That’s the idea behind the thought experiment we’ll call ‘the alien invasion argument’, which supposes that an alien species smarter and more powerful than us lands here, sees that we’re exploiting and killing animals who are weaker and stupider than us, and then decides to follow our example by exploiting and killing the humans. One effective rhetorical tactic for animal advocates, then, is to make us imagine what it’s like to be the animals we exploit. The injustice they’re fighting is not human domination per se, but rather one significant aspect of it: our treatment of animals as resources.Ī major challenge for the animal advocates working to spread veganism – the abolition of using animals as resources – is that most of us have a speciesist prejudice in favour of humans that makes it difficult for us to empathize with nonhumans, and thus reluctant to give up the spoils of domination for tofu, pleather and animal liberation. Just as human rights movements organize to stop the most powerful people from oppressing the least powerful, the animal rights movement wants to stop the most powerful species from oppressing every other. Some animal rights advocates call this ‘human privilege’, and say it’s a privilege almost all of us gratuitously abuse. We’re born with a silver chainsaw in our hands, clasped firmly by our opposable thumbs. Being human means inheriting power over the environment and the rest of the animal kingdom. Plants, earth, minerals and other animals are the raw materials we use to make our homes, tools, medicines, clothing and meals. When it comes to manipulating the environment and other creatures so that the world better suits our desires, no species can match us. Both sides can, however, agree on one thing: as a whole, humankind is the most powerful animal force on the planet. ![]() Their most fervent opponents, animal rights activists, think that proclaiming innate human superiority is chauvinistic and naïve, countering that there are no special qualities that humans have that all other animals lack. SUBSCRIBE NOW Articles Why An Alien Invasion Is No Argument For Animal Rights Rhys Southan gives an unexpected response.Īdvocates of ‘human exceptionalism’ say that humans are the most important animals on the planet.
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