Human supremacy is the ideology most of us follow (whether knowingly or unconsciously) that places our species as separate and superior to all other species. This ideology is the driving force behind our exploitation of other animals and is the origin which all animal cruelty can be traced back to.
Imagine if you saw someone violently beating up their dog. You might wonder what they could possibly have been thinking. Well, they were probably thinking “it’s just an animal”. They probably thought the dog’s life didn’t matter because “they’re not a human, they’re just a dog.” But I bet you’d disagree with that, wouldn’t you? Because it is wrong, it’s just plain cruel. That dog’s life did matter, they had feelings and they suffered, they didn’t deserve to be hurt. What do you think of poachers killing wild animals then? That’s wrong too isn’t it? Because those animals suffer and they have just as much right to be here as we do.
So then what about the fact that millions of male chicks are ground up alive on their first day of life in the egg industry? What about the fact that mother cows cry out for days on end after their calves are taken away in the dairy industry? What about the fish suffocating agonisingly after being pulled from the water? What about all the terrified animals hanging from shackles in slaughterhouses, their blood pooling on the floor, what about all of them?
Just like the dog who is beaten, none of these animals deserve to suffer pain and death for being “just” a chicken, or “just” a cow or “just” a pig or “just” a fish. Whether they have hair, fur, feathers or scales they are all sentient individuals, and they all deserve to live.
We use our human-superior ideology to determine other animals’ lives as inferior, because they lack our specific type of intelligence, because they are weaker and cannot defend themselves, or simply because… they are not humans.
While it is true that humans are more intelligent and have power over other animals, this does not give us the right to enslave them. It gives us the responsibility to care for them. Our increased intelligence gives us moral agency, the ability to see right from wrong. Therefore saying we are more intelligent is really a reason for taking care of animals who are at our mercy, not for taking advantage of their vulnerability to enslave, abuse and kill them to meet our own desires.
We don’t just say animals matter less, we even go so far as to claim that other species exist for us. That they exist to be eaten or to be used for milk or eggs and so on. How dare we believe such a thing? How dare we believe we are so superior that the lives of other sentient beings belong to us, and exist for us to do what we please with? Have we forgotten there is a soul inside every one of them, that there is a person in there who lives and feels and suffers?
Do you believe that your beloved cat or dog’s only purpose in life is to serve you? That they only exist for your benefit? I’m sure you don’t. And I’m sure that truly, you also know that every other animal of every species, are individuals who, like me and you, exist for their own reasons, not to serve us.
The supremacy ideology has been used over and over in history, by men to oppress women, by white people to oppress black people, and we continue to use it to oppress other animals. Are we doomed to keep repeating history? Have we not seen how the victims suffer? 619 million humans have been killed in war in our entire recorded history. We kill the same number of non-human animals every THREE DAYS, not even including fish and other marine animals.
In slaughterhouses in every single country on earth animals tremble in fear, scream in pain, and struggle for their lives. We force them onto the kill floors, despite the undeniable fear in their eyes, and their desperate attempts to escape. The stench of their blood hangs in the air, and the sound of their screaming never ceases.
Chickens thrash and spasm as they are dragged through electric water baths.
Inside abattoirs day’s-old bobby calves unknowingly seek comfort by attempting to suckle on the gun that’s about to kill them.
Pigs burn from the inside out in gas chambers.
On the streets of our cities stray cats and dogs die in loneliness from starvation, injury or disease.
In laboratories animals cower in their cages in fear of the next experiment.
Chickens who have been bred to grow extremely obese lie in their own waste on farms, unable to stand.
On fur farms animals are confined in stressful environments and electrocuted and skinned alive.
In the fishing industry, fish are left to suffocate or are cut up alive or bludgeoned to death.
On farms, in slaughterhouses, in laboratories, in zoos and rodeos and on racetracks, on the streets, and even in their own wild habitats, animals suffer the most terrible cruelty, and lose their lives, because of us. Because of our unjustified belief that we are superior. That because they are a different species their lives don’t matter.
For how long will we continue to needlessly kill them? For how long will we continue to ignore the suffering we cause them every minute of every day? Can we not understand the evil of our actions?
“Does the superiority complex, this pure selfishness, define who we are as a species, or are we capable of something more?”
–Dominion Documentary
Every one of the other souls born on this planet, every one of our fellow earthlings, deserves the same basic right – to live their life in peace. Just like we can recognise that all humans, despite all our differences, deserve autonomy and to be free from harm because we are all human, all animals also deserve autonomy and to be free from harm because we are all sentient beings.
Every being, no matter what species they are born into, has just as much right to be here and to live in peace, as you and me.
Once you acknowledge this, all that’s left to do is embody it. We must change our actions so they no longer reflect our human superior ideology, but rather reflect a belief that all beings deserve our respect and compassion, regardless of their species.
You can do this every day, by boycotting industries which exploit and kill animals. This means being vegan: only eating plant based food, only buying products that are not tested on animals, refusing to wear clothing made from animal skin, fur or wool, adopting a companion animal instead of buying from a breeder, boycotting aquariums, zoos, animal racing and rodeos, and educating others and advocating for animal rights. Look at it from the victim’s perspective and you’ll realise this is the least you can do.
Image Credits (in order of images):
- Google – PHYS.org
- Peta
- Sisu Refuge
- Human Cruelties
- Human Cruelties
- Human Cruelties
- Taranaki Animal Save
- Human Cruelties
- Canva
- The Save Movement
- Human Cruelties
- Human Cruelties
- Human Cruelties
- Bobby Sud, LA Animal Save
- The Gentle Barn
- Sisu Refuge
See for yourself the reality of animal agriculture in this shocking documentary. Using undercover footage, “Dominion” exposes the true horrors you are paying for when you buy animal products.
Want to go vegan but not sure how? Join the 22 Day Vegan Challenge and receive free support to help you make the switch to a plant based diet. Sign up now and stop being the reason animals suffer. What are you waiting for?
For Animals. 