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Whose rights override others?

Although we are all convinced, some grudgingly, that the environment needs
protecting and so do animals, we have been identifying examples of seemingly
unavoidable circumstances where human beings need consuming animal products or
use them in various ways. Discuss some of the examples and set out the red lines that
would prevent exploitative or degrading use or consumption.

Nowadays, it is ordinary for us to live in a decade which is continuously changing. New


advances are streaming in and it is thought that everything is worth in order to enable
us to be successful. However, Is it fair to make ourselves better at the expense of
others?

During Paleolithic Age, which represents 99% of the human History, human beings
spent their time hunting, fishing and recollecting fruits and vegetables just like other
species did in order to survive. It was due to the circle of life and a need among living
beings. As Darwin said: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the
most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

As time went on, mankind evolved and developed new methods to improve their
economic resources. Unfortunately, those improvements were originated thanks to
not fair political interventions such as slavers. Sadly, I have to admit that if we compare
North America and South America, the first one is much more developed than the
second. There are many complex reasons for that, but the main ones are:

1. Even though both had slave labor, resources and earned their independence at
the same generation, North America continued profiting from slave labor for
over a century after Europeans left which implies poorly paid workers and
cheap labor
2. The differences in policy decision-making: while North America focused on the
industry, South America suffered from poor policymaking and corruption.

When the human rights were signed, slavery was forbidden. As a result, people had to
look for another way to continue producing their goods with the lowest possible cost
and they opted for using animals labor.

Slaves were able to protest, they revealed against their owners and eventually, they
obtained their independence. However, animals cannot neither communicate nor
protest but they do suffer indeed.

As a comparison between human beings and animals, gladiators used to fight against
their opponents to save their lives as now happen in bullfighting and cock-fighting.
Animal Research has brought about many medical benefits which make us live longer
and healthier, but human beings were used in a similar way by scientists in different
social and medical experiments such as Milgram experiment, Stanford prison
experiments or cancer experiments that kill some people in order to save the life of
many. But, how much valuable a life is? Is it worth killing thousands of people if we can
save millions? And thousands of animals? Is this ethical?

In the twenty-first century, those aspects have not change that much and it has even
got worse. Granted, the environment is suffering as much as animals do because of our
ego. Trump and the majority of politicians are extremely focused on their duty of
making the world rich again that they are not considering the global consequences of
their decisions in climate change and animals extinction among other issues. Some
preventive laws have been taken by organizations such as Kyoto protocol but we still
have so much to do, one must try ones best in this issue and do not let it fall on deaf
ears.

On the contrary J.M. Keynes said in long term productivity is what matters and in
long term everyone will be death. If we interpreted his words, I would say that he did
not care about anything else more than the wealth of the mankind who was living at
that time. But, What about us? What would happen with the future generations in
couple of hundred years if we continued with this mentality?

This is a war between David and Goliath, we should not behave as if we were better
than the rest of living beings. We need to go one step back and see the bigger picture.

All in all, I think that animals should not have the same rights as human beings have
because they are not rational beings but there should be a law which protects animals
from abuses, regulates what can be accepted as a need for the circle of life, estimates
how useful is animal testing in medical benefits and how to punish people who break
that law.

It took us thousands of years to write the human rights. Therefore, I wish one day it
would exist a law on favour of animals interests.

The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man. Charles Darwin

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