THOUGHTS ON HUMAN SUPREMACY

I found an interesting article at the website of the North American Vegetarian Society . The article, "The Decline and Fall of Human Supremacy", was written by Vance Lehmkuhl, a writer and political cartoonist. (His book, The Joy of Soy, is a collection of vegetarian cartoons). In the article, Vance writes that our assumption of human supremacy is being challenged. The entire pdf file can be downloaded at www.navs-online.org . Click on "The Decline and Fall of Human Supremacy" under Vegetarian Voice articles.


Here are some excerpts from the article:

"From antiquity up to a few hundred years ago it was understood by nearly all human beings that the sun revolved around the earth. This made sense because, as we were the center of consciousness, creation and the universe itself, the cosmos should logically be set up as a backdrop to humanity."

"The current orthodoxy is that although we were placed on an out-of-the-way planet nowhere the center of our galaxy, our species is still the be-all and end-all of creation, or at least failing that, of consciousness."

"Since the dawn of time, we were supposedly the only animals with a real language. By the 20th century that notion was already discredited, and our claim to distinction became 'Man the Tool-Maker'..........With documentary evidence of chimpanzees fashioning and using termite-scooping tools in rotting logs, that fell by the wayside as well."

"In June, The journal Science reported that 'A German border collie named Rico has learned 200 words, indicating that a dog's ability to understand language is far better than expected.' A Bloomberg News story goes on to explain that Rico 'correctly retrieved 37 out of 40 toys by name.' Here's the kicker. 'The dog was given the names of the toys just once.' "

"Do you speak German? If not pretend you're given German words for 40 objects, hearing German words only once. Would you be able to match more that 37 of them?"

"Any one of these incidents puts a serious dent in the concept of human supremacy......."

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".......every animal that walks the earth, or swims, or flies is precious beyond description, something so rare and wonderful that it equals the stars or the ocean or the mind of man. Animals form an inalienable fragment of nature, and if we hasten the disappearance of even one species, we diminish our world and our place in it."-‘James Michener-‘Where Did the Animals Go?’ Readers’ Digest June 1976

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