Monday, September 19, 2011

MWF, 11am

25 comments:

Michael Toussaint said...

No, I feel that animals don't deserve rights. Over the years, humans have abuse their right at the top of the food chain. We are hunting excessively. Animals have become endangered, extinct, and some are being mistreated for the use of entertainment or pleasure. I feel that, mistreating any animal is immoral. Profit can play a big role with the mistreatment of animals. Some animals are used for racing. Greyhounds and horses are starved , forced to practice, or over nourished in order to win a race. Other animals are killed if they lose a race. Poachers endangered animals to sell their organs and furs for money. Some specific species are captured and kept as pets. Some animals are fed growth hormones to breed bigger off springs. If you abuse an animal or use them as a means to an end to the point that you are killing them excessively you a wrong and your actions are unjust. A dying species can affect an environment in many ways. So you are technically destroying the worlds natural cycle. I don't feel that animals deserve rights because they aren't rationally they do simply what they are put here to do; however, I feel that people should not abuse or take advantage of animals.

Matias Carrion said...

Yes, I feel that animals deserve rights. Just because animals can't speak up for themselves it doesn't give us the right to abuse them, but I'm not saying that we all need to become vegetarians either. We are all omnivores and meat is an essential part in our food chain, but that still doesn't give us the right to abuse the animals we consume. Many companies use abusive and unnecessary actions in order to make a bigger profit; while we all like our steak and chicken we don't know where that meat came from companies use chemicals to fatten chickens at a rapid pace in order to sell more of it but they don't show you how the chicken can't even walk since it's so heavy, also they don't tell you that the extra hormones they are pumping that chicken with can be harmful towards you. I believe that eating meat is fine but i am not a supporter of torture of any race the chicken that is locally grown will still taste the same or better than the one from Perdue that is five times its regular size. Another major issue with this is that the animals are not all kept in the cleanest conditions since they are all kept in confined spaces, this mass capitation has created other problems that affect us as well with massive amount of waste being produced it needs to go somewhere and the big companies have neglected this leading to an increase in air and water pollution. So the eating of meat is not the problem but instead of how it is treated, I believe that eating a cow or chicken is perfectly fine but I don't want my meat to have been abuse by an abusive handler who is pist of at his choice of career and takes it out on the animals.

Linda Caicedo said...

Yes, I do believe that animals deserve rights. They may not be able to express pain or any other feeling, but that doesn't mean they don't experience it. They may take part in most of our consumption but they still deserve to be treated decently. Now, my biggest problem with animal cruelty is when animals are tortured or even killed just for entertainment. I understand that we have used animals as a food source since the beginning of time, but there is no justification to an animal being tortured or forced to exceed their physical capacity because we find it amusing. I'm glad that they are outlawing bullfighting in some parts of Spain, because that was a ridiculous, pointless means of torturing an animal. If humans are rational beings, then we should use our ability to reason and treat other living, breathing creatures properly.

Anonymous said...

In regards to this article I must say that I too am guilty of consuming meat and meat products without giving a second thought as to how the animal was treated before it ended up at my local market. Although I completely disagree with the mistreatment of animals and them not having rights at the same time I cannot picture myself being a vegan. Meats are the main component in my diet. While I believe they do deserve rights how could that be possible in nation with the majority of us being omnivores? I am willing to only purchase from brands that don’t not mistreat animals, and who make them suffer. Considering that these brands are more on the expensive side, just how many of us are willing to make that switch? In my opinion these so called scientists who believe animals do not suffer simply because they have no language should have their degrees revoked. Spoken language is not the only language there is. Very often body language speaks much lauder than spoken language. While meats are in very high demand I am sure there is a way to more sensibly kill these animals to keep up with these demans. - Tircia Melo

Janet Arzola Perez said...

yes, i do believe animals deserve rights. why ? because :Animals don't get human rights like we do, but it is immoral to mistreat them. Its not immoral to eat them but we have to be humane about it. Laws are for supporting out morals. Animals can not speak up for themselves. So is just a matter of the basic value of equality. animals deserve rights just as much as people do. Just as we do not have the right to torture and abuse a human being, why would we have the right to abuse and torture a innocent animal. I'm not saying we should not consumer meat. But we have to realize that their lives are depend on us and our lives are depend on them. All Animals are living creatures with emotions. They feel pain when injured, hunger when not fed, emotions when lonely, happy or angered. Some pets are considered a member of the family and are treated like a child. No animal or person deserves the right to be mis-treated.

Niouseline St.Jean said...

Animals do deserves rights. I agree with Michael when he says that humans have abuse their rights on the top of the food chain but that does not necessarily mean that animals do not deserve rights. They are living being such as you and I. Studies have shown that they have emotions. Humans also are emotional beings so should are rights be taken away as well. A case study by Marc Bekoff, PhD explains that "Emotions permit animals to behave adaptively and flexibly, using various behavior patterns in a wide variety of venues" and that "Today, the paradigm has shifted to such an extent that the burden of “proof” now falls on those who still argue that animals don’t experience emotions". The only difference between animals and humans is that they cannot express their selves through audio communication as humans do. For instant, saying “no” or “you are violating my rights” which most individuals are quick to point out.
I don’t agree on testing on animals but I also think about if it’s not animals who are they going to test the products on? Well there are voluntary human case studies but it still beckons the question is experimentation on animals is such a bad thing. We consume animals every day and I am in fact a meat eater but I believe wasting food (throwing it away) is wrong and a form of abuse because it shows that the animal was killed for nothing. Animals do have rights is just that because of human nature most of us tend to shun that idea that they should be given rights.

Patricia Useche said...

Animals are always mistreated in different ways and that is why I do believe animals should have rights. The cruelty that is place at the time of the production of foods is horrendous because obviously there is a need to produce in masses but still it should not be allow the way how they are treated. Besides that problem, others can be seen such as the mistreatment of animals for entertainment purposes, because some people believe that in order to train an animal they have to suffer. So, even though animals do not speak and therefor it is worst because we are not able to know when they are in pain and suffering, they should be definitely have rights.

Angela St Fleur said...

I don't think animal should be mistreated. Like us, they should have right. they breath, reproduce and eat. the only difference they have is that the come in many species, and they can't express themsleves. Mistreating animals can bring us back to the way the us to treat slave long ago.isn't slavery abolish long time ago? if they were slitely the same as we are able to talk, revolution would already be.they want to revolte, but they can that one of the reason why some of them are very dangerous. Like they always told me " unconfortable pets bit". When the don't feel they way they should have feel, they do their best to find the perfect way. aren't we human like that. Don't some of us kill for no reason. we even kill because think it's funny , which is very stupid. so why should the animals can be mistreated and we only go to pirson when we kill somebody. well i think they shoul go to Jail when the bit someone and not be a meal for species worst than them.

Supitcha Saengkrajang said...

Animals definitely and absolutely deserve all the rights as they are living things like us as human beings. Technically, they have the same body functions as we do. They breathe to live and feel the agony from any physical suffering as us. Even though they aren’t as fortunate as human beings to be able to speak and stand up for themselves like we could. That doesn’t mean we could take advantage of them for the fact that they aren’t as intelligent as human beings. Yes, we do consume animal meats but that is only natural since we need protein to survive. Food chain is the survival cycle for all living things on this Earth. Still, that doesn’t give us the right to mistreat animals. Any animals do not deserve the torture of any kind from us. They belong in their natural habitat. We should respect them as they are our resources of survival.

Bethzabe Vasquez said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bethzabe Vasquez said...

Even though it's true that humans are omnivores and as part of our nutrition balance we need certain amount of animals proteins, cruelity towards animals is becoming an issue that goes against the rights that animals deserve.
Thinking first about our health and analizying what we are cosumming, food industralization generates all kind of consequence that consumers are not aware. In 1970, there were 5 main companies (Swift, Armour IBP, MDBPXL and morrel) that controlled just 25% of the market; 40 years later, now at days there are just 4 main companies that control 80% of the beef market (Tyson, Swift, Cargil and National Beef) and in which they have in common the same motto "Produce larger amounts of beef in a small land with very affordable prices".In fact, The modern supermarket now has, on average, 47,000 products, the majority of which is being produced by those handful of food companies.
In order to achieve it, Tyson, for example, is using racing methods that involve the acceleration of the chicken growth from 70 to 45 days. Also they have been re-desingning the bird to have larger breast and therefore more weight. Such birds are raced without any regulation: dark spaces to avoid the lose of calories, millons of chicken in a tiny space were they are not able to walk and therefore they develop on their own waste. According to Carole Morison (perque grower, who colaborated and gave information to the Food Inc documentary) chickens' bones and organs are not able to develop as fast as their own body do, which causes their death. On the other hand, cows are feed with corn instead of fodder to reduce costs and make them fatter in less time. Being feed with corn causes a chemical reaction in their systems which generates a bacteria called E. Colli 1057:h7 which had killed people in the US. Also such industrialization makes possible for slaughterhouses to kill around 400 cows per hour. The problem is that such cows are full of dung (due to the conditions they were raced in) and this has infected the meat that later on was consumed. After such incident, companies have decided to clean the meat through the use of amonium which also is bad for our bodies. Some people have been wondering why is that the FDA has not created any kind of regulations against this situation. During the Bush administration, the head of the FDA was the former executive VP of the National Food Processors Association and the chief of staff at the USDA was the former chief lobbyist for the beef industry in Washington.
The system is highly productive, and Americans are spending less on food than ever before. But at what cost? The industrializaciton of animals as a source of food is one of the most horrible cruelity that can be happening now days since we are not respeting animals beings as they deserve it. From my point of view It is right to eat beaf because we are anatomically and biologically created to be omnivores but it is not conceivable that those companies are using animals as a lucrative source. Farming is not anymore what it used to be, farmers are being manipulate by those companies to use cruel tecniques to race larger amount of animals paying them, in average, 18,000 $ yearly ( according to Food Inc, Documentary). Consumers are not aware of what is happening and this situation should be known by everyone so consumers can decide between buy their products or not.
“The irony is that the average consumer does not feel very powerful. They think that they are the recipients of whatever industry has put there for them to consume. Trust me, it’s the exact opposite. Those businesses spend billions of dollars to tally our votes. When we run an item past the supermarket scanner, we’re voting.” – Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm. Hirshberg began with a seven- cow farm and grew his business into the No. 3 yogurt provider in the country.

Matthew Taboada said...

I think that animals do deserve rights. I don’t think about the process a cow goes through to be my meal, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t think about it. Animals can’t speak up about anything that they think, feel, or want and were no one to be making decisions for them. But yes, decisions are made for them. They have been used for years as means for entertainment, food, and even sacrifices. Just because they can’t speak up doesn’t mean we can keep treating them the way we are currently doing so. Animals should be treated with the same respect that humans are, as Kant’s second formulation suggests to treat others as an end and not as means to an end. If humans really are so “rational” then this should be no problem if directed towards animals as well. I’m not against eating meat, however I do oppose to the methods or torture used to enlarge the animal before slaughter, or even some of the methods of slaughter as well.

Daniel Balarezo said...

Personally, I have never stopped to question how the animal I am about to consume was treated. To the question or statement of animals rights I believe that animals deserve to be treated humanly. They should be raised, housed, and killed with practices that minimize pain. Between the conservationists and restrictions on the hunting of game I believe that the basic rights of animals are being met.

tisha016 said...

Any type of abuse is wrong, whether it's done to a person or an animal. It's morally wrong to feel excitement or pleasure when experiencing an animal being slaughtered. Most animals are injected with hormones to increase their size and they are kept in a tight space not only so that the farmers have more room for other animals but because they don't want the animals meat to become firm.When you go to a restaurant you always judge the texture of the meat, just remember the tender the meat, the less freedom that animal received.When you go to the store you may want to buy meat that is organic but what most people don't know is that organic only means that the animal was not injected with hormones for the last 3-4 months before putting that meat on the market, but it was prior to the 3-4 months.Another harmful effect is the chemicals that are released when an animal feels its in danger or in pain. when animals are exposed to situations like this they release a chemical that goes to their muscles and when we eat it it causes us to get sick. Most people believe that its healthy to eat meat because it gives you energy but in the long run you age faster and feel more sluggish.I will admit that I was vegetarian for two years and it felt great but it was hard to obtain energy and protein from other foods plus it was expensive and that why I stopped but I still feel its something I will continue to do in the future.

Karina Saenz said...

People have to be fair to animals and not mistreat them. Just because they live in the wild and have different abilities than we do, doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve to have rights. They belong here just as much as us. So there is no reason for animals to be hurt and tortured by humans. Many people are meat consumers, but animals don’t have to be slaughtered as savagely as they are. Animals go through so much just so we can enjoy their meat or their fur, and still people are not aware of this. People should continue to fight for animal rights because they do deserve them.

Yaidelyn Alonso said...

Animal rights is a spiritual and ethic excercise for human beings. If we can't be bothered to extend the most basic ethical consideration to the treatment of animals then what does that really say about us? most of us usually dont think when it comes to what we are eating, its common human nature and well do anything and eat anything to servive. It's not a question of do we have to...but rather, why wouldn't we show a reasonable degree of respect for another living thing? The way the food industry in this country for example treats animals is horrific beyond belief. Just because we can, do we really have to inflict horrendous pain in the name of efficiency or profit? Ofcourse im not saying that we should become vegans or not eat meat, or for example saying "cows are human too" like PEDA says but treat them with as much respect and love as we would want for ourselves.

Nyrva Pierre Toussaint said...

I feel that animals do deserve rights. They have no real voice to speak up and say "stop killing us over nonsense," as years go by, they have been used for food, game, sports, coats, leather. I find that inhuman. I mean how we would feel if the roles had been reversed. I was watching the documentary from the fast food industry about how they get there meats and what the animals have to go through. Half way through the film vowed never to eat from McDonald’s or purchase items from Tyson’s. They had these freshly hatched chicks taking from their mothers to this factory where each of them was injected with huge needles in the head, where they are forced to grow triple times their size in a matter of weeks if not even months. They could hardly move because the weigh is too much of them and the ones that can’t stand up are removed and killed as if they were nothing. It tells you something when you can’t even hire decent people to do that they hire people outside of the country to tortures these poor creatures. I have nothing against eating meat but this is unjustified and just plain wrong. If they made laws to protect the animals, to at least take good care of them while they are on death role then maybe just maybe it won’t be as harsh.

Gustavo Corrales said...

I agree with Peter Singer and Tom Regan. In my perspective I think animals deserve rights as we all human do. Animals are life creatures that have feelings, they suffer from pain and they bleed as we do. But no body thinks about them when we are eating them, and use their skin just for luxury. I used to eat meat very often but nowadays I am vegetarian since I realized that the meat we all eat come from animals that suffer when they die or when some one is making money out of their lives. I love animals; back home I have a lot of animals because my family loves animals too and my parents have a lot of horses and I love how they are treated. I don’t like when a dog or a cat or other human being is mistreated. I know that person used to hate different kind of animals and just because they hate them they kill them, or when people just kill them as hobby, just because they love hunting. These people have to put themselves on the animal side and think that animals are the ones that shoot them just because they love to hunt people. I like this video called King Rat by Modest Mouse in which whales are the ones who fish human beings and you can see how whales cut human skin, their hands and feet like humans do to fishes and other sea animal. We should appreciate them more and think that animals are human beings as we are.

Mayra Vega said...

In my opinion, I do believe that animals desrve to have rights. If one human is capable of hurting an animal especially one that is defendless, one is also capable of hurting another human being. Both humans and animals must share this world so we should learn and live in it together. We are to respect them so in return they do the same towards us. Both humans and animals are similiar in certain ways. When were happy, sad, hungry, or mad we show some sort of emotion. We both eat, sleep, breathe, get sick, get check ups, and can conceive babies. Furthemore, I don't believe in animal cruelty. We wouldn't like to be tortured, abused, abundant, starved to death or put into a ring to fight. Also, if I eat in a restuarant knowing that their food includes an abused animal I will not return to eat there again. Yes I know that we use particular animals as a food source but they don't have to be mistreated and go through all the torture. If their was another way for us to survive with food I wouldnt like no animal to be killed, but unfortunately they're are our only source to survive. But, we don't eat every type of animal thats on this planet so therefore there's no reason for animals to be treated the way some of them get treated.

Christelle Debrosse said...

I'm not sure whether animals should have rights or not,but I don't think they should be mistreated for our own personal reasons. I eat meat and I've never really thought too much about where the meat I'm eating comes from.When I think about it what rights should animals have, the right to live? If they are given the choice of living then what are we humans left to live off of? I'm against animal cruelty but as for them having rights I'm not so sure.

abriana morisseau said...

I think animals deserve rights mainly because they cant speak for themselves. I believe most of the people in this world eats whatever meat their eating without even thinking about how the animal was treated before it was on their plate. I would catch myself from time to time thinking how was this animal treated before it was on my plate. I must admit that thinking like this will make you feel guilty because you are wondering how this animal was treated but at the end its on your plate, you're eating it and you're enjoying it. I believe that animals should be treated fairly and should not be injected with things such as hormones because it makes them unable to walk, its better for them to just grow naturally. In regards to their skin, i understand in some countries animal skin is what they use for clothes and to insolate their houses. These animals should not be skinned alive, and if someone were to watch a PETA video about companies skinning alive animals it would break your heart. With that being said i agree with Peter Singer's point of view.

Cristina Martinez said...

The difference between animals and humans is that humans are rational beings amongst having other specific abilities. I don't agree with animal cruelty what so ever. I think that people try to make their jobs easier by having the animals suffering instead. For instence, keeping too many chickens in an area too small and unsanitary in which they wouldn't normally be able to stay healthy in. Just as well, I don't agree with using animals for gambling, such as "cock fights" or dog fights. These people are making the animals suffer and even though some people beg to differ, but animals do feel pain as well. However, I am not with "animal rights", I think not only is the human mind far more advanced then the animal one but us humans were given molars for a reason, and it was to eat meat. I think of it as from a "man vs. wild" point of view. Humans need to fend for themselves too, so if eating animals is their main source of protein.. they deserve their rights to have it.

Ashley Piehl said...

Animals deserve as much rights as people do. The definition of abuse is to treat with cruelty and/or violence, which is commonly unacceptable behavior among the human race, so why should the circumstances be different when referring to another species of animal other than our own? Because yes, the human race is classified as animals as well.
From a young age, people are made to believe that animals do not have feelings like people do, implying that every part of the animal functions properly except the brain. They suffer when their babies are taken from them, feel pain when they are mistreated, and fear before they meet their deaths. People justify these facts by leading one to believe that animals are killed in a humane manner. How could murder ever be considered “ humane ”? And why it is appropriate to torture animals only if it is for the purpose of testing cosmetics or medical treatments for our own benefit?
As far as eating meat goes, I have been a vegetarian for seven years after reading an article similar to the one we are responding to now, and it has been for the better. Using meat from any animal is not natural, because contrary to popular belief, the human digestive system is not even designed for the digestion of animal products (which one could learn with simple research other than assumptions) Humans are herbivores, and our bodies have merely adapted to carnivorous ways.
Years ago, I will admit that it was necessary for human survival to kill animals for food, clothing and shelter, but we live in a new age where all of these things have been remade, making animal products obsolete and the abuse of animals completely cruel and unnecessary.

Christina Rivera said...

This is a tricky topic to discuss or even decide on, it’s a fifthly filthy situation. I feel like they shouldn’t have rights. But on the other hand I feel like humans have taken advantage of the fact that were higher than animals on the food chain. For example, why would we hunt them? Why go to their environment disrupting there peace? I’ll tell you why just for kicks, most people enjoy hunting and killing these poor animals. For instance, slaughter houses people would pay double the price to see these animals murdered gruesomely animals shouldn’t have rights but should be killed with more respect. How hard is it to kill an animal behind closed doors? A lot of people go vegetarian and vegan because they have witness these horrible acts of torture and inhumanly conduct over these poor creatures the society trys to cover up all the inhumanly conduct shown upon these poor creatures. Were not the highest on the food chain how would you feel if something was to torture you to death?

Christina Rivera said...

This is a tricky topic to discuss or even decide on, it’s a fifthly filthy situation. I feel like they shouldn’t have rights. But on the other hand I feel like humans have taken advantage of the fact that were higher than animals on the food chain. For example, why would we hunt them? Why go to their environment disrupting there peace? I’ll tell you why just for kicks, most people enjoy hunting and killing these poor animals. For instance, slaughter houses people would pay double the price to see these animals murdered gruesomely animals shouldn’t have rights but should be killed with more respect. How hard is it to kill an animal behind closed doors? A lot of people go vegetarian and vegan because they have witness these horrible acts of torture and inhumanly conduct over these poor creatures the society trys to cover up all the inhumanly conduct shown upon these poor creatures. Were not the highest on the food chain how would you feel if something was to torture you to death?