Wednesday, January 14, 2009

...and there was no difference.

In the very earliest time,
When people and animals lived together on earth,
A person could become an animal if he wanted to
And an animal could become a human being.
Sometimes they were people,
And sometimes animals,
And there was no difference.
All spoke the same language.
--Netsilik Eskimo Song

We are not much different in fact to many other forms of animal life;
and it is because of subtle human conditioning
-- not the actual facts --
that we are raised to believe there is a wide gap between
what is human and what is animal.
--Gareth Patterson, the "Lion Man" of Africa

2 comments:

  1. Here, have one that always makes me feel like I'm gonna cry XD :
    "Judge this dog who has lost his master, who has searched for him in every path, who comes home agitated, restless, who runs up and down the stairs, who goes from room to room, who at last finds his beloved master in his study, and shows him his joy by the tenderness of cries, by his leaps, by his caresses. Now barbarians seize this dog who so prodigiously surpasses man in friendship. They nail him to a table and dissect him alive to show you the mesenteric veins. You discover in him all the organs of feeling that you possess. Answer me, Mechanist, has nature arranged all the springs of feeling in this animal in order that it should not feel? Does he have nerves to be impassive?" ~ Voltaire

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  2. That is indeed a heartbreaker. And not that long ago. Heck, it wasn't very long ago at all (and may still be true in some cases) that it was a "scientific fact" that newborn human babies could not feel pain.

    I don't know how people can be so insensitive.

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