28 June 2008

Animal Rights II ....

Aparently the Spanish Government has given the "Great Apes" rights. What this actually entails I am not sure about, because the idea is so ludicrous. Europe is passing alot of strange and stupid laws lately. One country, I think it is Sweden, has given plants "rights". I guess saying this is stupid is not the same as it being stupid.

To give something "rights" automatically means that the thing given "rights" has the capacity to understand those "rights". So I would like someone, obviously a little brighter than myself, to explain how non human creatures/things are capable of understanding "rights"?

How do you explain to a great ape that bashing another great ape to death is not on, because the other great ape has the same right to life as you do? How do you explain to bonobos that child sex is not acceptable when bonobos have sex with their young from a very early age? Child sex is not acceptable to humans, so why should it be acceptable to great apes? And bonobos are considered to be more closely related to humans than chimpanzees.

Great apes are not proto humans. They have never evolved into humans in the past, do you think they will evolve into humans in the future? Why would you think that?

The people who introduce these ideas into a pliant society are misguided. They do the animals no favours and do their society no favours. The animals have no understanding or concept of what are now their "rights", they are an added burden on society, because they can no longer be kept in captivity for a start, nor can they be killed if they develop into pest proportions. They cannot be handled as pets, per se. And I guess if a severe enough drought came and people began to starve, a) the people could not eat the apes, nor b) could allow them to starve, even though people are starving.

Does that mean if a female great ape is having trouble having a baby she can go to hospital?

Do they have the right to form unions?

Do they have the right to a bank account and an ability to earn money?

Can they gather on street corners and hold a protest?

What does giving an animal "rights" really mean?

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