The sign above reminded me of a recent twitter comment by an irascible Canadian sportscaster to the effect that he "Loves animals, hates people". It was offered as a critique to my recent post about Michael Vick and what I described as the "mirage" of free will: http://www.atheistmissionary.com/2009/07/michael-vick-determinism-and-mirage-of.html
While I would never say that I hate people, there is plenty about humanity (and its cruelty to both animals and itself) that I deplore. I deplore the fact that religions around the world have practiced animal sacrifice for millennia. I also deplore the concept of human exceptionalism (i.e. the concept that human beings have a special status in nature because of our unique abilities) and the speciesism inherent in the Bible. See Genesis 1:26 (KJV): "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
This is why I hope that there's an animal somewhere that nobody has ever seen. And I hope nobody ever sees it. Amen.
I am always bewildered at the incidents that occur pretty much every year at some zoo where an idiot puts his or hand into the cage and gets mauled. Everyone seems rather shocked. Exactly what did you think would happen? That the animal would sit down for tea and biscuits with the friendly intruder?
ReplyDeleteThe shame is that some of those animals who attack in those circumstances end up getting punished or even killed for doing exactly what nature intended them to do.
I imagine you've read Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael -- fabulous reinterpretation of Genesis. The Cain vs. Abel story finally made sense to me after reading it. And Quinn's analysis of the whole "crown of creation" theology is a body blow to the bible.
ReplyDelete