Miami Vegan Blog

I just had a conversation with someone that I consider very intelligent. HOWEVER! He said, "Animals were put on this Earth to serve mankind." WHAT!

This is how the rest of the debate went:

HIM: "Humans can do many things that animals can't do."

ME: "Animals can do what they need to do."

HIM: "Yes, but an animal can't build a building."

ME: "If an ant was our size, he could pick up this building."

HIM: "We have dominion over animals."

ME: "What does that mean, exactly?"

HIM: "We are the superior species. All animals answer to us. They are here for our benefit."

ME: "We learned to fly, swim, build, hunt, travel, colonize and adapt from animals."

HIM: "Yes, but animals cannot learn things from us."

ME: "Humans teach animals things all the time. Usually for entertainment purposes."

HIM: "Yes, but anything an animal can do we can do."

ME: "Wrong! Elephants can send a vibrational signal through the ground that can be felt and understood by other elephants 100 miles away. Can we do that?"

HIM: "Yes, through the phone."

ME: "Certain starfish can instantaneously clone themselves in the presence of danger."

HIM: "So."

ME: "Certain frogs can become female if their population is predominately male."

HIM: "So."

ME: "I give up."

This is the kind of conversation I have with MY FATHER on a daily basis. Tiring but fun... :-X

Labels: animals, egocentricity, evolution, flawed thinking, humans, mankind, philosophy, superiority, vegan, veganism