Sunday, November 9, 2008

Horsypocrisy?

Here's a question. Is it hypocritical to simultaneously hold the following two opinions?

1. HORSES ARE SCARY AND I DON'T LIKE THEM
Seriously. They're big – bigger than a human! – and they have big heavy hooves with which to kick. You can't trust an animal that you couldn't take one-on-one in a fight. (See also: bears). People try to use horses for transportation and they get kicked at or thrown off, all the time. If you're kicked or thrown off, you're likely to break your head. Horses are unpredictable, nasty, wild, flighty beasts which will hurt you as soon as look at you.

Also, they bite. They smell bad. They aren't very smart. And they leave crap everywhere.


2. HORSERACING IS CRUEL AND SHOULD NOT BE
Now, you take an animal and dress it up in bondage gear. You "break" it psychologically, because that's the only way it will accept another animal sitting on its back. You make it run around in circles, hitting it repeatedly. If it falls over and breaks its leg while you're doing this, you kill the animal, because it's cheaper to kill it than to let it heal and be lame. The justification for all of this? You can make money, by gambling on which horse will run fastest. (Not fastest in general, but fastest over a particular distance and under various unnatural conditions).

The usual reasons we do things to other animals – food for sustenance, clothing for warmth – are relatively justifiable, at least if you accept an essential superiority of human need. But horse racing? How is this not sickeningly cruel, unusual and unnecessary?


- Sunday Night Thoapsl

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