@Dutchy126
Unfortunately, none of us will be able to give your hypothetical question an answer you will agree with, simply because the majority of us have different moral values than you.
“Superior” is defined as “of higher quality, or importance”
Just as you will not agree with our ideals of importance, we will not agree with yours.

But I would like to point out that you are claiming Human Beings are the superior race because of our progress – our day to day lives do not revolve around the constant thought of survival, and we live in “luxury”… There are approx 920 MILLION human beings in the world who are starving right now. They don’t know where their next meal will come from or when they will get it.
Do you think those human beings are living in luxury, unconcerned with their own survival?
No.
Are you more superior than them because you don’t have to worry about your next meal? Are you higher quality? Are you more important?
If so, you are no longer touching down on Speciesm. That is basically Classism within your own species.
And that kind of thinking is exactly why African-Americans were kept as slaves, why women were oppressed.
You would consider these people inferior to you because they are poor and you are wealthy, at least compared to them. Or for disabled folks, because you are fully functional and they are not.
To you, that may make you feel superior. It is doubtful that there is anything any of us could say to change you point of view. But that certainly doesn’t make your opinions fact, and it does not make us ignorant.

Dutchy, you said you wanted a thought out answer. There’s actually a word for giving special consideration to humans above animals: speciesism. The lives and experiences of nonhuman animals are usually considered less important than those of human beings simply because they are not like humans. The fact is that nonhuman animals have emotional lives and feel pain, pleasure, fear and joy. Devaluing their lives simply because they don’t have some characteristics that most humans have is discrimination. Every characteristic and circumstance that is used to discriminate against nonhuman animals — such as lack of rationality, language ability, social connections — also applies to some humans. Yet we don’t use those things to measure the worth of humans. Do you put yourself above a mentally disabled person just because you are more intelligent than them? How about an infant?

Exploiting certain animals just because we are more intelligent than them is pointless. We all have the ability to suffer. Thus, we should all have the freedom to live free from oppression.

If you are not able to look at animals as equals, I urge you to at least give them some level of mutual respect. Elephants mourn the loss of their relatives, cradling the bones and rocking back and forth. Chimpanzees look for and use plants that have medicinal qualities. Fruit eating bats act as midwives for bats who have a difficult time giving birth, and have been seen bringing food to sick group members. To avoid overpopulation when food is scarce, seals can absorb their own fetuses.

If you are not able to look at animals on an equal level, I at least urge you not to judge animals on intelligence, but on their own abilities. The animal kingdom is amazing! If you are able to respect them as individuals, it would make all the difference.

While I agree with the premises of the argument, it’s not necessarily an effective one. Why? Because the vast majority of people view themselves as superior to animals and consequentially, will be offended (and thus turned off) by this argument.

Moreover, as Peter Singer has observed, it’s not necessary to have equal rights (e.g. dogs have the ability to vote), but it’s crucial to give animals certain rights when applicable (e.g. not being eaten).

By the way, @Flacon34, where did you see the part about animals being free while humans are enslaved? I appear to have missed that, but perhaps I’m overlooking such a point? Furthermore, your thought experiment regarding the cow and slave doesn’t assist us in addressing the moral quandary at happen; it’s simply a cheap intellectual ploy utilized as a means to divert attention away from the argument at hand.

Not trying to be mean, but your saying the humans need to be enslaved while animals can be free?
Look, i thinking of equal rights, okay? Look, humans are animals, yet you say that we are cruel.
Your on a 19th century farm, on your left is a African slave being whipped, on your right is a cow being whipped. Your either save the slave, save the cow, or save both.
You can only chose one of these choices.

I think that animals can’t have the same rights because animals can’t talk so humans have to make decisions for them .. like getting your cat fixed every human has the right to decide if they no longer want to have kids, but animals don’t when you decide to take your cat to the clinic . But getting your animal fixed helps other animals have homes, which is a good thing.. The only thing I don’t really agree with is having the choice to euthanize an animal, I am sure that animal does not want to be put down and I’m sure it rather fight for it’s life & have the dr do more for it to live. I just have a hard time letting go so that’s why I feel like that.. But I do believe animals should have more rights a lot of animals are intelligent & they are getting smarter.

Even if you cannot rid yourself of your sickening anthropocentric elitism, it does not dictate that we should not afford animals rights, Dutchy. You claim to need “something to back up” calling your views ignorant, and you have cited just as much as anyone who argues against your worldview.

Consider the proposition that your view is the very same mindset which creates the worst human atrocities, such as genocide. The “undisputed masters of the world” is a heavy title for a species that will wipe themselves out of their own doing. Would not a master know better than we do? Would not a truly intelligent species have the modicum of comprehension to see how our treatment of animals and the environment threatens not only our livelihood and continuation of society but our very empathy and humanity itself?

All you’re saying is that you believe our species is more respectful when we believe we are invincible masters of the universe. Yet we do not understand a good portion of the universe as of yet, and we exist on the tiniest of blue dots floating through space. Gain some perspective of our size relative to all of existence and perhaps you will not consider the human such a grand creature.

@Dutchy126

We have to deal with the sort of crap you’re spewing virtually everywhere else online.
This is our safe-haven where we prefer to not have to deal with ignorant, arrogant people who have already concluded that humans are superior beings who have the right to treat the other animals on this planet as though they are lesser beings deserving of a lower level of respect.

If, by chance, you are just secretly hoping to find someone who can show you that you’re wrong, Google is your friend. Every point you’ve made has been addressed a thousand times over elsewhere online.

hey yo @Dutchy126 you can GLADLY leave this vegan community of people who care for animals and go back to your ignorant life elsewhere.

Humans aren’t only equal to animals, we ARE animals.

To say humans are animals is not degrading. Humans are part of the kingdom animalia. We are, by biological definition, animals.

There are many instances where animals dream of freedom and have ambitions. Dairy cows, dogs used for animal experimentation, slaughterhouse animals and captive circus animals, when given the opportunity to see the sky, or grass, or fresh food and comfort for the first time will display a wide range of emotions – shock, joy, euphoria, timid relief.

Humans should not be so full of ourselves to believe that OTHER animals (we are STILL animals) are dirty or beneath us. Beneath us by what stretch? If you say intelligence, you condone the torture or mistreatment of humans without great mental capacities. If you say sapience, you believe the comatose to be worthless. If you say by our capacity for emotional connections, you are entirely mistaken in thinking that other animals rather than human cannot experience such – simple observation disproves the myth of unfeeling animals, as does modern science.

So drop your human supremacy and afford animals rights.

You know rights, those things that allow humans freedom while other non-human animals behind bars, chained and sacraficed… Is this fair?

Check out this interesting blog on the subject: “When the topic of rights is brought up, we automatically think of human rights and more than likely, our own. Or maybe we think back to when the rights of humans were based on their skin color or appearance. And while that’s great that we acknowledge the rights that our species has as a whole, we are still missing the bigger picture. What about the rights of non-human animals? Don’t animals suffer in a similar way to the way slaves suffered back from the 1300s until the 1800s? Yet still forms of slavery exist today and they are not only enslaving humans but a majority of animals!”

To read the full blog go here: http://bit.ly/ZG9yNe

Hope you like it!