rachel.blog

Tag: animal rights

  • Royalty

    Royalty

    I like to think I’m not at all interested in the Royal family because we Australians are not known for our deference to royalty or to people with titles and money. Jack’s as good as his master, as the saying goes, and it’s what I think and live by. But, and there is a but, […]

  • Okja – Film Review

    A soulless multinational company develops a giant pig which poops less and eats less than regular pigs while providing a greater volume of meat. The company sends a number of these super pigs to farmers all over the world to raise for ten years. One of them is sent to South Korea where the farmer’s […]

  • “Does that elephant need its face more than some guy in Asia needs a tusk on his desk?”

    Theresa May plans to lift the ban on ivory trading. Why would anyone want to do that? The reason is because people who sell antiques are required to prove that any ivory in their products was worked before 1947 and this is apparently difficult and expensive to do. She is putting what is a minor inconvenience for antique dealers […]

  • Do animal rights activists care more for animals than humans?

    Some people think that those who advocate for animal rights care more about non-human animals than human animals. That’s not true at all. The ethicist, Peter Singer, who wrote Animal Liberation back in 1975 thinks we rich people ought to donate 10% of our salary to the world’s poor. He gives around a quarter of his own […]

  • The inconsistency of eating meat while objecting to abortion

    For any woman having an abortion is a serious decision that she will only do if she has something quite important at stake. Whereas people who are prepared to go into the supermarket and buy some ham don’t need to do that at all. They could easily eat something else. They are supporting the pain […]

  • This Beautiful Creature Must die

    We’re all addicted to the new 80s-themed Peta computer game to which The Smiths have lent their 1980s song, Meat is Murder. It’s quite retro with 8-bit audio and pixelated graphics and it’s also very addictive. The song grates on your nerves after a while though. Daniel is the reigning champion with a score of […]

  • An update on the nonhuman rights project

    A little while ago I wrote about the litigation in progress to try to free two chimpanzees being held captive for experimentation in a University laboratory. Lawyers for the chimps (Hercules and Leo) argued on the basis of habeus corpus, a writ in common law which provides a way for detainees to end unlawful imprisonment. […]

  • Absurd hypocrisy on the dinner table

    Earlier this week hosts of a Danish radio station killed a bunny rabbit on air and then later cooked and ate it. It generated a huge backlash for the station including calls for a boycott. I wonder how many of those who complained eat other animals? Why is it acceptable to kill, cook, and eat a young […]

  • The Life You Can Save

    Whenever I find myself debating right and wrong, I wonder what Peter Singer would say. He’s the most rational thinker on the planet, in my opinion, and so I will sometimes say to myself, “What would Peter Singer do in this situation?”. For those who’ve never heard of him, he’s an Australian philosopher, the Ira W. […]

  • All or nothing?

    Some people have expressed concern to me that I’m punishing my kids by banning sweets. But the thing is, when I say I’m banning something, it does not mean I’ve literally banned something. I never take anything to extremes. I’m flexible with practically everything I do in my life. So what does banning sweets mean? […]

  • The lucky boys

    A little while ago I mentioned that Daniel and Elizabeth are sponsoring two roosters at an animal sanctuary, Arborfield Sanctuary, north of Auckland. Yesterday we visited the sanctuary and gave some of the roosters a cuddle. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was a pleasure meeting Robyn and Malcolm who are clearly passionate about their […]

  • Happy birthday, Daniel!

    Just before midnight tonight, 6 years ago, Daniel was born. Happy birthday, Daniel! He got to open his presents from us this morning. I crocheted him a solar system. It’s not to scale and the planets have eyes and smiles which is not very scientific, but he loves it.  It is now a project for […]

  • Monkey in a rocket

    I feel sad today. A photo I saw this morning is to blame. It’s the widely publicized photo of a wretched monkey, restrained and sent into space in a rocket by the country of Iran. All the media articles I’ve read talk about fears that Iran may now possess the technical know-how to fire missiles […]