Angry_squirrel said:
That's an interesting viewpoint. Purely out of interest, where do you draw the line? When does a creatures life gain value to you? There is a gorrila that can speak in sign language, and communicate well with a team of scientists, does that life have value? What if - hypothetically speaking - we met aliens of equal intelligence to us. Does their life have worth?
A creature's life never has as much value as a member of my own species (excluding horrible humans). Even if an alien race far smarter than us showed up, I'd still stick with my own species. Also, I believe that gorilla could only learn 2000 words, I think it had the intelligence of a 3 year old human or something like that, so not quite on the same level as a sentient alien race or adult human. That being said, I won't kill a creature for no reason, it either has to be attacking me or needed for my comfort or survival.
I'm a strict vegetarian, and the only animal products I buy are free range. But that's not the point. Animals are bred to be eaten, so you could argue that if they weren't going to be eaten, they wouldn't even be alive in the first place. There's nothing wrong with eating meat.
That's good of you, at least you aren't preachy about it, quite the breath of fresh air.
You can still eat meat while thinking an animals life has value. Hell, I think most people do. This poll certainly suggests so too. Anyway, we're not talking about just any animal. We're talking about your pet. An animal you love and care for.
I suppose I just don't see the plus of owning an animal, I guess. I mean I like dogs and pigs are rather cute, but owning an animal that just rings up huge vet bills, keeps me awake/wakes me up, eats, and craps/pisses in my house doesn't have much appeal to me. Sure it might recognize and react positively to the hand that feeds and pets it, but that's likely all you are to the simplistic mind of the animal. Replaceable and forgotten in a matter of months, if that.
No, but you're supposedly doing it because the stranger's life has more value than that of the animal, presumably because the stranger dying will have a greater negative impact on the world than the animal dying (correct me if I'm wrong here, that's the impression I got). The reason I used that parallel is because a family member dying will likely have less negative impact on the world than someone who does great things, but you'd save the family member anyway.
For me, it's the simple fact that in order of importance, human > animal until proven otherwise. It's not about how it'll affect the world. I'm not really assigning prices to life forms based off of impact on the world or intelligence, it's just in a heat of the moment situation, if you see your pet and a human being in danger, you should hopefully assist the person first, then the animal, if time permits.
That's ridiculous. Of course I'd save the life of my brother or mother, or any other family member, over my dog.
Question, how likely is it that the stranger drowning has no family, no friends, and no one who will be torn up by his death for years, if not decades? Could you live with letting him die for your
pet? Even if all he did was work at McDonalds and try to scrounge a living for his girlfriend and baby son. Does that make his life less valuable than your pet? The fact that some people not only considered it, but decided they would is crazy. The fact that they are a majority here scares me.
And if it was a dog I didn't know and a stranger I didn't know drowning, I'd save the stranger. But it's not, it's my dog, to whom I'm attached to.
I'm really confused by why you're having so much trouble getting this. My dog, is an animal, a sentient creature with a consciousness, that I've grown close too over my life. Just as you might with a friend. Only with an animal instead. The fact that a friend is a human and my pet is an animal really makes no difference. This isn't just me either, the vast majority of pet owners feel this way.
Order of importance. I still believe that a fundamental part of being human is that first priority should be our own kind until such a time that it's proven that the human cannot coexist peacefully with other humans. Regardless of the amount of attachment, that should be a secondary way to determine whom to save. The fact that anyone would place ANY animal life over a human bothers me immensely.
