Going too far

One thing that really gets my goat (to use an apropos idiom) is when people attribute more to animals than is actually there. Like most people there are animals for which I feel a great deal of affection. I wish I still had my beloved chocolate lab Homer. He was a lot smarter than many people I meet...friendlier, too. He was a great companion and I miss him. However...I do realize he was a dog. Not a person. A dog.

A lot of people miss that. PETA really gets on my nerves with their failure to understand that, as one example. So do these yutzes that put sweaters on their mutts and carry them around in purses. Yes, your pet is smarter than you and more likable...but it is still an animal, not a person.

Not everyone realizes that.

A British woman has applied to become the legal guardian of a chimpanzee to protect its 'human' rights.
Paula, who has been Matthew's keeper for nine years, says primates are the same as people and should be protected by the courts.
Paula and her lawyers believe he should have the same rights as a child and have a guardian to help him spend it, and they have gone to court to back their claim.

In the interest of full disclosureI should point out the case is in Austria. Doesn't make it any smarter. Chimps are not humans no matter how much clueless wonders might want them to be. There are fundamental, inalienable, and vital differences.

One example would be moral consciousness. Chimps (okay, ALL animals) have none. They do not have the capability for it. There is no rationale reasoning, no long-range planning, no conception of a "global community" or any such thing.

Another example would be the soul. Of course, for those people this is an irrelevant argument since they generally have no belief in an afterlife governed by an Omniscient, Omnipowerful Being...but for those of us who believe and know the truth comparing an animal to a human is a slap in the face not to us but to God.

The bottom line is trying to drag people down to the level of animals is destructive and prohibits growth.