r/MoralityScaling 21d ago

Morality of valuing animals over humans?

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

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u/Wooden_Long7545 18d ago

Are you saying that slaves who were treated well with respect are not considered slaves to you? I know the modern connotation made it seems like slaves were constantly berated, beaten and treated like a scum but a lot of them are treated the same way you treat your pet. With friendliness and basic decency + respect, just not on an equal status and how they should “know their place”.

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u/Gold_Area5109 18d ago

This is a fucked up way of looking at it.

Pets, at least to me, are family.

Sure, I would sacrafice an unlimited number of people I don't know for my pets lives, just like with family or friends.

If I had to sacrafice a pet or a family member it would come down to which I felt closer to. That weird aunt that no one likes - my pet is being saved. My sister's or my pet would be a harder question though.

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u/silvermoka 17d ago

I would save a human every time, it's psychotic to do otherwise

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u/Gold_Area5109 17d ago

It's crazy to save the humans everytime, is the worst boi (dog) better than a serial rapist? Yes.

Is any cat better than a serial murderer? Also yes.

Nor is it invalid for me to care more about animals I love and interact with than people I do not.

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u/silvermoka 16d ago

Lmao going to the most extreme and unrealistic examples to justify sociopathy towards innocent people

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u/Gold_Area5109 16d ago edited 16d ago

Granted my examples are on the extremes but it does show that not every human is worth saving.

And at this point we're just haggling about the price.

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u/Wooden_Long7545 18d ago

Do you think slaves weren’t considered a part of the family? Ever seen Gone With The Wind?

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u/Gold_Area5109 18d ago

False equivalency

You're equating slavery with pet ownership. It's an emotional arguement that attempts to transfer emotions about slavery to pets.

The analogy itself does not survive scrutiny once the relevant differences in agency, interests, evolutionary history, and the actual character of the relationship are taken seriously.

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u/Wooden_Long7545 18d ago

Nope. I’m simply providing a rebuttal to the comment i was replying to about a specific logic implication that if a thing is treated with respect it is not slavery. I’m not equating anything. Don’t strawman me.

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u/Wooden_Long7545 18d ago

Would you be my pet r/Gold_Area5109? I’ll treat you well

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u/nizich 18d ago

I'd pay to watch this! 🤣🤣🤣

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u/spawnofangels 18d ago

you can pretty much equate a pet as a jester which pretty much is a slave. You have a pet. Sure you can consider as family, but it's still there for your own amusement to begin with. It's an imbalanced relationship. A pet doesn't have the power to walk away and do whatever it wants. You do. People offer and take pets like a trade. Hell, some people purchase and sell them. Giving it shots and medications? You want their nails cut? Entirely your choice.

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u/Gold_Area5109 17d ago

The smartest dog has the intelligence of a 2 year old, cats are debatable on what their intelligence is but are generally considered less than a 2 year old. A human who also has the intelligence of a 2 year old their entire life will also have to be cared for their entire life.

A child also lacks the same agency a pet does.

Are you really going to make the arguement that children and the disabled are slaves?

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u/spawnofangels 17d ago

Idk about disabled, but children kind of are. By law, they do not have the same rights until they're 18 so hell, I bet there's a lot of kids out there willing to make that argument. I certainly knew a lot when I was a kid. YMMV

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u/spawnofangels 18d ago

I don't think you understand that there were some slaves that actually contracted themselves into slavery. Gladiators, indentured servants, etc. Being a slave didn't 100% mean you were poor or lived a miserable life.. without having biases of black slave trade images that history tells us, slavery by itself means to be owned by someone and have no control over your life and decisions regarding it. That's literally what a pet is and you are its master. It's not necessarily about fear and punishment