Inhumane

In no way am I an animal lover. Well, if you consider cats as animals then yeah, because I LOVE CATS. They're just so cuddly wuddly wittle bitty warmy OH, sorry... Okay, anyway.

As with many arguments I've seen or participated in, I notice that the people involved are usually so entrenched in one aspect of what they think might be part of the subject, that they tend to lose objectivity. When you lose objectivity you run the risk of following a path that while sounds right, and feels right, is actually not even relevant to the core of the debate. Inhumane animal processing is one of them.

This argument tends to start out with one party stating their disappointment in how human beings end the life of an animal which is to be later processed for food, clothing, or both. While this party might really wish that the animal shouldn't be killed (at all) for these reasons, they acknowledge that that is a completely different subject, and while they themselves might not agree, they at least wish the animals that will be killed, are killed in an humane manner.

The other party however will give his opinion that how they are killed makes no difference, because animals don't feel pain the same way we do. They might say a chicken or fish doesn't feel pain like humans do - maybe even suggest they don't feel pain at all, so however we decide to kill them, there is no inhumane way. He will likely say that the other party is just humanizing animals.

These all seems like a valid arguments. However before we get into exploration of these two sides, maybe we should see if either of these sides even matter at all. How will we find out if they matter at all? As always, it's easy by looking at the 3 modes of humanity.

The Baseline
Let's imagine your mother is laying on the floor. You, are sitting in a chair nearby. There is a third person in the room, and this person does not like your mom. In fact, he is chopping her in little pieces starting with her feet. Pretty bad thought isn't it? Obviously, she's feeling a lot of pain, agony, shock, and horror. She's screaming not only because she is scared, but because she knows she is never going to see you again.

What we have just done is established that a person that is being chopped into little pieces starting from their feet, experiences something that one should never ever have to go through.

The Rub
Now, let's say that your mom has congenital insensitivity to pain. This is a disorder that makes her brain unable to recognize pain, when pain is being experienced.

You are still sitting in the chair, in the room, next to your mom. You mom is still being chopped up, starting from her feet. What do you think she is experiencing now? Is she just ignorantly looking around, smiling at you, as if nothing is happening? The answer is "No", isn't it? She is still screaming for the same reasons as before, even though her brain is not receiving physical pain.

The Twist
Let's take this even further. Let's continue this rub and add in another aspect. Let's blindfold your mom, and place ear plugs on her. You are still sitting next to her in this room, she has no ability to feel the pain, or see or hear what is happening. She is being chopped up into little pieces. What do you think she is experiencing now?

Wow, that last one through you for a loop didn't it? Ready for another? Why do you think you're sitting in the room? You are there for one simple reason - to answer the question.

The Question
Your mom has a disorder that makes her unable to feel pain. She is blindfolded and has ear plugs. She is in a room, being chopped up into little pieces starting with her feet. You are sitting in a chair watching this. You love your mother dearly. The question is, what are you feeling? I believe you are feeling pain, agony, fear, anger, frustration, and horror. Aren't you? Is this something you want to be going through?

Let's not forget about him. Him? Sure, the third person in the room - the guy that is chopping up your mother into little pieces while you watch. What is HE feeling? He might be feeling love and arousal, maybe even pain and horror, maybe everything - I mean there are many reasons why someone would want to chop up another person. I can think of at least three.

The Conclusion
We have discovered experiencing pain, horror, and agony exist in all sorts of forms. Given one simple scenario we can run the gamut of feelings via any character in our play. You don't have to be the one being attacked, you can simply be watching, or even be the one killing. It doesn't even matter if your nerves can't talk to your brain.

Consider This
Under the "The Twist" you may have noticed in this scenario, your mom might very well be pleasantly falling asleep, because she cannot see, hear, or feel what is going on. She is just slowly losing blood, everything might be gone to her. Have I just sided with people that don't care about treating animals inhumanely?

Maybe.

However, my goal was to show you that we all need to look beyond a mere simple issue like does an animal feel pain the way humans do. If something is able to "experience" anything, then it reasons that it is possible that it may also be able to experience everything.

The complexity of the brain matters not. There are many examples of all sorts of animals experiencing fear, imagination, planning, joy, and pain. Do you really know absolutely everything to be able to say any particular animal on subject definitely (100% sure) does not "experience?"

We must never forget that we are an observer. Most humans see things only in relation to themselves. Therefore if someone is indifferent to an animal experiencing something that they themselves would not want to experience, then maybe they were never the person in the chair.

In the end, there should not even be a discussion, no convincing necessary. We were given the gift to be. To be human. As humans, we have chosen our name to be our way, our way is humane.

Me? I believe everything has it's place, even if it's place is to not exist. I will protect what needs protecting, and I fully believe Bob Ewell fell on his knife ;-)