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SPECIESISM, by Joan Dunayer, Part Deux

Animal Person

I realize that in writing about "old speciesism" I failed to define this term that Dunayer uses. I think of "old speciesism" as analogous to racism and sexism in that it is exploitation based on species. The advocacy component of old speciesism isn't the campaign to end that exploitation, however.

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On SPECIESISM, by Joan Dunayer

Animal Person

I finally read SPECIESISM , by Joan Dunayer, which was published a couple of years after ANIMAL EQUALITY , which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. environmentalists" would have to value the life of an Atlantic salmon more than the life of a human because, in environmental terms, there are too few Atlantic salmons and far too many humans.

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On Animal Abuse Registries and Anthropolatry

Animal Person

The outcome: "worship of human beings." What a fitting addition to discussions about speciesism! You don't hear much about it as a religious practice but it's probably what aliens would conclude about us after a stroll past department store windows!

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On the Banning of Eating Cats and Dogs in China

Animal Person

It seems like the answer to most questions/responses to most issues is one of these: Speciesism. Yes, it is hypocritical (speciesism), but who said that we either protect humans or animals? It's just another excuse people have concocted because they like the taste of cow/pig/chicken/fish flesh. Where do people get that idea?

China 100
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Steve Best on The Left's Ignorance of Cognitive Ethology

Animal Person

But " Minding the Animals: Ethology and the Obsolescence of Left Humanism " is a great look back at how we humans have managed to always find a way to consider ourselves unique, despite what the reality of the nonhuman world tells us. Here are some of my favorite passages. [S]ince

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On Food for the Soul

Animal Person

His passion and compassion for humans is immense, but he appears to have some kind of mental block with nonhuman animals. I suppose speciesism/human exceptionalism is at the heart of the matter. He just doesn't believe that other beings lives might have a purpose all their own that is entirely unrelated to humans.

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On Peaceable Kingdom, Part Deux

Animal Person

But the message remains the same, and it's the only such message available in film to my knowledge (and please let me know of any others): there's simply no way to kindly, politely, "humanely" take someone's life when you don't need to. Perhaps the best feature of the film is the various voices telling a similar story. For all of us.