Hyderabad: According to famous philosopher Jeremy Bentham, “The question is not, ‘Can they reason?’ nor, ‘Can they talk?’ but, ‘Can they suffer?'” Speciesism is a common belief that some species, such as humans, are superior to others. This thought process allows humans across the world to prioritize human culture over everything else, and believe that ecosystems and other life forms within them should be destroyed to accommodate humans. To shun this idea of discrimination, animal activists and many others observe 'World Day Against Speciesism' across the world.
World Day Against Speciesism is a reminder to people that just like racism and sexism, speciesism also does not belong in a civilized society. Animal activists believe that people who consider kindness a virtue would not be fine with breeding animals just to consume them, experimenting on them, keeping them chained up or caged, or stripping them off their fur just because humans are superior to them.
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Animals too deserve respect, they are also made of flesh, bone, and blood, they feel joy and pain, they form friendships and grieve at the loss of loved ones. There are various health reasons for people to give up meat, but according to experts the main reason for people turning into vegetarians or vegans is the increasing concerns around the morality of killing animals for food, especially among young women.
Humans have the ability to harvest parts of plants which they can consume, and these plants can regenerate themselves, unlike animals. Therefore unnecessarily breeding animals for products that people don't necessarily need, and are mostly harmful for their health and environment would be considered cruelty by many.
World Day Against Speciesism provides people with a platform to break away from the ideology of superiority and also makes researchers, policy experts and entrepreneurs who work towards managing global issues such as climate change, the future of energy, the future of humanity, and food security happy.
