Silent majority: animals are not mute people
If animals could speak, they would also be able to vote, be able to pay taxes, obey laws and live similarly to humans, but in a larger, different society than the one we have today.
I do not argue in favour of animal cruelty — it is reprehensible and those who cause it, or who inflict it, are defective human beings.
But the belief that animals are just people who happen to be mute is a deeply erroneous way of thinking that owes far more to the cartoons of Walt Disney than it does to the reality we live in.
If Ted is worried about animals, he can donate money to the local animal shelters, to the ISPCA, or, indeed, volunteer to help them in his free time.
But if Ted seeks to help society in the most ethical and moral ways possible, then his time and money should first be directed to battered women’s shelters and to the homeless.
Ted should also donate to emergency food aid for the 300,000 Irish children who live in some degree of poverty, many of whom turn up to school hungry in the morning.
Frankly, if exporting 3,000 cattle to Libya will feed three Irish children breakfast before they go to school, I’ll help load the ship myself.
Mark Dennehy
Stepaside
Co Wicklow
