Do we care more about animals than humans who are suffering?

[apples and oranges]

About a week ago, Sarah Silverman made a pretty interesting comment:

“I will tell you this if there were a million springer spaniels in Africa dying of AIDS and starvation, we’d probably take care of that in about 4 days.”

The sad part is, I think she's right.

[closeupready]

1. I sometimes think so.

nt

[movonne]

25. I always feel that way...babies and animals..

[Warpy]

2. Maybe, maybe not

We tend to see animals as helpless and dependent, which they certainly are not. Companion animals would survive just fine were we all to disappear overnight, as long as they could get out of the house.

But yes, our misinterpretation of what they are makes us much more likely to support what we see as their rescue. After all, there are more animal shelters in this country than battered women's shelters. That shows you where the priorities are.

[Doremus]

14. Just a couple of points.

1. Companion animals would survive just fine were we all to disappear overnight, as long as they could get out of the house.

Wrong wrong wrong times ten.

2. After all, there are more animal shelters in this country than battered women's shelters.

Do you suppose the number of shelters of either sort has a direct relation to the number of creatures requiring one? Hmmm?

[Doremus]

3. Care more? I don't think so. Just less willing to consider them disposable. nt

[villager]

4. well, I don't see our species caring too much for wild animals, especially those at the top

...of various ecosystems and foodchains.

Grizzlies, panthers, and wolves aren't exactly "booming" under our "stewardship..." Because to do so would mean ceding parts of the biosphere, of territory, back to them. And our masters won't allow that...

[pscot]

37. Some animals are just

more equal than others.

[Modern_Matthew]

5. Unfortunately. nt

[ClarkUSA]

6. If that were true, there would be no mass extinctions going on now due to man's footprint.

[BeHereNow]

7. In that all life is connected- we should care equally about all living creatures.

However, man is the only species that shits in his nest
and believes he has the right to shit in other species
nests too.

BHN

[wtmusic]

8. We're disinclined to believe humans can be as helpless as animals. nt

[TBF]

9. I don't think that's true - as evidenced by all the animals euthanized in shelters

each year. I'm looking forward to a day when all living creatures are valued.

[michaz]

22. And most are euthanized because....

no human cared enough to have them spayed or neutered and they multiplied till there were too many of them, many were abused beyond repair by a human, a human thought they were cute as a puppy or kitten and didn't think they were so cute as an adult, some human didn't bother to get them their vaccinations so they contacted a disease,some human decided they couldn't afford them anymore or some human decided they were too much bother. Of course then again, there are humans who don't care about humans either. Many who abuse animals also abuse humans. Hmmm...no wonder I like most animals better than I like most humans!

[aquart]

10. Never much cared for Sarah Silverman.

Still don't.

[Taverner]

11. I thought the same thing when I heard the lion cub rescue in Sudan

Millions are dying in a horrible war, yet we saved that lion cub

[Orrex]

12. If this is about that cock-fighting ring that Dr. Strange was running out of his basement...

He was acquitted of most of those charges after a long and embarrassingly public trial.

[TZ]

30. That would explain

the weird chain mail you made for him...protection....not of the latex variety....:evilgrin:

[retread]

13. You must have missed the meat video. n/t

[wtmusic]

15. Looking forward to the sequel

but neither of them will be as good as the book :(

[retread]

33. Just in case your "humor" is too subtle for my low level of intelligence, we are speaking of the

same thing, right??
http://www.meatvideo.com/

[shockra]

39. Ironically, the founder of Mercy for Animals (which created that video)...

Was beaten up two years ago for being gay, and ended up in the hospital. He understands the connection between different types of oppression.

MFA has long worked to bridge the gap between the common prejudices which lead to oppression and abuses faced by both animals and minorities. In recent years MFA has joined gay advocates in gay pride marches by forming human rainbows preceded by banners declaring, “No one is free when others are oppressed.” The organization has also been a lead opponent of gay rodeo events, citing the community’s obligation to protect animals from needless violence.

http://queeranimals.wordpress.com/

New video, The Gay Animal: Nathan Runkle

http://vimeo.com/21624081

[SoCalDem]

16. The general assumption by animal lovers, is this..

most animals are totally at the mercy of humans. they control little if anything about their lives.... pets eat what and when we feed them.. wild animals get to live as long as we do not crowd them out, poison them, shoot them...what happens to them when they brush up against humans is usually not in their favor.

people who love animals usually love people too, but animals are almost always innocent beings who have things done to them..things they have no control over or remedy for.

children & animals always occupy a special place in the hearts of caring people, since they are innocents and have no power to change much about their lives..

[EFerrari]

17. She sounds like those wingnuts that believe anyone's gain is her loss. n/t

[Raine]

40. Exactly! nt

[bobbolink]

18. Yup, she is spot on.

[pitohui]

19. this isn't even remotely true or interesting, it just shows ignorance of the animal problem here

actually in the 90s there were millions of cats w. a contagious feline disease similar to AIDS and not only did my neighbors not care, they kept tossing their own supposed PET cats outside...result, a big drop in the cat population around my house for awhile during the height of the disease...but now the cats are being tossed outside again, i hope this time they at least have the damn vaccine

check around, you will find out that there ARE millions of designer dogs who can't get a place, shelters advertise them all the time, as for cats, they are throwaway animals

i have a friend who works in animal spay &neuter, adoption, etc, at the end of the day if you get involved in that area, you end up like a crazy cat lady with more animals than you can handle because you can't place them in homes, right here in america, forget about some stray dog in africa (and by the way there are BOOCOO stray dogs in africa & asia, and i don't see anyone taking care of that in about four days -- the whole comment smacks of just making shit up)

some sound bites just reveal the ignorance of the speaker, this woman clearly has never had any contact whatsoever with anyone who works in animal rescue or to provide shelters for animals

"we" cannot and do not provide help to all the millions of unwanted animals, it's ridiculous to pretend that "we" do -- whoever "we" is...

[mmonk]

20. Yes. Sarah is right.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

21. Whatever happened to that cat --

that was outside your door crying?

Stirring the pot again, I see...

[Maine-ah]

32. I was wondering about that the other day...

what happened to the cat?

[Cattledog]

23. I'd euthanize SS before a dog any day.

[MoonRiver]

24. The thing about children and animals is that they are innocent.

They didn't ask for or bring about their suffering. In general, that is different for adult humans.

[Rowdyboy]

26. I volunteer at the Aminal Rescue League here....Mississippians don't give a shit about their dogs ..

Sadly they don't give a shit about their children either. :shrug:

[Baclava]

27. Did they find that poor little lost cobra from the zoo yet? Ohhhh...you mean fluffy animals

then the answer is yes

[elocs]

28. I don't see how helping animals or helping humans are mutually exclusive.

I think it's a perception that when animals are helped, people are not but it's a false perception.
Like in Japan, I don't think that just because there were those looking for animals it didn't mean that everything was not being done to find people as well.

As far as Sarah Silverman goes, I don't think she is right.

[xchrom]

29. That's a quaint misguided 'popular' notion.

An easy google would stop both you ms Silverman from
Saying such dumb things.

We who were misted affected by AIDS in the early days couldn't even save our pets.
Let alone our loved ones. Nobody wanted them.

[hamsterjill]

31. I'm in animal rescue and I get this comment all the time.

It's the same shit as always. I'm continually asked how I can spend time, money and effort on homeless cats when there are so many people who need help. And my answer is always "why can't we take care of both humans and animals?" There shouldn't have to be a choice. I follow up that answer by asking the person what THEY have done that day to further the cause for humans. There is almost always dead silence.

The problem is not about people caring - either for humans or animals. The problem is that the people who do care are usually the ones living paycheck to paycheck, with limited resources to share. The problem is the income gap in this country.

[jtuck004]

38. +1 eom

[retread]

34. Show me an animal abuser and I'll show you a human rights violator.

[Johonny]

35. I'll go with an easy no on this

It seems like people care about their pets more than other people. People just like animals that are out of site in general don't rank up a lot of care factor in people. Thus the millions of animals that die in shelter here in the USA don't generate any more interest than the millions in Africa dying of Aids.

[CreekDog]

36. there undoubtedly *ARE* plenty of starving dogs and cats in Africa

the idea that we go and fix that lickety-split is ridiculous. we don't.

and during Katrina, the animals weren't even allowed to shelter or evacuate on the buses.

[Raine]

41. Ignorant statement, the same people who help animals also help people.

Ask the people who do nothing why they aren't solving Aids, starvation and animal issues. The rest of us are too busy dividing our time between people and animals to give much of a response to such an ignorant statement. I get so sick of this same old shit like it has to be a choice between two worthy things to help. :mad: