There are people in my life – in my classes, among my friends, within my family – with whom I disagree occasionally. Then there are people with whom I can’t even fathom agreeing with about everything from basic to complex issues, but who are willing to listen to an argument and perhaps even re-evaluate their own thoughts as a result. Then there are those with whom I disagree and yet don’t even bother attempting argue with, because they refuse to change their mindsets, no matter what. I find that, as I get older, I have less and less patience for these types of people. I have less patience for people who think they know everything, who don’t trust that they can learn anything from people around them. Why bother, I ask myself? Tonight I asked myself the same question. After spending a weekend with my brother recently – one of those select few who maintains the point of view that I am losing patience with – and after reading over another student’s blog this evening I wondered, why am I even bothering? Those who do not want to change their set of beliefs….they simply won’t. That’s why this discussion board entry is for me; to calm my tired brain, to allow my fingers a rest from twitching with the desire to type out the words I so desperately need to stop banging around in my head. 
I have less patience for those who think it is acceptable to put a species through pain for reasons outside of anything absolutely necessary to maintaining our livelihood. To put it succinctly, I have no patience for people who claim an “I’m better than [insert human or other species here]” attitude. As I read through Joan Dunayer’s “Sexist Words, Speciesist Roots,” my entire understanding of animals and humans and sadism in general broadened drastically. Until now, I had never given a second thought to derogatory terms given to women such as “cow, bitch, crow” in terms relating those words to their animal namesakes. Now I understand those words to not only be hurtful to humans, but to animals as well. Why is this? Because, “every negative image of another species helps keep that species oppressed,” (Course Anthology, 391). Take, for example, the use of the word “bitch” when describing a female pregnant dog. Dogs are usually considered to be gentile, the kinder and friendlier of many animal species, and pregnant dogs are no different – if anything there should be a level of respect in place for any species while it is carrying live within it (but that’s my semi-feminist alter-ego talking!). 
Learning from Dunayer’s excerpt completely opened up a new way for me to look at things. Being a woman, I have never really been fond of using many of the derogatory “animal” words used to belittle women, but my little brother is. He has entered a phase in his teenage life (and I have to hope it is just that – a phase and nothing permanent) where he believes himself – as a human, as a man, as a white man, as an heir to a successful company, as an [insert some made-up and useless qualification here] – to be better than those around him. We have had many an argument – usually about his views of men with regards to women – that ended in tears on my part and smug contentment with the soundness of his views on his part. After watching Earthlings in class, I called home to my parents and spoke with them about possibly watching the film as a family when I came home for Thanksgiving. My mom and dad agreed, but were hesitant about showing the film to my brother, for my sake, as they believe that nothing will change his mind about his “I’m better than you” personality and don’t want to upset me when we all watch the film and my brother will possibly burst into laughter at the images before us. They’re probably right in this assumption, and because I don’t want to view my brother forever as an empathy-lacking psychopath, I will probably not force him to watch the film nor will I speak to him about my beliefs regarding animals. To be frank for a moment, I wonder sometimes how my little brother would fare if placed in an experiment like the Stanford prison experiment, and whether or not researchers would find his actions and reactions, “frightening in their implications about the danger which lurks in the darker side of human nature,” (Sadism website, 1), but I digress. Again, this is not a “giving up” thing for me; it is rather a further (possible flaw) continuation of my lack of patience with his set of views and inability to alter them.
My brother and I have broached the subject of animal cruelty before, and he explained to me an argument that I see in this class and that I see in the world around me – namely that animals are, by definition, not equal to us as humans and therefore, we have the right to treat them in whatever way we wish. We are dominant; therefore we have full privileges in every arena involving animals. My primary argument to this is: SO WHAT?! So what if animals are on a “lower level” than us in terms of intelligence, so what if they don’t share our exact chromosomes?! It has been PROVEN for a majority of animal species that they have the capacity to feel pain, just like us. So what, because my dog cannot do my calculus homework or speak my language that gives me the right to beat him to a bloody pulp and skin him alive? It is just as the famous philosopher Jeremy Bentham believed, summarized by Jacques Derrida, that “the question is not to know whether the animal can think, reason, or talk, [….] but the first and decisive question will rather be to know whether animals can suffer,”(Course Anthology, 405-406). I thought about this to a great extent when I read about derogatory words like “bitch” and how they relate to this oppression. I would imagine that my brother’s argument (if I may speculate, I’ve know the kid for 16 years so I have a little bit of an idea about how he might typically react to such a topic) would be that the word “bitch” or “cow” does not have an affect on the animal involved, due to the fact that that word is actually “true” in describing that animal. If you call a woman a cow, it is to denote that you deem her dumb. As our leader himself said in his discussion board entry this evening, “Exactly. A cow is not as intelligent, does not have the same moral capacity, and does not have the same propensity to think in abstract manners, which is why this insult is so gross and debasing. But to argue that this somehow stems from a cruel lack of empathy is rather ill-founded in my opinion,” (Jose’s blog entry). I disagree with this statement. Some animals possess the human-like qualities of, “a highly developed brain, the capacity for abstract reasoning, and the ability to communicate by means of organized speech,” (Course Anthology, 393). If I am allowed to be somewhat frank for the moment, some mentally retarded people do not have these abilities. It is considered extremely inappropriate (at least in my world!) to call someone “retarded” when they are acting dumb, confused, or momentary lacking one of the typically human qualities mentioned above because it displays a cruelty and lack of empathy for those with mental retardation. Why, then, does it not display a similar lack of empathy and cruelty to a cow to call a person such? Just because it is considered true (cows = dumb, retarded people = lack everyday “human” skills) does NOT make it okay.(The message of "The Office" TV show's completely un-self aware boss Michael Scott's words shows the ignorance of those who claim that it is in no way hurtful to the animal to call a human by its name derogatorily simply because a human is acting like that animal. Just because it may seem true, or at least to apply, does not make it right. Video courtesy of:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFejNW1HiKY). The only argument against this is that there is the barrier of “different species” between the two analogies, I think that is ridiculous, for all reasons mentioned above.
Maybe someday I will gain the strength, will, and knowledge required to attempt to argue with people like my brother about issues like this that I care so deeply about. Until then, I will continue to research my opinion, listen to those of others, and fight the battles that I think I have a chance of winning (or at least of having my voice go in one ear without going straight out the other) dealing with animals and my beliefs regarding them.
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