Reddit reviews Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring (Paperback))

Letters to a Young Contrarian

One of my absolute favorites. Probably the best ratio of powerful prose to pages ever. Slim read. Highly recommended.

Letters to a Young Contration by Christopher Hitchens

Actually, I do own them. They cannot leave my possession, and if they do, they can be returned to me as my possession. The closest thing they are to humans are small children, and I don't even agree with that. They belong to me, regardless of it being right, wrong, or indifferent. If you are a dog-owner you own a dog, simple as that. My dog has no independence outside of that which I allow, and that is fine because he cannot be trusted in society to build an adequate life for himself. He loves me because he doesn't know any better and because I treat him well.

The explanation she gives is very similar to the religious "I don't hate you as a sinner, I just hate the sin you commit." They're wiggle words. The idea of branding yourself as "XYZ" and not "like the rest" creates an "us vs. them" mentality. That is to say, I only believe what I believe because I've been indoctrinated in to it. You're actually speaking to a former vegetarian, believe it or not. Granted, I didn't stick with it long, but this isn't the first time that I've ever thought about it.

I understand your mentality, I just do not agree with it beyond that something should be done to stop some of the more egregious actions taken against these farm animals. After all, “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”

A dog gets killed instead of "going to prison" for murdering a human being (because if they are our equals, than they can commit murder) because they won't be able to dwell on their actions and rectify them. They do not have the capacity to do so. They don't go on trial for manslaughter for the same reason a baby doesn't go on trial if they commit murder in some way. They are not responsible for their actions because we've deemed their actions instinctual, which they are.

And of mosquitoes, why can't they just kill us all off in self defense? They're equal to us, so their need to defend themselves should be just as important as our need to defend ourselves. If animals started revolting against farmers and killing them off to protest their treatment (which they never will because they are not intelligent enough to recognize the complete weight of the situation that they are in) would that be justified? If so, why aren't you helping to kill for them to escape their enslavement, if they are no different from Jews at Auschwitz?

They are racist but you don't understand why they are racist. I've met a few former Neo Nazi's and spoken with a practicing neo-nazi, and beyond looking at the whole origin of the hatred of Jews (because it is extensive as hell) they don't see them as actual humans. They're treated like animals because they feel threatened by them, and they think it will cause a "white genocide" of sorts. Ironically, the woman's points in her video are very similar to the points made in this video. That isn't to call her a Nazi by any means, but to compare the Nazi movement for eugenics to the animal rights movement is a bunch of complete nonsense.

I've done my reading on speciesism. It is not, nor will it ever be as important as the issues with racism and those with sexism. Animals cannot have any form of beliefs. That is to say, they cannot dictate what is right or wrong, only what is. Belief as an idea is something that only humans possess. An animal cannot be religious, nor can an animal be an atheist. An animal cannot support slavery and an animal cannot be opposed to slavery. They do not have interests in the same way that humans do. Their interests are guided only by instinct as a means through which to reproduce. Morality only exists in the minds of those who can rationalize it, and animals simply can not. Women can, and people of all races can. Therefore animal rights are not on the same level as racism or sexism.

I do want to thank you though for having me read and look up those things though. Genuinely, not to be an asshole. I feel like I came out more developed as a thinker and more readily able to defend my belief that eating meat is not immoral. Though, you can work on not insulting the person giving the argument. The idea of a debate isn't to "beat" the other person, it's to enlighten them to the correct way of viewing things, while being open to having your mind changed as well. You should read Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens. Absolutely wonderful book.

Still open to any rebuttals you have to make though.