K.T. Sonnenblume: We Should Stop Insulting Animals and Own Our Own Humanity
We are not better than anyone or anything else on this planet. We are 'higher' animals only in our minds. Our acquiescence to them does not make us 'sheep'. This is about owning our humanity.
KOLLIBRI TERRE SONNENBLUME: ‘The English language contains hundreds of idioms that mention animals: ants in your pants, bull in a china shop… and many many more… These examples are innocuous, but many evocations of animals are not, and that’s my focus here. Talking politics often includes unfavorable characterizations of one’s adversaries and using animals to insult humans is very common in this context, both online and IRL. But this is neither fair nor accurate… The unspoken assumption behind most animal insults is that animals are inferior to humans.
So, treating someone “like an animal” is cruel and calling them “an animal” is disrespectful. But that’s just anthropocentrism, which is some bullshit cultural baggage, not the actual state of the world. “Human supremacy” is a term we should use more often, as it describes a real thing with myriad consequences. In his book, “The Myth of Human Supremacy,” author Derrick Jensen dismantles the concept quite effectively, revealing it for the set of irrational prejudices that it is.
As Jensen and others have pointed out, this is not merely a philosophical issue. Our elevation of ourselves above all other creatures has resulted in material consequences: animal and plant extinctions, decimated ecosystems, pollution of the atmosphere and oceans, all of it on a massive scale. We are threatening to render the planet uninhabitable to ourselves, perhaps abruptly. But even if we survive, it is already too late for many species and places…
We are not better than anyone or anything else on this planet. We are “higher” animals only in our minds. We’ve got to stop insulting each other for being “bird-brained,” “catty,” “slothful,” “sluggish,” “vulturous” or–this one is the most insidious—”bitchy.” Our enemies are not snakes, sharks, worms, insects, vultures or hyenas. Our acquiescence to them does not make us “sheep”—it marks us as compliant, docile, meek, passive, spineless, submissive, timid, weak and yielding. This is not a PC thing. This is about owning our humanity’. SOURCE…
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