The one thing that bothers me the most about all the people I know/have known who are very wrapped up in this issue of animal rights is that they all have this crazy compassion, bordering on insanity over a bird but wouldn't bat an eyelash or lift a finder or even care about peoples plight. This one girl I knew practically caused a pile up when she came to a screeching halt in the middle of fast moving traffic to tend to an injured bird but she becomes vehemently vicious towards homeless people

Now I know this is a broad stroke kind of statement but for me, everyone that I have had contact with, including friends, have been like this. And I know that animals don't have the same kind of "choice" that humans do but I don't understand how someone who cares so much about animals could give a shit about people.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I know exactly what you mean. Often it's people who can't relate to other people and find comfort in animals, who can't talk back or see how socially awkward they are.

I love animals to death, even devoted my life to saving them for a few years but I also really care about people too, especially children and the elderly.

I do care about people, and I think I demonstrate that in my life.

I also think that people often cause their own problems, whereas animals are usually the victim of somebody else. And I do tend to feel worse for those who are victims of something other than their own stupidity, regardless of their species.

AND I think that people are entitled to their own priorities. Which doesn't mean that they should feel ok about being assholes, but if the idea of a suffering dog makes a person more sad than the idea of a suffering human. . .who is to say that they are WRONG for feeling that way?

Generally, m'dear, I think you're making a sweeping and unfair statement.

It's the cock and ball torture that worries me. Those poor animals and submissive men.































Okay, I've had red wine and shouldn't comment here right now

HereToRockYourWorld said:

OK, not you! I meant in my California sphere

I also admire animal activism.
But I also enjoy a good steak

HereToRockYourWorld said:

which is why I included that it was a broad stroke kind of statement

I wasn't thinking of you when I wrote this. I definitely agree with you that people are entitled to have their priorities but why not care about both?. My friend that I am talking about that really almost killed herself trying to get to that bird can look a suffering person in the face and not give one ounce of shit. I don't understand that, especially since animal activism is about helping something that may be suffering.

I'm in trouble!

Please?

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I think it's totally messed up if one only cares for one and not the other....going either way.

i take a buddhist approach to both animals and humans.

The thing that weirds me out is vegetarians and vegans who keep pets that eat meat.

Imago said:

Interesting. what makes one meat eater ok and not the other?

JustErin said:

Well I can't stand people who say things like "it's just an animal". I HATE that too.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

I know dogs and cats MUST eat meat, and to feed them something unnatural to what they were designed to do is kind of cruel I guess, but I'm pretty sure the process of making dog or cat food is just as cruel and aweful as what it takes to get a steak on your plate.

Have you ever asked her about it!?

LleeLlee said:

Yes and she goes on tirades about choices and to a degree she is right but I cannot ever have a suffering human in my presence without at least caring about the fact they are suffering. sometimes people are suffering without making choices to get there. She doesn't care though and it really bothers me.

Imago said:

true, that

REDFEATHERS said:

Steak and fish will never touch my lips , but muffy gets a her favorite chicken liver and tuna doggie treats if she really behaves.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

Sure, I prefer to spend my time with people who care about both.

But look, there are lots of people who don't give a fuck about human suffering. Some of them do care about animal suffering. Most of them don't. I think, of any group of people, you're going to have a certain percentage who aren't especially compassionate. Animal rights activists included. I don't think it's something special to AR folks.

And I don't think that people who speak up about animal suffering should be held to some higher moral standard. What they are saying can be correct regardless of their own behavior.

Imago said:

Very true.

I think this is part of why having pets is ethically problematic.

I have a dog. He came into the shelter with a badly broken leg when I was an animal control officer. I decided to adopt him rather than euthanize him 'cause he was such a sweetie. Rock, meet hard place.

Some dogs do fine on a vegan diet, actually. Like humans, they are omnivores and they don't all need meat. I tried my dog on a veg diet, however, and he didn't do especially well. Unfortunately, he didn't do especially well on the fancypants organic food that I tried to feed him either. He has a touchy GI system that doesn't appreciate much of anything. But guess what? He does well on Iams. Which is all factory-farm meat, and I hate buying it. I do it anyway, because I took on his well-being as my responsibility.


If it were up to me, pet ownership would entirely cease. That isn't going to happen, at least anytime soon. So, we gotta take care of these critters.


But I do great on a vegan diet, so I continue to eat that way.

Does that make me a hypocrite? Or just somebody who is doing her best?

I would like to add that this friend of mine is my best friend for 20 years So I'm not about bashing the critter lovers. I just don't understand her when it comes to this specific issue and I've told her that.

i can't understand people who get that way towards homeless people. how can you judge someone so harshly knowing nothing about them?

evenstar3 said:

I practically go broke sometimes because I cannot say no to a homeless person

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said:

You really are a sweetie.

I am broke and I have to say no, but I think it sucks when people blame the problem on them. Most of them are living with some kind of mental illness in a society that has failed them. We should all be fighting like hell to get decent health care, INCLUDING mental health care, for everybody.

evenstar3 said:

word!



Actually, I used to have complete disregard towards them. I always thought that if you're homeless it's because you're lazy. So niave was I in thinking that America had adequate welfare systems set up to deal with EVERYONE, that I often had disdain for them. I never gave any homeless person money, and I often got extremely irratated with them.


(here's my religious rant), but becoming Buddhist has taught me that each of us is where we are because of the conditions which arise to make it that way. Sure, there's karmic laws working themselves into the fabric of our existence, but when you strip away all the bullshit of what makes us all seemingly "unique", we end up with nothing really there to show for it--we end up being no more different than the next guy--the only differences are conditioned things, which can all change at the drop of a dime. So compassion is what matters, because, one day the conditions which make you who or what you are, could turn on you. In the end these folks are our family, and we should treat them as such.


That being said, I'm still a pretty bad person.

Imago said:

For me, it's the ones who say that they're vegetarians but they eat fish. They don't weird me out, but they do make me laugh with their double standards, cos they clearly ain't vegetarians at all, are they?!?!

Fish suffer the worst death of all in the name of human consumption. Horribly slow suffocation! And yet there are people out there who claim to be vegetarians but are happy to eat them.

I think all true vegetarians should stand up against these people because they give genuine vegetarians a bad name.

Haystack said:

Beat their lilly asses dude!

Neo-Vegan pussies that they are!

Imago said:

I'll just laugh at them and point out their pathetic double-standards until they renounce their ways or at least kill themselves because of the shame of their own stupidity.

Right on for anybody who sticks with their values, but Right kicking in the head for those with double-standards.

HereToRockYourWorld said:

a library in my hometown ripped out all the benches in front of the building to apparently discourage the homeless from sleeping/sitting there. it made me sick