randomrob said:
Denamic said:
Nature is far more cruel than humans ever were.
But Humans are still cruel. We may be less cruel to animals than nature is, but we are far crueller to them than we are to fellow humans.
Cruelty is an entirely human concept.
No Cow has ever died thinking 'Well, that bipedal thing with the bolt-gun was fucking mean to me!'
I hate to simplify what is, for me, quite a complex series of issues crossing Morals, Nature, Mans ability to overcome nature, the fact that man is the only truly sentient and intelligent animal in nature, and a whole host of other things, but what this whole thing really boils down to for me is:
The Cheetah does not care what the Springbok feels when it dies.
The fact that we even moderately consider the 'feelings' of our prey is an anomaly. One which I share in - I don't like unnecessary cruelty to animals, and as with most westerners, I value certain animals above others - I may disapprove of a farmer of Battery-cage hens, but I'd happily set fucking fire to a **** who mistreats his dog.
Once again though, on a sheer intellectual, 'lets look at this through the cold eyes of logic' way of things - The fact that we herd and domesticate our prey does not change the fact that this is all it is - Prey. It's a commodity.
The Cheetah, will never, ever care what the Springbok feels when it dies. The Springbok will never, ever consider that it's a cruel world which put it in the same area as something that wants to (and has the capability) to chase it down and eat it. It certainly won't consider it's life to have been better than a Cow that lived it's entire life in a field, before getting a bolt through it's head.
Only humans can draw distinctions between the two. Ultimately they're the same thing.
We're just better at it than the Cheetah.