I have a deep love for animals, much deeper than for people.

[xultar]

Over the past few years I've found that my love and tolerance for animals has increased and decreased for humans. As a matter of fact humans get on my nerves. I can watch violence on TeeV against humans but not on animals. For instance, I can't watch lions attack other animals, seals leave their young to die or sharks attack fish.

This fact about myself frightens me a little bit. When I hear a tragic story my first thought is of the well being of the animals involved not the humans.

Does that make me a bad person? Does my love for love for animals and lack of sensitivity for humans make me a weirdo?

[dolo amber]

1. No, your being a weirdo makes you a weirdo

I for one wouldn't have you any other way. ;)

And I'm right there with you, 100%. I could have written this post myself. :)

edited for Freeper spelling of 'your'. :eyes:

[RandomKoolzip]

2. In the outside world, yes.

In the context of DU, you'll fit right in.

[jpgray]

3. You were already a weirdo

:P

But no, you are what you are. I find that weird, myself, but I'm also weird, myself.

[KurtNYC]

4. This may have to do with your sense of "justice"

In other words, viewing animals as innocent and therefore incapable of deserving suffering. Whereas, humans are flawed, cruel creatures.

Just a thought.

[InvisibleTouch]

5. Don't be frightened, and don't feel weird.

I'm the same way. Well, actually I've always felt that way, it hasn't gotten more intense over the years. I've never felt any reason to apologize for that fact, and nor should you. I vastly prefer non-human animals to humans. Always have, always will.

Years ago I went to see "Interview with the Vampire" with a friend. He said afterwards that the only scene that bothered him was where the kid(s) were killed (I don't even remember if it was one, or more than one). The only scene that bothered me, was where the poodles were killed.

Anyway ... be happy with yourself, that you have a close connection to animals. Don't let anyone put you down for it, and definitely don't put yourself down for it. It's a positive attribute.

[xultar]

6. That is funny because I don't remember the scene with the kids

but I do remember him killing her dogs out by that tree.

[quisp]

7. Yes, your "lack of sensitivity for humans" is shameful...

I don't know if you are a weirdo or not. That's a judgement call I'm not willing to make.

But you lack of compassion for humans is appalling. It's the attitude you have that causes so much suffering in the world. You should get your priorties straight.

Beleive it or not people are more important than animals.

And you statement about being unable to watch animals attacking other animals indicates a disconnection from and denial of reality that should be of major concern to you.

I'm sorry to be blunt, but you asked.

[xultar]

8. Humans can take care of themselves. Animals can't because we've

jacked up the environment and taken away habitat and screwed with their natural animal instincts.

I also care for children. But once they get to be about 10 and shootin people I have issues.

I'm more than likely going to adopt a child hopefully from Africa. Raise him or her to love, respect, and protect animals. That will lead to love and compassion for all.

[quisp]

11. You say you care for children yet

you say that people get on your nerves...Children are just small people.

You say that teaching a child to love and respect animals will lead to love and compassion for all, but the logic is flawed. It will only lead to love and compassion for animals. You have to teach a child to love and respect people or you end up with 10 year olds shooting people.

I'm with you on protecting the environment, protecting and creating habitat for animals, but I hold to my assertion that people are more important than animals.

[hyphenate]

Albert Schweitzer, the greatest of humanitarians, said

"Until he extends his circle of compassion to ALL living things, man will not himself find peace."


Henry Beston said:
"The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth." ~Henry Beston, The Outermost House, 1928

Voltaire wrote:
"People must have renounced, it seems to me, all natural intelligence to dare to advance that animals are but animated machines.... It appears to me, besides, that can never have observed with attention the character of animals, not to have distinguished among them the different voices of need, of suffering, of joy, of pain, of love, of anger, and of all their affections. It would be very strange that they should express so well what they could not feel."


It is nothing but ignorance to say that man is above animals, because it is so obvious to many of us that animals are truly and really above us.

They kill only for need--they do not kill in the name of pleasure, of sadism, of pure delight at the plight of those smaller than ourselves. They do not make crucial judgements about people based on their outward appearance. They do not lie, they do not have selfishness, and they do not show two faces to the world. They have unconditional love, and they do nothing to harm another. They do not have conspiracies, they do not plot against others and they do not have spurious reasons to cheat, make falsehoods or trump others. They do not wage war against the innocent, nor do they hold grudges long after the treasons are over. They lick our faces, they purr in our ears and ease our pain and misery, without expecting anything but love in return.

How dare anyone try to make human beings out to be superior than any animal, as it is humankind that kills, lies, hates and tortures for reasons that animals will never understand or need to know.

Hate humans? I, too, have much disdain for humanity, and would gladly live among the beasts without further human contact only for the reason that I am appreciated as a living being by those who judge purely on the soul, the simple needs and the uniqueness of my character. Anyone who judges on more than these reasons is truly a traitor to humanity itself.

[Orsino]

37. Uh-huh. We are human animals, and are able to connect...

...most strongly with our own kind. I would suggest that something is wrong if you don't identify most closely with your own species.

I may know what you mean, though, at least in part. Animals that die at our hands without understanding what is happening, and there's something especially sad about that.

[hyphenate]

41. From a Nobel Prize winner:

"To a man whose mind is free there is something even more intolerable in the sufferings of animals than in the sufferings of man. For with the latter it is at least admitted that suffering is evil and that the man who causes it is a criminal. But thousands of animals are uselessly butchered every day without a shadow of remorse. If any man were to refer to it, he would be thought ridiculous. And that is the unpardonable crime."

~Romain Rolland, Nobel Prize 1915

[InvisibleTouch]

10. "People are more important than animals."

Says who? That might be your opinion, but it's just that, a personal opinion, not a statement of fact in any absolute universal sense. It's just that speciesistic attitude that's one of the things I despise about humans.

[quisp]

12. Oh I love that one!

Yes I am a specieist. HUMANS ROCK!!!

Ok, ok. You're right... It is my opinion.

Am I correct in assuming that you would run into a burning building to save a hamster but not a person? Most people would be of the opinion that they would risk their life to save the person, but not the hamster. You disagree?

I mean I love my dog, but I would not run into a burning house to save him. I would, however run into a burning building to save you.

[InvisibleTouch]

14. I would run into a burning building to save...

...someone I love, be that animal or human. If it's someone I don't know, be that animal or human, I guess it would depend on the situation, and it would probably be an action of pure reflex at the time. My impulse would be to help if there was a possibility of doing so, and I'd consider it criminal not to help if I could - but I'm far more likely to take a big risk, even a foolish risk, for someone I'm personally close to. Again, regardless of species. I don't consider a random human inherrently more important than a random non-human.

I would hope that you would save your dog (a member of your family, who loves and trusts you, and whom you have an obligation to protect) before you would save me, a stranger, whom you don't know, and to whom you owe nothing whatsoever.

Don't fall under the delusion that those of us who prefer animals to humans, want humans to suffer. Otherwise we'd hardly be here at DU. We simply prefer animals, and find a great deal to dislike in the human species. (If I may be so bold as to use "we" here. I shouldn't, of course, be speaking for anyone but myself.)

[xultar]

16. You are right., People who prefer animals don't want humans to suffer

absolutely!!!! You hit the nail on the head.

Often it is people who care for animals who have the most compassion for all things.

People DO get on my nerves. I don't want them to suffer. There is a big difference.

Thank you.

[quisp]

20. and don't you fall under the delusion...

that I ever said you or xultar want humans to suffer.

But you both have said that you are bother by depictions of animals suffering or dying but not of humans suffering or dying. I'm simply saying that I think humans, with all the capacity for evil and idiotacy cited here in this thread, are inherrently more important than animals, from dust mites through dolphins to bonobo chimps.

It is my humble opinion that xultar would not have started this thread, looking for reassurance, had she not had some foreboding sense that something was wrong with not being affected by human suffering while being affected by animal suffering.

[blindpig]

28. Humans are animals.

No more, no less. We should remember that and our relationship with other animals should be to do only what we need to in order to survive. That is not the case with "civilized" humans. We have lost the empathy or biophelia which is our birthright because we no longer feel ourselves to be part of the environment. This is unnatural for humans and leads to much pathological behavior. Such is our way parted from what is natural for humans we that question it when bits and pieces of it emerge from the subconcience.

As for the chimps and bonobos, they are so, so close to us that I expect that one day they will be transferred from genus Pan to genus Homo. They should be given the rights and considerations of any sentient species. Sure hope there's some left by then.

[quisp]

31. but would you want your daughter to marry a bonobo?

I'm just sayin'! But I can't be a speicieist. Some of my best friends are bonobos!

Are you saying our relationship with other animals should be to do only what we need to survive? Do you wash your sheets? If you do you're murdering, MURDERING millions of dust mites every time you do. Dust mites are animals and according to your logic they have the same right to live are you do.

Don't get me wrong. I consider myself an environmentalist and a love animals and all of that. I just think there is a difference between humans and animals, and because of that difference humans are more important.

[blindpig]

39. I'd be estatic.

Of course, I don't have children.:D I'm sure it could be worse. And think of the family get-togethers!

Seriously though, the dust mite example is a bit absurd. They will surely survive the worst that we do. Death is part of life, animals and plants must die in order to sustain our species. The trick is to respect these other lifeforms and to take no more than necessary like any other animal.

What is this difference that you percieve between us and the rest of the animals? Myself, I rejoice in being part of the kingdom of life.

[quisp]

40. heheh - good one. and it definately could be worse..

she might marry a human! ;-)

But I think people are misunderstanding what I'm saying. All I was trying to was answer xultar's question about an <personal opinion warning> overridding </personal opinion warning> love of animals and a "lack of sensitivity for humans".

I don't love humans and hate animals, and I understand that the dust mite example is absurd but I used to make a point. The point is if all animals are equal with none being "worth more" or "more important" than others, and killing any animal is wrong then we find ourselves in situation where we can't do anything. I'm simply saying that I think humans are worth more than animals.

But if you read the thread a lot of posters are of the opinion that human suffering doesn't bother them, but animal suffering, especially caused by humans to terrible! I, for one, am opposed to ALL suffering, but I'm more concerned with trying to prevent human suffering.

[Orsino]

38. They are.

It's the human animals that are close to remaking/destroying the world with their out-of-control breeding and profligate burning of fossil fuels. That alone makes them the most important.

[alarimer]

18. People basically suck

People are NOT more important. They are simply other animals. Albeit ones who are in the process of destroying the planet. Personally I am hoping for a giant asteroid to hit the earth in a few years that will do to us what the last one did to the dinosaurs. Couldn't happen to a more deserving species.

Of course we are currently overrun by stupid drunken college assholes on spring break which no doubt has some bearing on my current opinion. You would not believe the trash they leave behind. And there have been a number of stabbings and shootings by the wonderful people on spring break. I can't wait until they leave. I am tired of nearly being run off the road by stupid out-of-towners.

[quisp]

22. WOW - That's some pretzel logic...

so let me get this straight. You don't like that humans are destroying the planet, so you want an asteroid to destroy the planet.

ok...

hmmm...

is it that humans aren't destroying the planet fast enough for you?

[DainBramaged]

32. If a person is responsible for the death or suffering of many

would he/she be more important than an animal who may kill to survive not for pleasure?

I do not like to see my fellow man suffer, but animals suffering at the hands of man makes me even angrier than sitting on a mouse trap.

Is that a clear picture, or is man still important and animals aren't?

(Just a general question, not intended for anyone in particular, I also inserted this in the wrong place, sorry)

[quisp]

33. You're mistaken if you think animals don't kill for pleasure...

my cat, Domino, kills for pleasure every chance he gets. There are plenty of animals that kill for pleasure or sport or whatever you want to call it.

I hate to nitpick but you're adding conditions that weren't in the original premise of the thread.

But, yes, I believe that criminals should be afforded HUMAN rights. I don't think a dog, no matter how loyal or loving, should be afforded human rights.

And I never said animals aren't important. They most definately are. I'm simply saying people are more important and that this easy contempt some hold for humans is a (one of many) source of human suffering.

[DainBramaged]

34. (sigh) You are nitpicking, and conditions here are variable always

This isn't a structured debate. I never said an animal should be afforded human rights, you have completely misread my comment. What I stated was simple. And you don't agree. Fine.

If I caught someone mistreating an animal(s) out of pure sadistic pleasure or neglect, I'd probably leave nothing for them to mop up when I was done. If I caught a human treating a child like an animal, the same would apply. And if I had to confront a person who mistreated humans causing their death or (fill in the blank) they would receive no mercy from me.

That's the way I feel

You may rationalize further, but I am not interested in anyone's opinion but my own (under these circumstances).

Have a nice day.

[quisp]

35. That's why I said I hate to nitpick but I still answered your question!

"I am not interested in anyone's opinion but my own (under these circumstances)."

wowee

let's see, I was on a board the other day where that was the prevailing opinion... what was it... oh, yeah!

www.freerepublic.com

they feel the same way over there.

[DainBramaged]

36. You are misreading this completely, but that is your option

[RebelOne]

9. No, you are definitely not a wierdo.

You expressed my feelings also. I much prefer animals to people. I can watch humans being cruelly treated or killed in a movie and I don't get upset, but when it is an animal, I cry.

[Polly Hennessey]

13. Love of Animals

No, you are not weird. I can watch adult humans being killed, stomped, etc., but when it comes to animals I can not watch (same goes for young children). I won't even watch movies about animals because of the possibility of something bad happening. I think it boils down to our sense of justice and the pain of seeing the innocent or vulnerable being hurt. It just seems to me that human adults have the capability to defend themselves in ways that animals and children can not. I don't apologize for it and neither should you.

[Blue_Tires]

15. lol...who doesn't like puppydogs and kittycats?

i certainly like them better than their human counterparts (no offense to those here)

[Deja Q]

17. You married/partnered/whatevered?

[xultar]

19. Nope. I know what you're going to say. But man I see so many

relationships turn people ito the BIGGEST ASSHOLES. With that said I don't think it will necessarily change my impression of people. It's not like I don't have a mom and dad that I love. I also have a brother, a sister-in-law, nieces and a nephew not to mention a great extended family overall, but they get on my nerves. Just like the people in the grocery store who don't control their crazy ass kids get on my nerves.

[pitohui]

21. you are what you are

sounds like some animals get on your nerves also and only the favored animals are tolerated

am i a mean bad person because i have observed mama lion finish off a zebra and drag it under cover for her cubs? i think not, i feel i have just been allowed an intimate peak into their lives that most humans never see

some people are super sensitive or have different sensitivites, we had a guy on one of our tours who enjoyed watching the hunt but once the cat actually started to feed, he had to put his head down

yet the purpose of the kill is for food

you are not bad, you are just sensitive abt such things and no harm done

in the end who cares what you watch on teevee, it is what you do w. your life that matters, if working w. people makes you crowded and tense (as it does me) then working w. animals to help them may be your right path

[schmuls]

23. Whew, I've thought exactly the same thing about myself, in a situation

involving humans and animals. I've even remarked to whoever is nearby "I'm not worried about the people, but i hope no animals were hurt. This is probably because I have been hurt by humans in my life, but no animal has deliberately hurt me.

[vikegirl]

24. You're not alone.

I started to realize the same thing about myself when Katrina hit. I gave heavily to Noah's Wish, the Humane Society and the ASPCA, but nothing to the "people" oriented charities. So I must be a "weirdo" too! :o :)

[xultar]

26. I donated to an international organisation for animals for the Tsunami.

I think that is when I really realised my switch. Especially when I heard some animals stayed with their owners and some animals tried to warn their owners.

[Strong Atheist]

25. As long as you are not in a life/death position of power over

people, then there is no harm, though it sounds sorta.....


.... anti-social.... just sayin', and that comes from an extreme introvert....


BTW, thanks for the permission on that joke pic I posted about a month and a half ago....

[Arugula Latte]

27. I know what you mean.

I couldn't take my kids to see "Eight Below" because the sled dogs get left in Antartica. Watching animals suffer just about drives me insane. Sometimes I torture myself by watching that Animal Cops show on animal planet. :scared:

The thing is, I want only good things for all animals. They are completely innocent. There are many people I love and think are great and want good things for. On the other hand, there are millions that disgust me to no end (mostly Republican rightwing Christians in this nation). I want nothing but very bad things for them. I do.

[Benfea]

29. I think that's really messed up.

But I won't say anything beyond that, because doing so would be really mean.

[KFC]

30. I love it when animals kill humans

It is just so cute