater Moore area since 1999. The economic and societal impacts of the 2013 Moore tornado are significant. The tornado is responsible for 24 fatalities (www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/). Total damage loss is stimated to be $2 to $3.5 billion (www .propertycasualty360.com/2013/05/28/2-35b-in -insured-losses-from-moore-oklahoma-tornad) by Risk Management Solutions. Of the 4,531 damaged structures, 78% are residential buildings assessed at approximately $400 million. Tragically, two elementary schools within the city of Moore, Briarwood Elementary and Plaza Towers, were destroyed by the tornado. Seven of the fatalities were children in the Plaza Towers Elementary School. The Moore Medical Center was also destroyed by the tornado” (Atkins, N. T., Butler, K. M., Flynn, K. R., & Wakimoto, R. M. 2014). I’m not saying animals don’t matter, because there are organizations out there to help displaced animals when it’s appropriate.

This story was written a year later after a tornado destroyed a town in Mississippi. “Downed trees often accompany damaged homes and fences, leaving some animals displaced along with their owners after Monday's tornado. Tupelo-Lee Humane Society Executive Director Donna Jarrell said they have taken in 10 animals since the tornado struck Tupelo yesterday and expect to see many more in the coming 48 hours. "We started getting lots of calls late last night and this morning," Jarrell said. "I think it takes a little while before they can get to their animals or work to find shelter for the animals." Jarrell responded to two animals near the train tracks in the Lumpkin Avenue area that were injured and traumatized by the storm Tuesday after lunch. Workers from the humane society set up an area for the animals of people who are displaced and seeking shelter at the BancorpSouth Arena. "We're encouraging people, unless they've actually lost their home, not to bring their dogs to the arena," she said. The tornado damage has caused many animals to get out of their homes and yards, and Jarrell said anyone who encounters a displaced animal to contact 911 or the humane society” (Clark, J. 2014) In our increasingly international world, it is essential that we know and understand food taboos of societies other than and in addition to our own. In a world, in which many persons still go hungry, it is important to realize that numerous societies impose restrictions on what is acceptable as food and that in most cases the full food potential of a given environment is not being made use of. Food restrictions can affect the nutritional status of a community or a subsection within it. There may be sound reasons for prohibiting certain food items as we have demonstrated in this paper, but declaring some food items taboo can equally well be a form of suppression by a more dominant sector of the society. To explore the operating food taboos from historic, hygienic, and social perspectives must be the aim of any study that deals with the problem of community food culture. I believe that need to be treated fairly but just as we have a place in society, if they’re not a pet for someone, it can be fair game because we don’t have to eat meat, but we do.

Reference
Atkins, N. T., Butler, K. M., Flynn, K. R., & Wakimoto, R. M. (2014). An Integrated Damage, Visual, and Radar Analysis of the 2013 Moore, Oklahoma, EF5 Tornado. Bulletin Of The American Meteorological Society, 95(10), 1549-1561. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00033.1

Clark, J. (2014, April 29). Humane society helping displaced animals, owners. Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (Tupelo, MS).

Singer, P. (1989). All animals are equal. In T. Regan & P. Singer (Eds.) Animal rights and human obligations (pp. 148- 162) [Acrobat Reader version]. Retrieved from http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil1200,Spr07/singer.pdf

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