dsr-burnley

Fair point about cannibalism, though just because we have higher moral standards than animals doesn't mean we have to take it to extremes. There has to be a hierarchy because otherwise it gets silly. Fair enough treating cows and pigs as equals, then chickens and fish, then rats and mice, then slugs and worms, then flies and wasps, then bacteria and viruses - somewhere before you reach viruses, there has to be a line drawn where those below that line do not have equality. Virtually everyone would draw it above flies - no doubt there are people who won't drive at over 15 mph because of the distressing sight of flies on the windscreen, but not so many - and most people draw it above rats and mice, especially if they're tempted to move into your house. I draw the line immediately below humans - is your line any more logical than mine?

If humans are superior to animals, we have the right to kill animals. If humans and animals are equal, then we have the same right as foxes, badgers, wolves, bears, lions, cats, magpies, sharks, trout, spiders, etc., to kill animals. If humans are lower than animals, then perhaps we don't have the right. I don't see myself as less important than a spider. So I eat animals.