A dog's life is better than yours.

[raybd]

Should a pet dog in a loving home, fall really ill or get injured badly, however heart-breaking it is, the pet dog always gets humanely put down. But, a human at the exact same crossroad in life, almost never gets that chance. Official death with dignity programs world over, only service a microscopic minority of the few million who need it each year. So, whose life do you think is better? The pet dog's or yours?

Reminds me of this bit that Seinfeld used to do about Martians viewing the earth through their telescopes. They are going to see humans walking dogs. And once they see the humans with pooper-scoopers and walking behind dogs with poop-bags, they gonna be think the friggin' dogs are in charge.

And here I am, stuck with a spasm even 4 days later, suffering indignities galore, which I would have avoided had I gone Thursday night as planned, but for the spasm, OR HAD ACCESS TO A DEATH WITH DIGNITY PROGRAM GIVEN THE SEVERITY OF MY CONDITIONS AND THE YEARS OF SUFFERING AND WORK AND ALL OTHER TROUBLES I ALREADY HAVE ENDURED. God, even the ancient Spartans knew better 2500 years ago, exposing babies unlikely to survive.

And no, most sickly babies do not grow into healthy uber-menschen. Only the exceptions do. The rule holds by and large.

Or, seen another way, nature, or more correctly, the natural order, is based on the survival of the fittest. So why do our laws and medical systems needlessly drag on the lives of those too unfit to live well? Isn't it more natural to help such people go? And save the burden to society and to the individual?

 

[AngelTear]

Pets are treated much better than we are as humans on everything. Spoiling them and treating them like your own flesh and blood is the norm now.
It makes me wish I could turn into one and be adopted and live a cushy life- I mean I want the life of a pet still...
But I can't, I'd still have this disgusting human form that is the ire of everyone.

 

[iveseenfootage]

Anything without the capacity for higher thought lives better than us lol

 

[raybd]

Anything without the capacity for higher thought lives better than us lol

Speaking with my former academic/scientist's hat on, I think the jury is out on that one. There is growing evidence that quite a few animals seem capable of some elements of what we might call rational thought. It is just patterned differently as suits those species. Extending the definitions of originality and agency throws up all these examples among them.

Pets are treated much better than we are as humans on everything. Spoiling them and treating them like your own flesh and blood is the norm now.
It makes me wish I could turn into one and be adopted and live a cushy life- I mean I want the life of a pet still...
But I can't, I'd still have this disgusting human form that is the ire of everyone.

I'd say, no need to spoil me - just give death with dignity to everybody that needs it... that will do.

 

[mjolnir]

In fact, attributing human characteristics to animals is not always beneficial. Although, at first glance, it seems to bring us closer to them, this projection brings with it problems typical of the human experience, such as anxiety and depression. What is comfortable for us can, in fact, hinder a full life for animals, who have their own ways of feeling, acting, and relating to the world.
Sometimes, what we interpret as affection for animals is, in fact, toxic to them. Humanizing them can impose emotions and behaviors that do not belong to them, such as anxiety, compromising their well-being.

 

[raybd]

In fact, attributing human characteristics to animals is not always beneficial. Although, at first glance, it seems to bring us closer to them, this projection brings with it problems typical of the human experience, such as anxiety and depression. What is comfortable for us can, in fact, hinder a full life for animals, who have their own ways of feeling, acting, and relating to the world.
Sometimes, what we interpret as affection for animals is, in fact, toxic to them. Humanizing them can impose emotions and behaviors that do not belong to them, such as anxiety, compromising their well-being.

There's a scientific subtlety here. Anthropomorphizing animals beyond a point might not hold water. There was this recent movie Merv about a couple that cannot have children that breaks up and co-parents their dog. Cute premise, but takes the anthropomorphizing from science to sci-fi. But, my earlier comment is about recognizing patterns of genuine rational thought or higher order though processes in some species, which is a real thing, with no socio-cultural angles to it, like calling what used to be dog-owners, dog-parents and so on. Even if humans weren't to observe and study these patterns of rationality in these species - they would still be going about their lives with such types of animal intelligence.

 

[orvreader]

I feel like dogs make for better humans than actual humans, we should just give up our civilisation to them.