SPECIESISM

Instead of re-designing the ideology which is based on speciesism the government redesign the rules to fit the ideology hence the P.R. campaign called the 3'R's (reduction, refinement, replacement). This is about gradually increasing the use of non-animal alternatives and reducing animal methods. But where is the logic in refining something that does not work in the first place. To illustrate this point if you pull the toilet chain and find that it does not make the bathroom light turn on - would you then spend years trying to redesign the flush handle or would you instead look for a light switch? Most of us with any sense would do the latter, but that of course excludes government, big business and scientists. Vivisection simply does not work and it would be wise of us to take note of the ancient tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians which says: "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse the best strategy is to dismount."

But the government think that if they improve their riding skills and only ride the dead horse on the more 'pressing' occasions then all will be well! It would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that this pointless strategy means that companies like Proctor and Gamble can continue to insert two inch needles directly into the windpipes of fully conscious guinea pigs to apply detergent enzymes. The speciesism we practice is discrimination on a huge scale and is no more acceptable than racism, sexism or homophobia.

Under the prevailing ideology of speciesism we should have no problem with an alien race coming down to earth if they appeared to be of superior intelligence to us then we should of course be perfectly happy and willing to hand over our children to them to experiment on; and why of course shouldn't they cook us for dinner? We should be quite happy for them to stick clamps on a woman's nipples while sending her children off to the slaughterhouse and then milk her till she is sore and swollen. And we should be ever so grateful to them if they allow us some fresh air and label us 'free-range' before they slaughter us. Wouldn't the aliens be intrinsically more entitled to rights than us? By our logic 'alien rights' should in fact make human rights something that only crazy 'terrorists' would campaign for.

Speciesism causes us to treat animals as commodities, but they are not commodities, they are 'somebodies' and their 'rights' should be fully protected under the law. The argument is often used that you cannot give animals 'rights' like humans since you cannot give them 'responsibilities' but children have rights without responsibilities so this should not be a problem.