The California human rights for animals thing is getting out of control. Soon will I be able to use the HOV lane with my dog riding shotgun?

No. There was some woman who got busted for almost the same thing except she use a store mannequin.

Fur-get about it. Bigger problems to solve.

Animal rights? Shall we have plant rights? Stuffie rights? Anything which appeals to us as cute rights? Animals don’t have any concept about rights. They barely have the capacity to comprehend they exist. Okay, only some even barely comprehend that they exist. Animals get to be revered, and have as long as humans have been aware that other species than themselves exist. It changes, from one culture to another, one individual to the next, which animals get revered, but it has always been. Humans are fascinated by themselves, but also all other things. That is what caused us to rise above other creatures. Rise we did. We are superior, but with that superiority has come some degree of guilt. Why? Why humans? Why me?
Like the monkey smelling its own butt are we. We see something completely natural, without pretense or fanfare, and we become intrigued. When it stinks, we are astonished, yet we sniff away, hoping at some turn the stinky will become special somehow.
Animals are what they are, and nothing more, but human fascination places certain ones in high regard, and then all humans are expected to follow suit. I do. I place animals in high regard. There are certain ones which are so very tasty I cannot pass them up.
Oh, the red light is blinking. I have to go. Love you all!

I dunno about the deeper issues, but I would definitely favor counting any animal that is too big to carry and/or not allowed on a bus as a passenger for HOV purposes.

Thank you to @Here2_4 and the others that actually grasped my question.

Or this could have nothing to do with animal rights and more to do with douchebags who want access to the HOV lanes without having to actually put in any effort to be more efficient drivers by carpooling or using electric/hybrid vehicles.

All living creatures have rights.

Source? WTF are you talking about? I am unaware of such a law or animal human rights.

CA supplies most of the food for the whole country. I can guarantee you that most animals that are consumed as food do not have any rights, let alone human rights—whatever that means.

Or maybe California is more accepting of the fact that humans do not hold dominion over the earth and animals have the right to life just as much as we do.

@tinyfaery

Oh Jesus, this is merely a proposal by one of the many wingnuts out there.

Animals are private or state property, and rightly so.

Deal.

The Earth was big and old enough to know what it was doing it when it created us.

It is just as much ours as it belongs to us.

The idea that the earth belongs to us is laughable, no offense.

Like @tinyfaery, I have no idea what’s even being talked about right now, or what sources there are to the claims that were made here.

And part of the reason animal rights came into existence is because of how animals were treated when people were making movies that used them. Animal rights are a good thing, not a bad thing. Humans might be smarter than other animals in ways, but we’re also a lot more fucking stupid.

“Rights can only possibly belong to those beings that can at least come close to understanding them.”
Babies and mentally disabled people have no rights then. OK.

No links or any reference for people on the east coast? This is the least actual content in a question I have seen in a long time. “You know that thing, right? Well should it be, well… you know… some different thing?! Am I right!? ”

“You gotta fight, for your right, to parrrrrrrtaaaaaay!”
I coulda sworn I just heard a buncha alley cats singin that as they rifled among the trash cans, although I may have dreamt it.

Rights aren’t encoded in DNA. Rights are just limitations imposed on power. Those in positions of power don’t tend to acquiesce lightly to such limitations, so pressure as to be brought to bear.

Those applying the pressure aren’t always the ones who are oppressed; history has many examples of people in positions of privilege advocating for rights to be extended to those who have no say in the matter. They do this because they judge that to be human is to be compassionate.

So maybe the goal of advocates for animal rights isn’t to raise animals to human status, but to make sure that our own humanity doen’t fall victim to our power.

I had a small spider in my car yesterday. On the theory that “all animals have rights”, should I have been able to use the HOV lane?

By the way, I smashed said spider with my fist. The spider spins no more. Did I commit murder?

Dog is my copilot.

Since when do babies vote @ragingloli ?

What is this about?

About how much animals are humanized and it is labeled “rights”.

Animal “rights” are to ensure other living creatures have the right to decent care, clean and healthy living environments, no abuse, and to have the “right” to BE what they as they are.
A chicken has the “right” to BE a chicken and live accordingly to how chickens live. Room to move around, range about, scratch and be part of a flock of their peers.
Cows have a “right” to be cows, to graze on grass, roam about unconfined, and be cows.

Other animals such as horses have a “right” to not be worked to death and properly cared for.
We are stewards of this planet and it;s beings and everything should have a “right” to live a comfortable and cruelty free life, even if it ends up on your plate eventually.
ALL LIFE forms have just as much “right” to be here and live according to their species life plan. I am proud to say that I have cared for many animals in my life and feel honored to give a creature a caring and comfortable life.

Here at our ranch our horses have excellent feed and supplements, are blanketed during the winter, have their stalls cleaned daily with fresh bedding as do our ducks and geese.
Sevral of our birds are old and have mobility issues and we medicate them daily with pain relievers as is the right thing to do as responsible animal stewards. The cats and dog live
comfortably indoors most of the time and nothing here is treated in an unethical manner.
I am not militant about anything but absolutely beleive that all life forms deserve decent treatment and even insects and other “lesser” creatures should not be randomly killed just because you are bigger than they are. I happen to always save whatever I can, whenever I can, short of a rattlesnake on the porch, and even then, as long as it is not a threat to the other animals and humans here it has a valuable job to do and we leave it alone.

The other day I was raking up the last of some hay in the barn to make room for a new stack of bales and raked up a beautiful large Garter snakes that was all cozied up buried in the hay. He stayed, I even made him/her a new hay cave so it can stay warm during the winter and catch the mice and rats in the barn. All life forms deserve respect and should be allowed to BE, period unless they are posing a major threat, such as 500 mice in your house.
The hallmark of a fairly enlightened human is to take seriously their stewardship and respect of diverse life forms.

Relax Rambo. Humans are not special. Deal. Stay out of my state. You do not belong and are not wanted.

Down, boy!

Sit up.

Speak!

Good research.

@SecondHandStoke
Do babies have the right to life?
The right to not be tortured, mutilated, crippled?

@tinyfaery

Who exactly is Rambo?

Me. I don’t carry a knife and while I have decent skills with a compound bow I also have a firm grasp of speaking English along with bothering to have a mode of speech that is actually attractive to most other humans.

“My dog riding shotgun.” No one here is surprised you completely lack a sense of humor.

@DrasticDreamer

Do you have proof that the Earth’s “program” was not to allow humans to flourish?

Earth gave us steel, gave us silicon.

It knew precisely what to provide humankind.

You said the earth belongs to us, and I disagree. We don’t own it – the earth bears us, just as much as it bears all other plants and animals. Everything has evolved to be intricately connected and is part of an ecosystem. When things start collapsing, everything else eventually follows suit.

It knew precisely what to provide humankind so that we could… what? Cut all the forests down? Kill all of the animals? Enslave each other? Pollute the water and the air? The planet didn’t know anything. People seized upon natural resources to the point of destruction for all living things, ourselves included. People have the intellectual capacity to maintain a balance, but instead, we’re on track to ruin everything – so what does that say about our supposed superiority?

Opportunity means absolutely nothing when it’s wasted.

@longgone: “What is this about?”

I’m not positive, but I think it may have something to do with single origin chocolate. Or balloon animals. Or something.

The Earth does belong to us. We are being terrible stewards, but the Earth belongs to us. Humans take possession of land. We can do that because we use the land. We use the resources. We understand a concept of ownership. We protect our perceived rights of ownership. We make use of barter systems. We don’t have to have been here first to take possession of the Earth. We only need to be the sort of force to want it, and take it, and use it.
As far as the pet thing, yes, in some ways it is beyond weird, but people have been beyond weird about certain animals for centuries.
I have had pets, and loved them, but I never built them shrines, or mausoleums, or worshiped them. If I were down to my last morsel of food, and I was hungry, yes, I would eat that last morsel of food. People get over the top about critters, but it is nothing new. Critters have been worshiped or revered for centuries. Cats in Egypt. Cattle in India, and, uh, which tribe in Africa keeps cattle for milk and blood? I forget. We also get over the top about idolizing other humans; musicians, actors, sports celebrities, etc. Whatever keeps your nightlight on.
It is weird for many people to see it, but some humans simply must have their animal gods to serve.

The earth gave EVERYTHING all it needed to survive but sadly man thinks he holds the monopoly on what species deserve to live or be eradicated. Bottom line, if a life form was not meant to exist it wouldn’t and humans are arrogant bastards that think their organism is the only one that counts. In the grand scheme of the universe and plant we have no more “right” to be here than any other living thing.

In what way does the Earth belong to us? Claiming land will only prevent other humans from barging in (if that). Bees, for example, (without whom we’d be lost) go wherever they want. All ownership we’re claiming is achieved by force. It’s about as valid as a toddler deciding that the toy they just grabbed is now theirs. And, unsurprisingly, we’re treating Earth about as well as toddlers tend to treat toys.

Native americans had no concept of “owning” the land. They thought the white man to be crazy and delusional. haha

I agree, totally, @longgone. We are stewards of the things in our lives during our lifetimes, at best.

That glass you’re drinking out of? Chances are it was once sand. Chances are, it will be sand again, eventually.

It’s like a flea claiming ownership of my head.

^ Exactly.