If what your country is doing seems to you practically and morally wrong, is dissent the highest form of patriotism?
Howard ZinnRead
Who taught me that animals were put on this Earth for food? Who taught me to disrespect animals and view them as mere commodities? Who stole my compassion, my empathy and my conscience? Who lied to me? Who instilled this vicious mindset of human-to-animal exploitation as standard operating procedure?
Interpretation
The quote questions societal teachings about humanity's relationship with animals, criticizing the view of animals as mere commodities.
Gary Yourofsky's quote challenges the normative beliefs that animals exist solely for human consumption, urging individuals to reflect on the societal conditioning that breeds a lack of empathy and compassion towards animals. It reflects an ongoing ethical debate about animal rights, urging a deeper understanding of our responsibilities towards other living beings and questioning the moral implications of exploiting animals for food and resources.
In practice
During a discussion on ethical eating at a community event.
If what your country is doing seems to you practically and morally wrong, is dissent the highest form of patriotism?
It's here, where absolute evil was perpetrated, that the will must resurface for a fraternal world, a world based on respect of man and his dignity.
At one point, early on, some public figures even asked whether it 'made sense' to rebuild New Orleans. Would you let your own mother die because it didn't make financial sense to spend the money to treat her, or because you were too busy to spend the time to heal her sick spirit?
By obliging men to turn their attention to other affairs than their own, it rubs off that private selfishness which is the rust of society.
There can be no compromise with war; it cannot be reformed or controlled; cannot be disciplined into decency or codified into common sense.
There are some kinds of Christianity that insist you have to believe literally in doctrine. The Gnostic gospels open out the complexity and multiplicity of approaches to this. If you think the story of the virgin birth is mistranslated, for instance, it doesn't mean you have to throw out the whole thing.
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