Jeff7
Lifer
- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
- 19
- 81
As George Carlin so eloquently pointed out, our whole scrambled hierarchy of which animals are and aren't ok to kill is perfectly arbitrary. Some are killed...."because they're pests." Some are killed "cuz it's fun!"
There's nothing wrong with holding millions of one species captive for the purpose of killing them for food, but there is something wrong with killing 5 kittens. Meanwhile, go to some other regions of the world, and that same animal may be used as food without anyone worrying about it. Someone mentioned feeding live mice to a snake - mouse traps are a pretty common item, often with the sole goal of killing one, "because they're pests."
That all said, in this here society of ours, cats are viewed by most as valued animals, and killing them is a societal taboo. (Unless you're a vet euthanizing an animal to alleviate suffering, without its consent; and that is perfectly acceptable, but allowing humans to decide their own fate in similar fashion is not allowed. Isn't our value system fun?) Since it is viewed as a bad thing to do anything to harm cats, people who engage in it, and enjoy doing so, fall into the archetype of someone who's on a dangerous and potentially destructive path. Taking joy from killing much of anything beyond an insect (warning: arbitrary!) should kind of be cause for concern about some sort of mental problem or instability.
There's nothing wrong with holding millions of one species captive for the purpose of killing them for food, but there is something wrong with killing 5 kittens. Meanwhile, go to some other regions of the world, and that same animal may be used as food without anyone worrying about it. Someone mentioned feeding live mice to a snake - mouse traps are a pretty common item, often with the sole goal of killing one, "because they're pests."
That all said, in this here society of ours, cats are viewed by most as valued animals, and killing them is a societal taboo. (Unless you're a vet euthanizing an animal to alleviate suffering, without its consent; and that is perfectly acceptable, but allowing humans to decide their own fate in similar fashion is not allowed. Isn't our value system fun?) Since it is viewed as a bad thing to do anything to harm cats, people who engage in it, and enjoy doing so, fall into the archetype of someone who's on a dangerous and potentially destructive path. Taking joy from killing much of anything beyond an insect (warning: arbitrary!) should kind of be cause for concern about some sort of mental problem or instability.