Human Domination
Humans have changed nature in many ways since their existence on the earth. Some of these changes were good, but many were not. People have made the world easier for themselves to live in, but harder for other animals.
In “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight” by Ursula Le Guin, the main theme was the domination of the world by the human race. Gal experienced firsthand how the animals lived before the humans took over. Chickadee explained to her “When we lived together it was all one place. But now the new people (humans) live apart. They weigh down on our place, they press on it, draw it, suck it, eat it, eat holes in it, crowd it out…” (Le Guin 43) Myra also saw how humans had forced the animals into isolation. She saw the wickedness of human nature when the farmers shot at Coyote on sight, and then set a trap to poison her.
Since the Neolithic Revolution, humans have domesticated animals. The positive effects of this are that the animals are fed and kept clean. Despite this, the animals must sacrifice their freedom as wild creatures. For example, cows were kept and bred to provide milk, food, and clothing. Chickens must live in small coops and lay eggs; only to have their babies stolen from them and cooked for breakfast. Horses are forced to bare a human’s weight on their backs, and carry the human where he or she pleases. In “Buffalo Gals” Horse said that his kind were used to bring the “new people” to the animals’ land (Le Guin 37). These domesticated animals had no free will and were virtually slaves to humans throughout history. Animals today can be trained for specific tasks, such as a Seeing Eye dog or a talking parrot. Dogs are kept by homeowners for protection and used by law enforcement to sniff out drugs or bombs. This type of human-animal relationship only benefits the people; the animals’ abilities are just being taken advantage of.
Another form of domestication is the pet. Humans have kept pets for many years and the pets are usually better cared for than a cow or flock of chickens. One reason is to train the animal for a specific task, such as a Seeing Eye dog or a talking parrot. Another reason to keep a pet is companionship. Someone who is lonely or disturbed may find emotional comfort in owning and taking care of an animal.
Domesticated animals were a way of life to the Europeans. As well as meat, animals could be used for their milk, ...
Giving animals credit for human emotions allows us to empathize with them. The woman in “The Buffalo” longs to empathize with an animal, one who can “teach her to keep her own hatred. . . .which belonged to her by right but which she could not attain in grief” (Lispector, 1972: p. 152). As a recently devastated woman, all she wants to do is loathe the man who broke her heart, but she is unable to do so because of her undeniable love for him. She believes that an animal can best demonstrate the feeling she cannot find on her own. When she comes across the buffalo, she is finally able to understand the feeling of hatred within her, because the buffalo’s passivity reflects her subconsciously projected emotions. In doing this, she is able to empathize with the animal and learn more about herself.
Throughout the last century the concern of animals being treated as just a product has become a growing argument. Some believe that animals are equal to the human and should be treated with the same respect. There are many though that laugh at that thought, and continue to put the perfectly roasted turkey on the table each year. Gary Steiner is the author of the article “Animal, Vegetable, Miserable”, that was published in the New York Times right before Thanksgiving in 2009. He believes the use of animals as a benefit to human beings is inhumane and murderous. Gary Steiner’s argument for these animal’s rights is very compelling and convincing to a great extent.
Society has placed humans to be the highest life form because of their ability to think and reason and give consent. On these grounds it has allowed society to become numb to any injustice done to animals in any way. This essay will argue whether the subjugation of minority women is linked to the way society views and treats animals by defining current animal rights, the Women’s rights Movement and the process by which the minority is seen as an animal.
Indians understood animals to be powerful creatures possessing their own spiritual power and deserving of respect, but available as a food source. Therefore, Natives struggled to understand that animals could be property, but under the pressure of the English invasion attempted to integrate livestock into their lives. On the other hand, the English saw animals as property and as an indication of the supremacy of sophisticated agricultural culture. In part two, “Settling with Animals” Anderson examines the development of livestock agriculture in North America. The imported animals changed not only the land, but also “the hearts and minds, and behavior of the people who dealt with them”. (p.5) When the English arrived in America with their livestock the colonists became less focused on the animals and more focused on the cultivating of fields for crops for export and food purposes. The lack of labor and costs involved in the operation of farm lands led to the English being forced to allow their animals to roam freely in the woods. Ultimately, they lost control of the livestock and many of the herds became as feral as the animals the Indians typically
Humans can not be the only thing that is hurting the Earth. When you really think about it, Earth goes through a lot of natural disasters, which cannot be controlled. According to an activist, Tim Haering, “Tsunamis, floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, disease nature kills more than we kill each other.” Earth throws in all of these natural ...
Humans are the cause of environmental damaging things like acid rain and global warming. People also damage other species by killing them till extinction or causing things like oil spills that cause them to die. Why destroy the only place the human species lives on, instead people can spend their time restoring the planet and making it better, they can learn to coexist with other species instead of learning how to be the dominant and overpowering species.
Domestication is a process in which wild species are removed their natural habitat and are acclimatised to surviving and breeding in captive. Animals are domesticated for purposes which, in general, are designed to be beneficial to humans. These reasons commonly include labour, food sources and companionship. Over generations, domestication results in genetic and physiological changes in the organism (Wilson,. Mammal Species of the World (3rd Ed.). Baltimore).
“There can be many reason for animal cruelty, like any other form of violence, is often committed by a person who feels powerless, unnoticed, or under control of others. Some who are cruel to animals copy acts what they have seen or that have been done to them, others see harming an animal as a safe way to get revenge against--or threaten-- someone who cares about that animal”. (“Animal… Statistics”) Concerns towards abusing animals have gone up in the past. Although there are not many cases on animal abuse, many have occurred. Abusers are charged with Criminal Animal Abuse and then sentenced to life in prison. Some animals that are physically abused are sometimes rescued by Animal Control, and are taken it to an animal shelter. However, many shelters have not had the space to keep the animals so the workers would have to put them down (Carol Roach). Researchers have shown that the main animals getting abused are dogs, chickens, horses, and livestock (“Animal...
Humans are destructive. Not a lot of us think about how what we do affects the world around us. We almost act like we are the only ones on this planet. We go around polluting and destroying our world with no regard for our actions. The things that live out in the wild are paying the price for it. Every day that passes there is another animal or plant that is placed on an endangered list. This is happening at an alarming rate. Because of man’s desire to expand and conquer their surroundings, there are animals and plants that are on the brink of extinction that will not be around for our kids and future generations to enjoy if something is not done about it now. This problem has been going on for hundreds of years. There are animals and plants that can only been seen in paintings or early photography. It is because of our early ancestors that we have this problem today and we have to do more to prevent more animals and plants from disappearing forever.
There are many reasons to get a pet. You could choose to get a pet for a companion, or simply to add to your family. Many older folk choose to get a pet after they retire or lose their spouse so they do not feel lonely. Many young couples choose to get a pet before they opt to have children, and many families add a pet to their home for their children. The question is though, what type of pet to get? Do you get a cat, or a dog? Having a dog as a pet over a cat is much more enjoyable and beneficial to your life, specifically because of their behavior, convenience, and loyalty.
It’s fair to assume there should be disparity between the way cats and cows are treated, or the way chickens and dogs are. Certain animals have their place in the animal kingdom, grazing animals like cows and chickens have historically been used as a food source since the concept of animal husbandry was introduced, on the other end of the spectrum cats and dogs have been domesticated and kept as common house pets. The suggestion that livestock have the same emotions and feelings as a typical housecat can be up to debate. Peter Singer states that the behavior of some apes, dolphins and dogs suggest they have emotions and desires. All of the evidence, or the lack thereof, leads to issues concerning the ethical treatment of all animals.
Everyone’s all seen those wildlife shows on tv. The shows on National Geographic and such, showing animals in beautiful environments, everything lush and growing and nothing at all wrong that could threaten these creatures and places. But, have anyone seen the other side? The side where all these beautiful creatures and plants starve, are decimated by predators that have never been there before, and sometime even become poisoned by their very own homes and habitats? Of course no one has. That doesn’t mean that its not happening. It is happening, and its happening everywhere. And guess who is to blame? People. Society. Humans as a race pollute the environment, hunt animals simply for their parts, fish way more than humans will ever need just for the sake of money, introduce new species to new places for our own gain, and even purposefully destroy entire regions just for human expansion. And its starting to take its toll. While it is true that nature is constantly in flux and certain species come and go, humans are causing more species to disappear in the past few hundred years then nature has ever caused since the age of the dinosaurs, and therefore it is up to humans to repair the damage caused, be it cleaning the environment and habitats of these creatures, or taking more direct action to protect and preserve the species that are on the brink of extinction.
Humans place themselves at the top of the sociological tier, close to what we as individuals call our pets who have a sentimental value in our lives. Resource animal’s on the other hand have a contributory value within our lives: they provide us with meat and other important resources. In order to determine the boundaries between how we treat animals as pets and others simply as resources, utilitarians see these “resource animals” as tools. They contemplate the welfare significances of animals as well as the probable welfares for human-beings. Whereas deontologists see actions taken towards these “resources animals” as obligations regardless of whom or what they harm in the process. The objection to these theories are, whose welfare are we
Human beings, ever since its creation has never been alone on the earth. As we all know we share this planet with lots of different species of living creatures, such as animals, and plants. But even though we name ourselves the superior species due to our ability to think, make decisions and choose how we want to live our lives, we start to grow. Our growth ranges among many different aspects, such as infrastructure and lifestyle. This led to us somehow neglecting the fact that we are not alone in this planet. We start pushing other species out of the way, and we sometimes don’t realize that the impact felt by those other species has terrible and sometimes deadly consequences, and also we sometimes fail to understand that it can also cause harm to us.