Saturday, June 25, 2005

The Case for Animal Rights

From the diary: “Monday April 22, 1985

“Am reading The Case for Animal Rights. Round and round in philosophical arguments that can get quite trying on the eyes (and mind) but sometimes are quite droll.”

Animals have rights. If people have rights then animals have rights. Do people have rights? We say they do. And it’s a very good story to tell ourselves, I think.

Do plants have rights? Sure. Why not? If they don’t then what?

Stones? The air? Does this planet, too, have rights?

2 comments:

hbjock said...

Hmmm what an interesting thought... According to my people's beliefs, yes plants, stones and the earth have rights because we're related to them... but try explaining that to the money-hungry Western economic machine =)

BTW, thanks for the comment! Yeah I'm amazed at how much attention to detail Rowling puts into her books, and the fact that she brings up side-stories that link all the books together... like she'll mention a person in Book 1 or 2.. and then in Book 4 or 5, they come back! It's just amazing how she remembers everthing...

Glenn Ingersoll said...

We are related to them, as you say. I wish this meant we didn't abuse those to whom we were related.

I've seen pictures of the charts and grids Rowling drew up to keep track of everything in her Harry Potter stories. I'm sure she doesn't know every little detail of what's to happen but, unlike Baum's Oz stories, she's not totally making it up as she goes along.