Of Humans and (Other) Animals

When I first heard about the idea of giving animals the same rights as human beings, I found it difficult to compare the two. I believed that animals should not be treated cruelly; however, I never thought of them as "on par" with humans. As Kohak states, we live in a world of hypocrisy and denial - we suppress the abuse being done to animals to such a degree that we rarely acknowledge the damage being done. After reading Kohak's section "Of Humans and (Other) Animals," I found that I agreed with giving animals human rights more than I thought I would. Kohak states that "[animals] have their own world and life, their social order, their understanding and feelings, they know pain and joy and a whole range of feelings which were used to assigning only to humans" (17). When animals are decribed as living similarly to humans and having communities, emotions and worlds of their own, it is hard to imagine abusing them and depriving them of rights. Simply because they cannot communicate the same way that humans do and do not live exactly as humans live is not a valid reason to demean the value of animals. It is a hard-hitting reality that we humans are not the center of the world, but rather "one animal species among many" (17). Despite the fact that all animal species are so different (including different cultures of humans), it is important to have respect for the individual worlds and lives that each species engages in. If we continue to disregard animal rights, we are endangering ourselves as well as the whole world. If we do not make room for other species, we are killing valuable species whose natural purpose is important to the health of the world. Now that we have a more modern and, dare I say, "enlightened" understanding of the need for coexistence and mutual respect, it is very important to apply these lessons to our lives and end imperialistic attitudes as well as hypocritical attitudes. One of the major things that is needed is to educate people on respect and on how animals are being harmed so that we can spread understanding and compassion towards other species.