Tolerance has just reached a whole new level.
http://bit.ly/5uvpJU
Let me repost the first sentence in this piece by The Times:
“Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”.”
In short, this article states that there is a movement in the scientific underground that hopes to qualify dolphins as having equal moral standing with humans, because they are almost as smart as humans.
Almost.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love dolphins. My room is plagued with pictures of those blubbery mammals. They are incredibly smart and beautiful creatures.
But isn’t it just a little bit arrogant to suggest that dolphins are just “persons” who are a little different? It’s as if these scientists don’t respect being a dolphin as much as being a human.
But wait, it’s okay, because by including dolphins under the umbrella of individualism, i.e., the omnipotent human, we are ending any and all discrimination that might incur because they are individuals too, and they deserve their rights as every person should.
That previous statement makes me sound like a guy who goes dolphin-hunting every weekend. Actually, I save my crossbow for Earth Day only.
But here are the facts: by eliminating the distinction between dolphins and humans, these scientists are not practicing “tolerance” - they are destroying the uniqueness of the species itself! And once one animal species gets its rights as a person, then EVERY animal species will soon ask for its rights, and the idea of species as a whole will be gone. Soon we’ll be able to marry dolphins, and those who oppose the sentiment are dolphinphobes.
Of course, that’s very extreme. But then again, don’t go calling dolphins “persons” if your intention is not equal rights for all, but rather species domination.
This is also one of those instances where the reporting party makes its subject at hand sound like the absolute most important issue concerning humanity at the present moment. If dolphin-hunting were as conventional and fun-giving as baseball, and mangled dolphin torsos were being left on beaches everywhere, then yeah, that would be a problem. But these animal rights activists insist that normal-minded people are killing dolphins left and right, and that’s why they need these rights.
Well, let me be the first to tell you - normal minded people don’t go around killing people all the time. The problem is not what happens after the fact, but what you can do to prevent the fact from happening in the first place.
Which means that it’s not about every creature having rights, but rather, what we need to do to eliminate the motivation behind doing things that people make up excuses to justify, like killing.
This is the point when people would yell, “But that’s impossible!”
Well, mister, then maybe you’re the reason why there’s a problem.
—Bill
