Monday, July 07, 2008

Animal rights mystified

I'm in a criticizing spree - first I criticized myself, then I criticized vegetarianism, and I'm still not done; not to mention my earlier posts, there was one that supported reservations and there was even one that supported terrorism. Now I feel like picking apart the animal rights activists. As always, this is only a crooked thought and I am not against animal rights; I'm not an animal-hater and I respect all the animal rights organizations for the wonderful job that they're doing. So, you read and forget this.

Can a non-vegetarian love animals?
I do love animals as much as I do humans, but then I am not a vegetarian. Does that mean I can't love animals? No. Morality to a saint is being away from all the material wealth and earthly pleasures, does that mean normal people are immoral? No. People ask me - how is an animal different from a human? If you eat an animal, will you eat a human? Well, I can also ask a counter-question - why do you do certain things with your wife that you don't do with your mother? It's your discretion, you like to do certain things, you do it. If I like them, I would do, otherwise I would do something else as long as I'm not violating the laws of "g"od. You decide not to do something, but that doesn't mean people who do it are wrong. They could perhaps be wrong as much as you're perhaps wrong yourselves. I've seen animal rights activists protest against horse-riding, etc. Are they going to stop taking vaccines that were tested on rats and monkeys? When they buy a vegetable, do they make sure that the vegetable is from a field that was ploughed only by a tractor and not by a bullock? And what should the millions of poor farmers around the world who can't afford to buy a machine do? Closing your eyes doesn't mean it's dark.

I prefer to shut up if I can only declaim
"Street dog mauls a 10-year old again" is more than just frequent news in the Bangalore papers. I am not saying we should cruelly kill the street dogs, but why not kill them mercifully. Some animal rights organizations are fine with humanitarian killing, but some don't want them to be killed at all; because they know their children do not play in the slum streets that are infested with these infected dogs. If I don't know a better way, I prefer to shut up rather than declaim. I am not saying people should shut up, but till we find a solution, we need to do some damage-control. Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest does not only say that we exist because we are fit, but also says that we'll not exist if we are not fit.

I am a hypocrite myself
People in the US, I admire them for certain things - they're not too much bothered about what others think, they do what their heart tells them as long as they know doing that doesn't harm anyone. For example, I heard that a 40 year old once quit my company and went to study law. I can't imagine anyone in India even thinking about doing something like that. But one of the things that I don't like about them - they create so much fuss about their pets, but I'm sure they had beef for their lunch. I'm not saying don't love your pets, but isn't this hypocrisy? Well, I'm a hypocrite myself.

Sense to me could be nonsense to you
Somehow, everyday that passes is making my feeling that "nothing is less important and nothing is more important" stronger and stronger. I'm not sure where this "everything is noble" attitude is going to take me to, but at least I'm slowly starting to discover a state of happiness, from a satisfaction gained from a realization that I didn't have, all these years. Terrorism to one person is freedom struggle to another, killing to one is eating to someone else, reward to one person is punishment to another, important to one is trivial to another, good to one is bad to another ... sense to me is nonsense to you!

3 comments:

  1. There's a thin line seperating adaptation and hypocrisy... In a hypothetical situation where there is nothing but non-veg available, veggies will become non-veg... thats adaptation or survival instinct or whatever... i dont know... but still theres sthg that doesnt motivate me to become a non-veggie... although i have tried other stuff that my religion doesnt permit..

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  2. Please don't "motivate" yourself to do anything that you think you shouldn't be doing. This blog was about the closed mind that some people hold towards the other people. All I wanted to say is "know" what you're doing and also "know" what others are doing. You're no better or he's no better. You're no worse or he's no worse.

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  3. there is an incentive associated with whatever you choose to do.. and this incentive is your motivation for doing what you choose to do.. nothing is born without a motivation.. who decides what you shud do and shudnt do? as per free will theorists, its you who does.. and you get rewarded or punished for your choice.. so wat i am trying to think is doing the same thing by the same person might be right and wrong in different circumstances.. as an instance, let us take drinking a shot of brandy.. on a normal day.. it wud be considered wrong.. however when u r suffering from a bad cough, the doc prescribes you to have it...

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