I've been thinking...

At some point last summer, I began to read Jeffery Moussaieff Masson's The Face On Your Plate: The Truth About Food.  This week, I picked up where I left off.  I am not sure why I began reading it again, but I am glad I did.  May it has to do it something that got me thinking this week:  How different is our treatment of animals than the treatment of the Jews during the Holocaust?  While you may say, "Alie, that's an extreme comparison," I'll respond with, "Is it really?"  Let's take a moment to think about it.  Have you thought about it?  How does your list of comparisons compare to mine:

       Animals                                                         Jews

-Vivisected without the use                            -Vivisected without the use

of anesthesia or pain relief for                         of anesthesia or pain relief for 

"medical" or "scientific" research/                  "medical" or "scientific" research/

curiosity                                                           curiosity

-Thrown into gas chambers as a                    -Thrown into gas chambers as a

means to get rid of them because                    means to get rid of them because

they are "useless" or "taking up space"          they are "useless"or"taking up space"

-Buried alive                                                  -Buried alive

-Poisoned                                                       -Poisoned

-Experimented on without the use                -Experimented on without the use

of anesthesia or pain relief for                         of anesthesia or pain relief for

"medical" or "scientific" research/                  "medical" or "scientific" research/

curiosity                                                           curiosity

-Worked to death                                            -Worked to death in camps

-Housed in the most inhumane                      -Housed in the most inhumane

living conditions                                              living conditions

-Transported to their death in dirty,               -Transported to their death in dirty,
cramped, dark boxes/cages                               cramped, dark boxcars deprived
deprived of food and water.                              of food and water

Is it still an extreme comparison?  Well, in a way, yeah.  The conditions under which these beings live(d) and die(d) is/are extreme.  Oddly enough, after beginning this post, I found an interesting quote in Masson's book: "If David Irving get three years for denying the Holocaust, what do the rest of us deserve, who live in denial of today's atrocities?"  The quote is from a letter written by Dr. Jeph Mathias from Manali, India, that was published in The Guardian Weekly.


Let me pose this question: how can one be opposed to harming one kind of sentient being, but be okay with/ support/ actively participate in the despicable treatment of other sentient beings?  How is it any different than racism, sexism, or any other ism?  It isn't.  It's what we call speciesism.  It wasn't until I Wiki'd "speciesism" that came across this.  The abhorrent treatment of "lesser" beings - humans and non - must stop.  Namaste.