My Neighbors Just Ate their Dog (Seriously). What is the libertarian stance on this?

[loveshiscountry]

Better to eat the dog than to starve. I just hope they ate slowly and didn't wolf it down.

 

[kpitcher]

Well, I can sort of relate. When Jack died in 2004 I put him in the freezer and there he stayed for 3 weeks. I was kind of upset about his death and just could not get myself to bury him in a place where I knew I would be soon leaving. My daughter finally prevailed upon me to get him in the ground, so I drove up to Pacific City (OR) to my friends place, a very wild and beautiful 20 acres of rain forest and interred my best friend under a stately tree of majestic proportions. There he remains to this day.

Cremation is always an option... I know my mom was buried with the cremated remains of one of her furry loved ones.

 

[osan]

There is no black and white. IMO, if the dog was killed quickly, then it's all good.

I would put humans on a level above the other animals (given many more rights beyond (inflicting unnecessary amounts of pain), though I have no solid reasoning to support that.

So then it would seem there is no real basis for elevating man for praise above other life.

 

[otherone]

So then it would seem there is no real basis for elevating man for praise above other life.

Man praises man. Let other life praise itself.

 

[osan]

Man praises man. Let other life praise itself.

Seems a mite self-serving, would you not say? "Let them eat cake..."

While men have, and continue to do much that is praiseworthy, far more often they do that which ranges from "meh", to that which is downright evil and disgusting. For such reasons I have come to a more tempered view on the tendency of man. On average, he is nothing to praise, therefore indicating that such lauding should be reserved for the individual found guilty of having done something worthy thereof. The typical example of the species merits far more clinical treatment, as does the typical act of even the best among us. Observation of huge numbers of examples of both men and their actions most definitely does not include general praise of any sort Here "men" refers almost universally to people of Empire, whose plague-like mindset infects virtually all examples.

The notion that only men have rights is idiotic on its face. All life claims itself as First-Property. To live is to steal away the First-Property from others - this is God's inescapable way. So be it. But men seem too often to indulge in gratuitous theft beyond that which is required for their own lives, and yet we praise ourselves. How amusing.

Were the deer and chickens and cockroaches, etc., able and of a mind to make a coordinated stand against us, we would soon see just how "special" we really were in the relevant sense.

It is the superiority of our instrumentality that separates us in some very narrow sense from the non-human rest, and oftentimes from each other as well. I see no basis for praise of the race of man simply because they are men, nor because they possess the raw capabilities unique to them. It is a lousy and most often blood-soaked lie that whispers to us how "special" we are.

Men of untempered instrumentality are most often worthy of naught but the blade and disgust of the warrior. It is precisely the distemper of the mean man that renders him a Weakman in contrast to the Freeman who understands the responsibilities that come to hand along with the instruments he wields. That responsibility extends to all beings and all things, and not just to other men. It is precisely the failure of men to recognize and embrace the other side of the coin of their status as free beings different from the rest that has caused them, as well as others, the boundless miseries they enjoy. Rather than accepting his gifts with humility and grace, he has taken them to hand in the manner of an ill-bred and reckless brat, devoid of any sense beyond his own skin, who rampages through his days seeking only to gratify and glorify his stunted self within the narrow channel of his wither-hobbled perceptions.

Just my worthless opinion on the matter, mind you.

 

[otherone]

Seems a mite self-serving, would you not say? "Let them eat cake..."

While men have, and continue to do much that is praiseworthy, far more often they do that which ranges from "meh", to that which is downright evil and disgusting. For such reasons I have come to a more tempered view on the tendency of man. On average, he is nothing to praise, therefore indicating that such lauding should be reserved for the individual found guilty of having done something worthy thereof. The typical example of the species merits far more clinical treatment, as does the typical act of even the best among us. Observation of huge numbers of examples of both men and their actions most definitely does not include general praise of any sort Here "men" refers almost universally to people of Empire, whose plague-like mindset infects virtually all examples.

The notion that only men have rights is idiotic on its face. All life claims itself as First-Property. To live is to steal away the First-Property from others - this is God's inescapable way. So be it. But men seem too often to indulge in gratuitous theft beyond that which is required for their own lives, and yet we praise ourselves. How amusing.

Were the deer and chickens and cockroaches, etc., able and of a mind to make a coordinated stand against us, we would soon see just how "special" we really were in the relevant sense.

It is the superiority of our instrumentality that separates us in some very narrow sense from the non-human rest, and oftentimes from each other as well. I see no basis for praise of the race of man simply because they are men, nor because they possess the raw capabilities unique to them. It is a lousy and most often blood-soaked lie that whispers to us how "special" we are.

Men of untempered instrumentality are most often worthy of naught but the blade and disgust of the warrior. It is precisely the distemper of the mean man that renders him a Weakman in contrast to the Freeman who understands the responsibilities that come to hand along with the instruments he wields. That responsibility extends to all beings and all things, and not just to other men. It is precisely the failure of men to recognize and embrace the other side of the coin of their status as free beings different from the rest that has caused them, as well as others, the boundless miseries they enjoy. Rather than accepting his gifts with humility and grace, he has taken them to hand in the manner of an ill-bred and reckless brat, devoid of any sense beyond his own skin, who rampages through his days seeking only to gratify and glorify his stunted self within the narrow channel of his wither-hobbled perceptions.

Just my worthless opinion on the matter, mind you.

Exceptionally well written.

The entire occurrence of rights are nothing more than a pact sometimes shared among men, for the purpose of survival. They are a supernatural concept, the result of the imagination, that do not not exist in practical reality. An animal does not have the right to survival, it has an imperative to survive; as does every organism extant. Man is no different. The entire biomass is nothing more than one giant food processing machine.

It is the ability to conceptualize that sets man apart; not just from nature, but from his fellow man, and IMO, from God. The ability to claim "I", born of self-awareness, creates a barrier between the individual and his environment that it not permeable. Man is figuratively trapped by his ego. The ability to create and grasp ideas that are the result of self-awareness is the foundation of man's exceptionalism. But in reality we are monkeys with imaginations.

One fella's opinion.

 

[PierzStyx]

So you trespassed, stole someone else's property, and then called the corrupt, local thugs to come and beat them up?

The only one doing anything wrong is you.


Dogs are non-human meat. Meat is food. End of story.

 

[osan]

The entire occurrence of rights are nothing more than a pact sometimes shared among men, for the purpose of survival.

That is the practical aspect of it. There is also a conceptual aspect based in analytic reason applied in examination of the nature of the relationship of one man to another. That is how I came to cobble the Canon of Proper Human Relations. Basically, no man is endowed with authority over another. Likewise, no man is inherently subservient to another. There is no basis one could offer in defense of inherent master/slave relations that I, or any reasonably well trained sixth-grader, could not summarily demolish in while sleeping.

They are a supernatural concept,

I do not think I can agree with this bit. I think they are very natural. What to me is unnatural is the notion that humans are the only ones who hold them. Given the definition of "right", it is clear that all living beings have them. That human instrumentality leaves men in a position of vast material superiority over all other terrestrial beings, it does not follow that only humans have rights. It simply means that men hold the ability to impose their wills upon the rest, and even each other, through our various means.

the result of the imagination

Not sure they are the result of imagination, but rather that imagination allows us to discover and make sense of them.

that do not not exist in practical reality.

Interesting choice of words. Does the fact that some violate the rights of the rest mean that the rights asserted do not exist? I don't think so. I think that it means only that that some violate others.

An animal does not have the right to survival, it has an imperative to survive;

Is this a distinction without a difference?

as does every organism extant. Man is no different. The entire biomass is nothing more than one giant food processing machine.

As a family member once quipped to me regarding planet earth: "Everywhere is life, but no food."

It is the ability to conceptualize that sets man apart; not just from nature, but from his fellow man,

It certainly appears so.

and IMO, from God.

You may have bitten off a little too much with this one.

The ability to claim "I", born of self-awareness, creates a barrier between the individual and his environment that it not permeable.

Not sure that last bit is strictly true. Yogis, Buddhist monks, saddhus, and shamans of every stripe appear to have permeated the veil. In fact, I may have also done it, though it does call into some question what, exactly, are all these things of which we speak. I'm not sure anyone knows with any rigor and specificity. To put it in the words of John Denver, "life ain't nothin' but a funny funny riddle".

Thank God I'm a country boy.

Man is figuratively trapped by his ego.

A truth the Hindus, Buddhists, etc., have recognized for a long year.

The ability to create and grasp ideas that are the result of self-awareness is the foundation of man's exceptionalism. But in reality we are monkeys with imaginations.

And yet to me, that "exceptionalism" only exists when men display the spirit of grace, kindness, and generosity that shows proper respect not only to himself and his fellows, but to all life. Very few people manifest this sort of attitude, so far as I have ever been able to see. They are more than willing to rationalize abandonment of their best principles when it is convenient to them. The warrior does not.

 

[osan]

So you trespassed, stole someone else's property, and then called the corrupt, local thugs to come and beat them up?

The only one doing anything wrong is you.


Dogs are non-human meat. Meat is food. End of story.

Humans are meat.

Meat is food.

End of story.

 

[nobody's_hero]

AF I like you man, but this thread was 2 years old. Look what you started again, again.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

Well there's your problem right here.

Hey, if your religion keeps you from becoming a mass murderer then please stick with it.

Just read this. Wow, it's incredible how shallow-minded people can be. You act like the idea of murder being wrong is some kind of scientific fact. Ok, then, show me the scientific experiment that proves murder is wrong. How about rape, too, while you're at it? How, exactly, does one "figure it out?" Is it just the fact that society doesn't like it that makes it wrong? What is it, exactly, to you?

We are all evil on the inside, and you can't reason your way out of it. The vast majority of people, if they had been in Nazi Germany during Hitler's reign, would have gone right along with it, unless you're just willing to believe that an entire nation, millions of people can literally go insane and it has absolutely no bearing on the rest of us. Most of us don't do it because we know we wouldn't get away with it, but the problem with that is that you CAN get away with it. And if you just want to kill everyone you can before killing yourself, what's to stop you? The fact that you have "the right" moral values? Those values don't mean anything if you ever become resentful toward society. It's only your relative success within the system that keeps your inner devil dormant.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

I am an animal and proud of it.

Better than a vegetable yes?

Or worse yet a mineral

Why would you be proud of that? If everyone's an animal, then there's nothing to be proud of in that.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Why would you be proud of that? If everyone's an animal, then there's nothing to be proud of in that.

Not sure if you are aware of this, but, you are arguing with a dead man.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

Not sure if you are aware of this, but, you are arguing with a dead man.

Nope, was not aware of that.

 

[Danke]

Nope, was not aware of that.

Not sure if you aware of this, but you are responding to a butt pirate sailor.

 

[PierzStyx]

Humans are meat.

Meat is food.

End of story.

Not what I said. Re-read it.

 

[osan]

Not what I said. Re-read it.

Neither did I write nor imply that you had. I was simply pointing out the arbitrary nature of what your words implied.