alt Hacker News> Well, how can I argue with someone who knows what I cannot know?
Because when you've already closed yourself off to any other possible conclusion, dismissing known evidence and preemptively dismissing unknown evidence, you've made it clear you're speaking dogma, not knowledge. A decision you've made, not a truth.
> And I am at peace because I'm serving humanity by teaching the (mostly unaccepted) view that we should be choosing cooperative compassion instead of competitive callousness.
If that was all it seemed like you were doing here, that'd be great. I actually spend much time doing the same. In fact, I view this very topic as part of that mission: to challenge the idea that these animals so many view as nearly alien in their experience of life might very well share more in common with our experience than we give credit to.
What we share with the animals is our tendency to make packs and fight for dominance between and within them. For humans, with our superior intellects, that simply wreaks destruction and misery across our beloved planet.
We should be taking care of this planet, not fighting for supremecy, which, as a race, we have already won.
Animals are not alien, they're part of the design for our happiness. We are not to treat them cruelly, because that is bad for our soul. We are to become consumed with love, but we must recognize our unique place on this Earth.
I have been friends with a dog who could not contain herself when I reappeared after a year away. I had let her run free in a local park when the snow had shut everything down. We jogged over and I let her go on the trails. What a magnificent day! She was a very good girl (whippit & golden mix).
And I held a doberman dog-friend of mine's paw when I took him to the vet when the cancer got to be too much for him. It was an exceptional morning for his last trot. He had been a vegetarian until the last six months of his life, and no dog has ever enjoyed a bowl of regular Alpo more than ol' Max, and his gas was a testament to his lifetime of eating against his body's nature. Whew!
It would be a lie if I acted like I didn't know the truth, or couched it in anything other than just that. The problem is that the world is mired in moral confusion, not understanding the nature of reality, but the problem is not mine, it's that of the willfully ignorant.
We love you. You have closed yourself off from the truth. The evidence for this statement is that no one can make a cogent argument against what I say here. Not a single one, so they ad hominem, which makes me say, in the spirit of the moment, "checkmate." (WCC is happening as I type this.)
Good morning, friend. Read from my comment history, because I have put selfless effort into my comments. Animals are not "alien", they are our cousins, but we are more, and we must use our consciences, minds, and free wills to be better than the animals, for each other, for them, and for the Earth, herself. Peace be with you.