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

[BuddyRey]

My yardstick for determining who (or what) has rights is assessing that person or animal's capacity for recognizing the rights of others. This isn't an exact science of course, because some dogs seem to exhibit this capacity almost as well as most humans, and others have little if any conception of rights beyond who can jostle or bite his way to the food bowl first.

One thing many libertarians say that I will take issue with is that "dogs are property." Your dog is no more your "property" than your child is. You fulfill a guardianship role over pets and children, but at the end of the day, that dog (like that child) is still a sentient being deserving of some measure of respect.

 

[bluesc]

I often have more sympathy for dogs than humans.

Still, I'm happy to eat cows and chickens.

 

[Brian Coulter]

LoL - Adorable pups.

But, are these guys any less "adorable"?

Too damn cute. Which reminds me, I'm hungry and there's leftover pulled pork in the fridge.

 

[WilliamC]

No, but some people are vegetables.

Yea, my kids went through a Veggie Tales stage too.

No harm in it, it's for the kids

 

[pauliticalfan]

Freedom requires tolerance...

Of murderous/acts of violence though? Should we have tolerance of big government and other things we know is fundamentally wrong?

To think that there shouldn't at least be local laws against hanging a dog in your yard for the whole neighborhood to see is absurd.

Also, this is the 21st century. We have so many other sources of protein available, we would be absolutely fine without eating meat. The only reason most still do is because the corporations of KFC, McDonald's, and Tyson's chicken would lose a shit load of money if everyone woke up tomorrow and decided to stop eating animals. So they spend billions of dollars a year on advertising convincing you that you must eat meat, hopefully their meat, but any meat is okay because it means their $$$ is kept alive.

 

[pauliticalfan]

I often have more sympathy for dogs than humans.

Still, I'm happy to eat cows and chickens.

Do you at least know where your food comes from? As in, have you ever seen factory farms and/or witnessed them being slaughtered?

99% of people don't even know where their food comes from. I feel like if they did, they might at least have a different mindset about it. They might still eat meat, but at least they'd stop being so damn snarky and cracking jokes like = "oh I love animals...with salt and pepper HAHAHA". Shit like that disrespectful, but honestly I know it's also a coping mechanism for ignorance/subconscious discomfort with something they know might be "wrong" but don't want to admit.

 

[MelissaWV]

Do you at least know where your food comes from? As in, have you ever seen factory farms and/or witnessed them being slaughtered?

99% of people don't even know where their food comes from. I feel like if they did, they might at least have a different mindset about it. They might still eat meat, but at least they'd stop being so damn snarky and cracking jokes like = "oh I love animals...with salt and pepper HAHAHA". Shit like that disrespectful, but honestly I know it's also a coping mechanism for ignorance/subconscious discomfort with something they know might be "wrong" but don't want to admit.

I know where my food comes from, and I'm still not a vegan. Go figure. I've eaten a great variety of protein, and this idea of living without meat by substituting other stuff is just not going to fly with me personally. I do agree that people should know more about their food, and should definitely have a turn or two at butchering their own meat to some extent, but I'm not going to force it.

 

[bluesc]

Do you at least know where your food comes from? As in, have you ever seen factory farms and/or witnessed them being slaughtered?

99% of people don't even know where their food comes from. I feel like if they did, they might at least have a different mindset about it. They might still eat meat, but at least they'd stop being so damn snarky and cracking jokes "oh I love animals...with salt and pepper HAHAHA". Not only is shit like that disrespectful, but it's also a coping mechanism for ignorance/subconscious discomfort with eating another life.

Ignorance is bliss.

Although if we were sent back a few thousand years, I don't imagine it would take long before the vegetarians were hunting food alongside me.

Modern convenience allows me to eat without slaughtering or witnessing it and allows vegetarians to lecture me from their moral high ground.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Just an observation after reading through this thread. While most of the answers were consistent with libertarian ideological principles, you do need to realize how this comes across to the average person learning about libertarianism for the first time. When libertarians justify something that is abhorrent to the average American with ideology, it makes us look like a bunch of nut cases. Someone reading this would come away with the thinking "those libertarians think it is OK to eat dog".

One of the challenges we face if we desire to grow as a movement, is to be able to explain our positions and ideology in a manner that the average person wouldn't find off putting.

Leaving aside the issue of inhumane slaughter, which certainly seems to be the case here, how difficult can it be?

You own the animal, how is slaughtering it for food any different than slaughtering a lamb or goat or a chicken or a steer?

We are not the ones who are nuts.

A whole generation of soft, disconnected Americans who have no idea where their food comes from, no idea where their energy comes from, no idea where their consumer goods come from, they are the crazy ones, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Don't fool yourself.

This is one of the many reasons I dislike big Agra. At least small-to-medium sized farming operations tend to give their animals a decent life until it is time for that life to end.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Like has been said over and over in this thread "animals ain't people".

Threads like AF posts about cops killing dogs might affect public opinion enough to eventually allow some relief under property law? I personally think this would be a good thing!

Glad you brought that point up.

One of the reasons that I post the cop kills dog stories, is because of the disconnect from humanity some people display.

Example: I would hound some warhawk relatives of mine with pictures of blown up and incinerated Iraqi and Afghan children, to no effect and a barrage of icy cold comments that would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

These same people, one Uncle in law in particular, went apoplectic however when those Marines threw that puppy off the cliff.

 

[awake]

Leaving aside the issue of inhumane slaughter, which certainly seems to be the case here, how difficult can it be?

You own the animal, how is slaughtering it for food any different than slaughtering a lamb or goat or a chicken or a steer?

We are not the ones who are nuts.

A whole generation of soft, disconnected Americans who have no idea where their food comes from, no idea where their energy comes from, no idea where their consumer goods come from, they are the crazy ones, as far as I'm concerned.

This actually plays out into a general ignorance of how the market sustains human and animal life on Earth. I get that people love certain animals and eat others, but for people to advocate for equal rights for animals, and Earth itself, ultimately manifests into human extinction if carried out to its logical end.

Question: who arrests the wolf for eating the rabbit? Do we arrest the rabbit for devouring the carrot? Murders everywhere. What some people in this thread are advocating is that the man who ate this dog be stopped by government from doing so...

 

[Anti Federalist]

DO NOT search for "BBQ" - "Dog" - Image. Eyes cannot unsee.............

Shut Up! SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!!

Yarrrgh...

 

[Anti Federalist]

Do you at least know where your food comes from? As in, have you ever seen factory farms and/or witnessed them being slaughtered?

99% of people don't even know where their food comes from. I feel like if they did, they might at least have a different mindset about it. They might still eat meat, but at least they'd stop being so damn snarky and cracking jokes like = "oh I love animals...with salt and pepper HAHAHA". Shit like that disrespectful, but honestly I know it's also a coping mechanism for ignorance/subconscious discomfort with something they know might be "wrong" but don't want to admit.

I know exactly where my meat comes from, some of it I slaughter myself. (I've found the rabbi's prayer for bounty to be respectful before I kill a chicken)

Every bit of it (the meat that is) is locally raised and locally butchered, many times with me either watching over the operation or helping out.

 

[Anti Federalist]

This actually plays out into a general ignorance of how the market sustains human and animal life on Earth. I get that people love certain animals and eat others, but for people to advocate for equal rights for animals, and Earth itself, ultimately manifests into human extinction if carried out to its logical end.

Question: who arrests the wolf for eating the rabbit? Do we arrest the rabbit for devouring the carrot? Murders everywhere. What some people in this thread are advocating is that the man who ate this dog be stopped by government from doing so...

Exactly.

 

[KingRobbStark]

i'd eat a dog, life is all about eating new and exciting things.

I don't want to be stranded with you.

 

[specsaregood]

One of the reasons that I post the cop kills dog stories, is because of the disconnect from humanity some people display.
Example: I would hound some warhawk relatives of mine with pictures of blown up and incinerated Iraqi and Afghan children, to no effect and a barrage of icy cold comments that would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
These same people, one Uncle in law in particular, went apoplectic however when those Marines threw that puppy off the cliff.

IIRC, what you just described is a common characteristic of sociopaths.

 

[specsaregood]

I don't want to be stranded with you.

You got that right. If I had been on the plane crash in the andes mountain range; i'd be the among the first to suggest we start roasting our deceased teammates.

edit; then again i might be the ideal type of person to have with you. i was a 4-h kid, i raised rabbits for food or pets, i had to clean chicken coops for my grandpa and he showed me how to slaughter a chicken at 3 years old.

 

[Madison320]

That sounds like a society backsliding into totalitarianism. You can't keep a libertarian society very long when your whole basis for rights is intelligence.

Come on, man. A few animal cruelty laws ain't the problem.

 

[RonRules]

The French eat frogs. Different strokes for different folks.

Frogs are great! That's where the saying "Tastes like chicken" comes from.