Should smartness determine one’s right to live?
Re: “A right to eat meat”, Have Your Say, December 10.
Meat-eaters like letter-writer Outraged Taxpayer invariably say we have a “right” to eat meat. But who gives us this right? We give it to ourselves! We egotistically claim we have a legal right to kill other species, yet no right to kill members of our own species. Isn’t this species-ism? The fact is, we are all animals. Humans are not “special” beings. We all evolved from the same source, so there is nothing special about us. We are simply smarter than other species – although many have abilities that we don’t. But should smartness determine one’s right to live? What would happen to all the mentally disabled people if this were the criterion? Natural carnivores, like lions and tigers, need to kill to survive, but we don’t because we are not natural carnivores. We kill solely for taste-bud pleasure. Consequently, killing animals for food is cruel and indefensible.
Jenny Moxham
Victoria, Australia
