Poor Animals Mar. 8, 2006
I have been hearing about the U.S. military plans to develop neural controllers to implant into sharks’ brains. To exploit their stealth and senses… to spy on enemies and plant delicate devices (mines) in even better places! This is nothing amazing to me, but it is disgusting.
See: Weaponizing the Shark and Other Pentagon Dreams - Shark and Awe
Recently I watched an old Degrassi episode with my husband which sparked a discussion between us about animal testing. The plot of the show was that a girl was planning to write about animal rights in the school newspaper and encourage students to boycott a local cosmetics company. A friend of hers later confronted her, announcing that she will not work for the newspaper any longer, since her father works for the cosmetic company and encouraging the boycott was going to hurt her family. Another friend reminded the first girl that there are two sides to every story — some tests on animals have yielded important discoveries and advances in human healthcare, for instance.
The first girl wondered, “Is it worth it to test our chemicals/products on animals if humans will benefit from the outcome?” My husband thought that if the testing was for good (for health/humanity reasons) then testing might be justified. I, of course, being the radical animal-rights girl, disagreed. I think there is no justification for it. I believe that until we can ask the animals for their permission to test on them, we should not do it. I think that most of the “ends” these people are achieving are not justified by the “means.”
There must be some humans willing to sacrifice themselves (their sight or hearing, their limbs, their sanity, their lives) for the greater good. No?
