from green to black

so patronizing

most people would put a suffering animal out of its misery
most people would not put a suffering human out of his.
and i dont just mean it in the sense in which the suffering human is
an enemy.

in the latter case, some like seeing bad things happen to people
we have words such as schadenfreude, karma, retribution which
suggests that we enjoy what is happening or believe that people
are just getting what they deserve. sometimes we even think that
what they are going through really isnt enough. its just part of life
we say. you get some, you lose some and what you sow comes back
to bite you in the ass.

the former case may be more nuanced though. there are thousands
of reasons why we wouldnt want to mercifully kill someone. theres
euthanasia if that happens, otherwise it may just seem to be
meaningless suffering. pain, we know, is experienced in the mind.
while it may stem from physical means if we suffer from hypoalgesia
we probably wouldnt feel a thing. hence, as a mental state, it also
may have mental or emotional causes.

in the latter cases when a human being is suffering from "hard times"
we tell him that there is virtue in his suffering. we take him to the
side and console him with pretty words. faith be there, hope be
strong, and grace be abundant. we normalize the situation and
say that every body goes through tough times. we tell him it will
pass. we tell him it would make him grow stronger. we tell him
that pain is part of life and life is worth living. we offer our
pretty words for the value of his wretched life.

yet we wouldnt do it to an animal. we stroke them. calm them down.
then smother, inject, or bleed them to death because they would
not survive in the wild with those injuries. we dont believe animals
should suffer to build character do we. we dont believe that by
subjecting them to stress or torture makes them better animals
or that they deserve it in any way do we. a lion is not hanged for
being a murderer, not a goat whipped for eating one's property
because we claim that such is their nature.

so if it is not too far a stretch to claim that not all man wants to
develop along a common rational nature then who are we to stop
them being that way. and if forcing our habits upon them causes
them anguish then why not offer them relief. if we can have
compassion and understanding towards animals then why not
against our fellow men whom we esteem more highly yet treat
more cruelly than animals.

whatever our claims are about humans and animals, i wonder
if we can treat them in a manner consistent with our beliefs

Labels: hypocrisy

posted by green unseen @ 8:51 PM