At 10:06 AM 1/10/99 -0600, Natasha Vita-More wrote:
>We now can afford to be vegetarian, and the foods produced these days for
>vegetarians are substantial and contain the necessary nutrients, we no
>longer need to hunt and kill animals for food. Regardless of meat eaters
>excuses that there are farms that breed animals for food and that is their
>purpose and justify this as necessary for human nutrition, I have
>difficulty in understanding the defense. The cow has nerve endings and
>feels pain. The cow also reproduces and cares for its young. The look of
>horror on the cows face when it is sent to the slaughter house is a vision
>I try not to draw up from my memory bank.
>
>The sport of killing animals for fun, not for food, does still occur and is
>legal, unless the animals is a protected species. This type of sport is so
>foreign to me that I am deeply saddened by this type of activity and
>represents a sub-human psychology in killing life just for fun.
IAN: Well stated! I see the extropian meme as inherently antithetical to death and acts of harm & aggression against sentient beings, with the awareness that there are inherently conflicts between human and nonhuman claims, but the goal is to zero-out harm to others.
Humans need to get space-born so that they can stop stepping on the little guys on Earth.
"The smallest minority on earth is the individual.
Those who deny individual rights cannot claim
to be defenders of minorities." Ayn Rand