Speciesism And Speciesism

The debate over Evolutionary theories and Creationism beliefs has been a major debate throughout our churches, education system, and even our homes. There have been countless scientists, theologians, journalists and Christians that have studied both sides of the spectrum, that argue how the world we live in was created. Many empty statements, with little to no facts, just assertions about this particular question have been stated in many debates all over the world. So on one side we have Creationism belief that essentially argues that God is the “intelligent designer” and on the other side Evolutionary theories that state the world has evolved over the centuries. In the Merriam- Webster dictionary, Creationism is defined as, “a doctrine or theory holding that matter, the various forms of life, and the world were created by God out of nothing and usually in the way described in Genesis “. Merriam- Webster dictionary also defines Evolution as, “a theory that the differences between modern plants and animals are because of changes that happened by a natural process over a very long time; the process by which changes in plants and animals happen over time; a process of slow change and development”. So is it possible to believe both of those definitions?

Discrimination in the novel is mostly obvious from Joseph Strorm, who is ironically the father of a deviant, David Strorm. He is the strictest devout of his religion in Waknuk and being the heir of Waknuk, he bears the responsibility to keep the society deviation-free. He does so by discriminating against deviants, like the society, and punishing them for being born ‘wrong’. His devotion to God and the ‘Definition of Man’ can be seen when he hit his son, David for wishing he had a third hand by mistake. He is sensitive to any form of deviation and punishes them harshly but he does admit that God is merciful, as seen from ‘God, in His mercy, may yet grant you (forgiveness)’. This is ironic as Joseph, being a devout, should be following God’s footsteps and be merciful in his actions too but he is willing to kill and punish people instead, contradicting his religion. His intolerance of deviations led him to discriminate against them, as can be seen from how he refused to help Aunt Harriet and humiliated her instead when she came begging for help to save her innocent deviant child. Joseph had also discriminated against the great horses unsuccessfully as the government had approved of them and there

Human beings are part of the animal kingdom, and therefore part of nature. If that is true, then everything they create or destroy is by default "natural". I agree with the statement.

A pet is something that many people view as a companion, something more than just an animal; yet others don’t see any value in them whatsoever. To these people, a pet can be a nuisance or even a waste of money. This is just one example of how different people can view the same thing in complete opposite ways. This idea also runs through Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, as Kingsolver uses five different narrators to allow each one to tell their own version of the family’s time in Africa. The fact that each character sees the same events differently is one of the most important themes in the book. The other themes, such as the role of a woman and the idea of balance are all explored by different characters, because Kingsolver

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.( the animals felt that they were being cast as lower class to the pigs and the pigs thought that they were much more superior than the other animals and therefore more

Anti-Semitism, or the hatred of the Jewish people, has been prominent throughout history, even long before the Holocaust during World War II. Stemming from biblical times, the Jews were often ridiculed for wanting to remain a separate religion, refusing to adopt the belief system of the non-Jewish community (ADL.org). Not only that, the early Christians, both Catholic and Protestant believed that the Jews were single-handedly responsible for the death of Jesus Christ (“Anti-Semitism: The Longest Hatred”).

The subject of origins, or how we got here, is one of the most fundamental questions that can be asked. The important question of why we are here can’t be answered by science alone. How we answer these questions provides the basis for how we think about things, it defines our world-view. The Evolution vs. Creation debate is often referred to as the Great Debate. 20th century science has made the compelling discovery that, at some point, the universe began. Both sides of the debate Evolutionists and Creationists agree on one thing only, that the universe has not always existed. This is where their agreement ends. The why and how the universe began is where the division and dispute begins.

Because of this, humans view animals as lesser beings which can be controlled, eaten, and abused at our discretion. Singer argues against this way of thinking by acknowledging the similarities between humans and other “lesser

“Jews were initially the subject of primarily religious intolerance: they were despised for the arrogance of their monotheism, vilified as Christ’s murderers, and identified with the devil. Later during the eighteenth and most of the nineteenth century, with the rise of capitalism, they would experience a social form of prejudice… a mixture of resentment and jealousy over the seeming ability of Jews to make good on the scarce opportunities offered them by capitalism and liberal society. It was indeed only in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century… that Jews would experience the new political expression of Judeophobia commonly known as anti-Semitism.”

There is always an entity in the air, a presence that encroaches beneath the ground, or even an engrossing feeling that is within the human psyche. This invisible social force that influences everyday life is called prejudice, to which the excruciating backlash Jews have received for their cultural identity and traditions even has a term for it: anti-semitism. There are a large variety of anti-semitic myths that been associated by inaccurate stereotypes to which ignorance continues to breed. In order to properly understand how to debunk these pigeonhole categories, three particular myths will be explored to further comprehend how anti-semitism was in the past and how it currently relates to contemporary times. Jews known for contributing to well poisoning during the Black Death alongside how this group has been linked to being known as “Christ killers” and “ritual murders” provide an ugly, erroneous portrayal that harms the Jewish community and should be ended immediately.

Antisemitism has been an issue since the beginning of monotheism, yet it is a relatively modern term. "the roots of Jew-hatred lie in folklore and popular prejudices dating back to antiquity."(Caplan Web) Jews have received stereotypes from breaking the human relation with God to being greedy and wealthy. The Jewish population has been persecuted harshly for centuries; not just in the case of the Holocaust but in many medieval cases too. Even religions that are branched off from Judaism have used anti-Semitic tactics. Christians in Europe during the medieval times forced Jews to live in a ghetto and prohibited them form owning land. This caused the Jewish population to make income by loaning money. This is where the stereotype of Jews being

Humans have always had an inherent tendency to view themselves as morally superior and intelligent creatures. In thinking highly of themselves, they tend to dismiss the qualities of other species and fail to appreciate the relative harmony of the natural world. This ignorance becomes apparent in many of Clarice Lispector’s short stories, especially in that of the collection Family Ties. The motif of animals recurs multiple times in these short stories, introducing the message that animals live a more authentic way of life than humans by transcending the linguistic and emotional barriers that constrain humanity. To convey this central theme, Lispector uses animals as symbols, foils to demonstrate the flaws in society, and as a contrast between

Midgley’s main thesis in the story, Animals and the Problem of Evil is that humans classify animals as evil beasts and separate our habits to hide the fact that we live similar to them. Midgley uses the separation of chaos and order of humans and animals and the beastial comparison to aniamls to support her main thesis. I have chosen to focus on her explanation of society’s comparison to animals as beastial and evil and how we distance ourselves from them even though the two species live closer than what most of us think.

Speciesism is an undeniable prejudice focused on by the likes of Peter Singer and Shelly Kagan. The general accepted definition of speciesism is the assumption of superiority to humans which leads to the exploitation of animals. Singer hones in on the idea of speciesism and uses it to describe giving preference to our own species over another, in the absence of morally relevant differences.

True it is that animals should be treated with respect in today’s society, instead of immoral. Even though they are not human exhibits as we are they still need to be respected in their own habitat. Speciesism is the discrimination against species, especially against animals. Speciesism is often used to show human behavior to the non-human animals (Mosser, 2014). The argument about speciesism with Regan And Singer, supports that animals should not be mistreated. They both want humans to change the way they treat animals through legal protection.