More Songs About Jazz and Dogs
Today is Tuesday, 5 January 2009.
Dear dog lover:
To what degree cats, dogs, horses, etc. were sentient being before the interaction of domestication by humans, I doubt we’ll ever be able to recover. However, they have been very sentient beings since that point. They may not have the same set of intellectual and emotional skills as adult humans, but then, neither do human children. I don’t believe this fact entitles one to judge either domesticated animal companions or human children as inferior, or entitled to fewer rights and protections.
I don’t intend to elevate dogs above half the USA/USE population: I believe they should be on the same level as befits all sentient beings.
As to “these-guys-are-not-fit-to-breath-air”, one might ponder a paraphrase from the Gospels: Whoever does evil to the least, it would be better for them if great millstones were hung round their necks and they were thrown into the depths of the sea. (Mark 9.42) I certainly don’t approve of capital punishment, but the “guys” I reference are all mass murderers, and should all spend/have spent life without parole.
As to La_Libertine knowing/not knowing half the USA/USE population: I believe that the vast majority of those who voted for Nixon, etc. knew the values they espoused, one of which was mass killing in pursuit of American power and profit. One need not know each of those voters individually to recognize that their votes made them, in that particular action, ethically inferior to dogs, not one of whom, I believe, ever voted for mass killing. (Note: I don’t contend those voters were ethically inferior to dogs in all their actions, only in that one.)
Sincere thanks for your thoughtfulness and comments. Please continue to “tear me a new one” anytime you think I deserve same. This is one of the paths by which knowledge is formed.
HH
Dear dog lover:
To what degree cats, dogs, horses, etc. were sentient being before the interaction of domestication by humans, I doubt we’ll ever be able to recover. However, they have been very sentient beings since that point. They may not have the same set of intellectual and emotional skills as adult humans, but then, neither do human children. I don’t believe this fact entitles one to judge either domesticated animal companions or human children as inferior, or entitled to fewer rights and protections.
I don’t intend to elevate dogs above half the USA/USE population: I believe they should be on the same level as befits all sentient beings.
As to “these-guys-are-not-fit-to-breath-air”, one might ponder a paraphrase from the Gospels: Whoever does evil to the least, it would be better for them if great millstones were hung round their necks and they were thrown into the depths of the sea. (Mark 9.42) I certainly don’t approve of capital punishment, but the “guys” I reference are all mass murderers, and should all spend/have spent life without parole.
As to La_Libertine knowing/not knowing half the USA/USE population: I believe that the vast majority of those who voted for Nixon, etc. knew the values they espoused, one of which was mass killing in pursuit of American power and profit. One need not know each of those voters individually to recognize that their votes made them, in that particular action, ethically inferior to dogs, not one of whom, I believe, ever voted for mass killing. (Note: I don’t contend those voters were ethically inferior to dogs in all their actions, only in that one.)
Sincere thanks for your thoughtfulness and comments. Please continue to “tear me a new one” anytime you think I deserve same. This is one of the paths by which knowledge is formed.
HH
posted by HH at 10:09 AM
3 Comments:
On the subject of dogs and ethics, I am trying to recall the name of the person who cautioned me that before I became to self-congratulatory about my morality as measured by the love and fidelity bestowed upon me by my canine companion, that any number of human doers of great evil shared a similar gift bestowed upon them by their canine companions.
Hitler is reportedly quoted as having said (in poor translation perhaps) "Now that I know men, I prefer dogs."
I would not consider the ethical relationship between dogs and humans to be anthropomorphically simple.
A little more tedium on the subject. Some, if not all native american worldviews held that humans were cursed with reason rather than being blessed by it. An analogous sentiment perhaps to the biblical tree of knowledge tale.
If the remainder of the animal world (including dogs) do not share this curse, the curious relationship between humans and dogs may provide us with food for non-thought.
*Yawn*
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