The Spectacle
07-21-2005, 02:18 AM
In our society, we consider money the primary driving force in our lives. It provides us the means to purchase all the human necessities (food, clothing, shelter) that we need to function from day to day. In reality, there's few things in the world that money can't buy and even then those particular items of affection can be disputed whether they are "worth" something of monetary value. Take for example; happiness. Can money buy happiness? It is a common saying the happiness cannot be bought or found, only experienced. I say that is complete and utter 4 legged expelled poo poo. If Bill Gates sent me a check in the mail for a cool million dollars, I think I'd be happy. Yes, Bill Gates would have bought my happiness. But what can't money buy? Love? Sex? Fulfillment? I say yes to all those. But there is one thing I believe money can't buy. Not exactly can't...rather shouldn't be able to buy, another living being. To get straight to the point, I don't believe it to be morally right to be able to buy another living being such as a cat or dog to be taken home as "property".
There are many, many ways that you can sit and contradict that belief such as..."what about when you buy food, isn’t that the same as buying another animal?" Yea, I’m sure someone had to pay to kill for the cow that got slaughtered in order to get that scrumptious steak that you love eating at Outback on the weekend while you’re throwing back a couple of beers over the latest sports talk or hot babe you met @ the bar last night. Well buying something that is already dead to eat is a little different then buying it and keeping it alive under the pretense that it "belongs" to you. We as human beings can't help but eat other living, lesser forms of life. That is the circle of life that defines this planet as a whole, without which there is utter chaos. Being at the top of the food chain grants us the options to capture and exploit these “lesser” beings for the purpose of feeding ourselves with little fear of the repercussions. So have we as humans gotten so full of ourselves that we think just because we have the option to kill another living being we also have the option to own another as well? I do not agree with this at all. Please do not misconstrue this to mean I do not like pets, because that is far from the truth. I love small dogs in particular and hope to have one of my own one day. Will I pay for it? I hope not. Hopefully I'll get to save one from the pound and keep him as a companion in this crazy journey we call life. It just hurts me a little when I hear people talk about "thoroughbreds" and "purebreds" and how one type of dog is worth more then another because of its bloodline. Remind you of any scenarios in human history? I dunno...the African American slave trade maybe? How can you honestly sit back and put a value on another living being like its some type of car. Does the dog come with a 1 year warranty as well? If it shits on the carpet one too many times can I take it back? Come on…that just wrong. On top of that, not only do we buy animals and “own” them like real estate, we even take some of the more exotic ones out of their natural environment and cage them up so we can display them like trophies for all the world to see. How pissed would you be if you were a bird that was raised in a cage? A bird…they’re supposed to fly! But in the case of the parrot, we keep the poor bastards locked away in a 2x2 prison cell with the hopes of being able to show our family and friends Polly’s feeble attempt at mastering the English language. How asinine. I could go on and on but I believe you see my point.
In closing I would like you to understand that I do not will not ever judge you or anyone like you that has ever purchased an animal at some point. Just because I don’t agree with it doesn’t make it wrong. I also am fully aware that there are flaws in my logic that I probably contradict themselves but likewise, there is no such thing as perfect logic. I would hope that you’ve taken my thoughts here as a way to think about life in a different sense as this type of rationale can be applied to many archetypes in human history. We should never get so full of ourselves to believe we rule all that we survey simply because we are at the top of the food chain…because in the game of life, arrogance will not let you pass go and certainly not collect $200.
- The Spectacle
There are many, many ways that you can sit and contradict that belief such as..."what about when you buy food, isn’t that the same as buying another animal?" Yea, I’m sure someone had to pay to kill for the cow that got slaughtered in order to get that scrumptious steak that you love eating at Outback on the weekend while you’re throwing back a couple of beers over the latest sports talk or hot babe you met @ the bar last night. Well buying something that is already dead to eat is a little different then buying it and keeping it alive under the pretense that it "belongs" to you. We as human beings can't help but eat other living, lesser forms of life. That is the circle of life that defines this planet as a whole, without which there is utter chaos. Being at the top of the food chain grants us the options to capture and exploit these “lesser” beings for the purpose of feeding ourselves with little fear of the repercussions. So have we as humans gotten so full of ourselves that we think just because we have the option to kill another living being we also have the option to own another as well? I do not agree with this at all. Please do not misconstrue this to mean I do not like pets, because that is far from the truth. I love small dogs in particular and hope to have one of my own one day. Will I pay for it? I hope not. Hopefully I'll get to save one from the pound and keep him as a companion in this crazy journey we call life. It just hurts me a little when I hear people talk about "thoroughbreds" and "purebreds" and how one type of dog is worth more then another because of its bloodline. Remind you of any scenarios in human history? I dunno...the African American slave trade maybe? How can you honestly sit back and put a value on another living being like its some type of car. Does the dog come with a 1 year warranty as well? If it shits on the carpet one too many times can I take it back? Come on…that just wrong. On top of that, not only do we buy animals and “own” them like real estate, we even take some of the more exotic ones out of their natural environment and cage them up so we can display them like trophies for all the world to see. How pissed would you be if you were a bird that was raised in a cage? A bird…they’re supposed to fly! But in the case of the parrot, we keep the poor bastards locked away in a 2x2 prison cell with the hopes of being able to show our family and friends Polly’s feeble attempt at mastering the English language. How asinine. I could go on and on but I believe you see my point.
In closing I would like you to understand that I do not will not ever judge you or anyone like you that has ever purchased an animal at some point. Just because I don’t agree with it doesn’t make it wrong. I also am fully aware that there are flaws in my logic that I probably contradict themselves but likewise, there is no such thing as perfect logic. I would hope that you’ve taken my thoughts here as a way to think about life in a different sense as this type of rationale can be applied to many archetypes in human history. We should never get so full of ourselves to believe we rule all that we survey simply because we are at the top of the food chain…because in the game of life, arrogance will not let you pass go and certainly not collect $200.
- The Spectacle