Wow humans are animals!
I don't expect much of something coming out of Stanford, but this article is ridiculously funny and could just as well have been printed in the Onion.
Deep ecology: No more 'people'
What do I mean by “no more ‘people’ “?
The phrase could mean “no more people than we have now” — limiting our population for the sake of other species — or it even could mean “zero people.” There’s a group called the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement with the slogan, “May we live long and die out.”
What I really mean by “no more ‘people’ “ is something that both of these ideas exemplify: no more putting people first. Just as scientific discoveries prompted a shift in paradigms from a geocentric to a heliocentric solar system, discoveries about human relatedness with other species call for a shift in priorities from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.
This is the heart of a philosophy I like very much: deep ecology. Its tenets include:
The well-being and flourishing of human and nonhuman life on earth have value in themselves.
The flourishing of human life and cultures is compatible with a substantial decrease of the human population. The flourishing of nonhuman life requires such a decrease.
....Some people find it depressing to think that “humans are just animals.” But if we appreciated the intelligence and importance of other animal species, the view could be, not “Oh, humans are just animals,” but rather “Wow! Humans are animals!”
Deep ecology can be a general return to eastern and earth-based religious practices. I personally don’t believe in “God,” but I certainly believe in the earth (I can see it, feel it, no one asks me whether I believe in it, etc.) and I have good reason to be grateful for it, since it provides for my needs and so forth. Lately, there’s been discussion (e.g. in “The God Gene”) — about our need to worship something. Why not “worship” the earth and the biosphere? Deep ecology is starting to sound like tribal religion.
Well this is deep, like something accidentally stepped in. If humans are just animals then either we can kill other humans for food sources or we have to stop eating animals out of solidarity. In fact we must prevent other animals from eating other animals. We are the more intelligent animal (or is that my human-centrism slipping in) so we must enlighten the other animals to stop this animal cannibalism. We must liberate the lion and tiger from using fellow animals as food sources and introduce them to yogurt, granola, and salads. In fact I nominate the writer of this article to feed her fellow carnivorous animals in this task Especially to hand feed alligators tofu turkeys.
Known as 
For her to be an authentic environmentalist, she needs to lie down on asphalt, (since, in grass, she would be disrupting/killing the habitat of many incests), and then stop breathing (since, with every breath she takes, she is killing thousands of microscopic organisms). If she truly wished to be "deep [in] ecology," she should make herself compost immediately.
Why is it that anything that is described as 'deep' is always so shallow and vapid?
I'll think about it deeply while I'm eating my next 24oz porterhouse.
Kinda reminds me about the time a new ager acquaintance tried to make his entire household vegan, including his cat. The cat just couldn't take the wheat germ diet it had imposed upon it, and got thinner and thinner. Finally, someone who felt for the cat told the new ager that cats are carnivores and can only really digest meats, and the new ager relented. The cat, who had been a friendly beast up to this point, was never the same again.
Sounds nice. If the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) would agree, I would agree.
Oh wait... they can't, because they're ANIMALS.
But seeing as the Earth is just one tiny part of the universe, if an asteroid comes along, we clearly must let everything die. Because using our non-organic human technology to save the world would hurt the natural balance.
Even if the asteroid god is only about 1 zillionth the size of the Earth.
But this whole "deep ecology" thing is not really going down the fun road. The fun road would be to assume that humans were the Messengers of Gaia, raised up to intelligence so that they could go out into space and kick butt on the planet's behalf. Any animals or plants not being helpful in the planetary war effort are obviously mere weeds, which we Messengers can destroy. All alien planets will be terraformed into little Gaias. And aliens, of course, are Right Out.
Well, _I_ think it sounds like fun.
Yes, yes, I agree. First, I would like the animals to start their own blogs so we could have a discussion on this issue.
Several years ago while living in AL, the Birmingham News featured a story on this subject matter, or I should say, akin too. Humans & animals are on equal footing through the eyes of some scientist w/grant monies.
One MIT FEMALE Professor was interviewed at length in the article. What she stated was hauntingly similar. She also stated that some in orthodox religions will not like it, but they will have to change .... etc. etc. Her presented "facts" were then supported by quotes from other Professors - Left Coast sorts .....
Regarding Curt's statement alluding to cannibalism, know the "apologetics for cannibalism" are already afoot - lectures & books have gathered an audience base on some college campuses and intellectual circles.
The "logical" outcome of such thinking is already being tested (tasted), perhaps a bit too early ... but still being tried .... note news articles out of Africa last year, and the growing group of German Cannibals. Then there was that multi million dollar, highly praised & visited by Pluralist, Indigenous TEMPLE that was discovered to have hundreds of human bones hidden inside it's holy walls, and the "officals" of the country didn't know what to do ... because some of their own were members of the Temple. And what ever happen to Idi Amin?
Further on the subject of "human & animals", one can also venture into another related realm of reality — human vampires ..... another phenomena that is popping up in the press and in some homosexual circles. Just last week or two ago, recall the "Dracula" priest in Anchorage ....?
Welcome to the Brave New World .....
+JMJ+
oops, I mean ... comments by Jeff. oops
There's a fallacy in here somewhere. If we are really just animals, and just one more peice of the eco-system, then we shouldn't feel guilty doing what all the other animals do: eating whatever tastes good to us (including other animals) and reproducing as often and as much as possible.
Do you think wolves care whether or not they disturb the balance of the rabbit population?
No, it's not funny. Movements that advocate "voluntary" extinction often declare the voluntary part optional, similar to the folks who advocate "termination without request or consent." Plus we for sure could expect some self-designated priesthood of involuntary vicarious suicide to exempt themselves from the obligation to die.
She forgot the Church of Euthanasia... is that still around? They proclaim suicide, abortion, cannibalism and sodomy as their "sacraments".
Deep Idiology.
Al Gore wrote about this movement in his book Earth in the Balance. After describing the belief of the deep ecologists that human beings have a duty to die out,he comments: "I disagree with this."
You can't make this stuff up.
The proper term is "tofurkey".
Yes, we're animals. I my self am a sheep. And these lovely folks are from the goat family. I think if we all "die out" we know what the outcome will be. I'm going to be grazing in the fenced pasture with my fellow sheep, headed up towards the Barn.( No liberation needed here! ) While them little goats and their relatives start eye ball'in each other. But if I can, I'll yell over the fence and let them know there's a salad bar just down the road a piece at Lucifer's Bar and GRILL. (Not much of a salad bar, just straw and chaff) Where afterwards they'll be wisked away to an all expences paid eternal vacation in Haiti. (Hell) That's right, we're all animals, but we're not all alike.
Oh, I forgot to mention ......
Source URL: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05050406.html
LifeSiteNews.com
Wednesday May 4, 2005
Bestiality on the Rise in Sexually Libertine Sweden
.... "Even if it is difficult to assess an animal's degree of psychological suffering, it is likely that it experiences discomfort or is subjected to psychological suffering even in cases where there is no evidence of physical injury," said the report.
Unlike most countries, bestiality is not illegal in Sweden. The legal prohibitions against both bestiality and homosexuality were lifted by the country in 1944. Advancing secularism has played the major role in the sexual radicalization of Sweden. In an article published last year entitled "The End of Marriage in Scandinavia", author Stanley Kurtz reported "Sweden is probably the most secular country in the world. Secular social scientists (most of them quite radical) have largely replaced clerics as arbiters of public morality."
The decline of general sexual morality, evident in Swedish society, seems to be manifesting itself in many disturbing ways, spiraling downward with increasing rapidity. ...."
Kate is perfectly right. If human beings were simply animals, there could be no possible objection to our doing all we could to support ourselves and increase our numbers. That would include using technology, which is after all only the product of natural advantages our species possess (large brains, opposable thumbs, etc.) to avoid predation, acquire food and shelter, and take over other species' niches in the ecosystem. It sounds fine to me.
This recent paper is packed w/familiar names ....
http://www.rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/de_rituals_new_century.html
Deep Ecology Rituals For the New Century
By Ruth Rosenhek,
February 15, 2005
This paper was presented at the Two Fires Conference, Braidwood on March 19, 2005.
When the well known deep ecologist, Joanna Macy speaks of “Coming Back to Life1”, she is speaking of overcoming “the privatisation of everything including our relationship to the earth, each other and perhaps even our souls”, shifting from a path of ‘having’ to one of ‘being’ and reconnecting with each other and the Earth.
Many of us know well the challenge of breaking out of a far reaching culture of greed, status, and extreme individualism. With sophisticated modern day technology being used to aggressively promote a consumer and political ideology based at its core on exploitation of the Earth and of people, it is difficult to shake ourselves free of its constraints. Western consumer lifestyle flaunts itself as the answer to all our ills. ....
Spiritual philosopher P. R. Sarkar (Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti) states the acuteness of our sad predicament in this passage:
“If a flying bird is caged for long, it loses its ability to fly. If the door of its cage is unfastened accidentally, it thinks, "What benefit will I derive flying in the distant blue sky? Let me pick up seeds, sitting on the perch of my little cage.
Now, if people have been educated in a distorted manner and their minds crippled, they are unable to stand independently. If their minds have been moulded by propaganda for a long period, they cannot utilize the opportunity for freedom even if it is presented to them. ("Quadri-Statumic Progress In Human Life," Calcutta, 1981)" ....
Deep ecology rituals and gatherings can lead to a lasting inner transformation that prompts individuals to make radical lifestyle changes. I’d like to focus the remainder of this paper on this vital global movement that is actively working towards an ecologically and socially harmonious culture, a culture that is the hope of the new century. .......
Arne Naess, the Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Oslo University who coined the term ‘deep ecology’ in the late 1960s, called for “community therapies” to heal the rift .....
In my work along with Joanna Macy, John Seed and many others, we have developed deep ecology rituals and ceremonies, creative processes, to ‘re-Earth’ ourselves; that is, to experience and remember our mutual reciprocity ......
Thomas Berry, the well known theologian turned geologian, says that such rituals "give promise of a future with the understanding, the power, the aesthetic grandeur, and the emotional fulfillment needed to heal the damage .....
One such ritual and perhaps the most well know of the deep ecology rituals is the Council of All Beings created by John Seed and Joanna Macy. ....
In the Future Beings ritual, a futuristic role play , ‘Contemporary Beings’ meet with ‘Future Beings’ in wisdom circles to discuss how it is to live on a planet that is deep in crisis. ...
Journeying back in time, in the Cosmic Walk, created by Sister Miriam Therese McGillis, we recapitulate the 13 billion year history of the Universe, ......
In rituals such as these, we use our imaginations to stretch our identity this way and that, backwards in time, forwards in time and horizontally into the present. ...
3 For information about Techno Cosmic Masses and Rituals, visit www.technocosmicmass.org ...
Full Circle, hey?
"No-one asks me whether I believe in [the earth]"? The author clearly has spent little time in conversation with modern philosophers.
Fools. Complete fools. Yes, you.
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