If we are concerned about the exploitation of human workers in countries with low standards of worker protection, we should also be concerned about the treatment of even more defenceless non-human animals.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the moral obligation to protect vulnerable beings, whether human or non-human.
Peter Singer's quote draws a parallel between the exploitation of human workers in regions with lax labor laws and the treatment of non-human animals, suggesting that just as we should advocate for the rights and welfare of human workers, we should extend the same concern to animals who are often powerless and exploited. This urging for compassion and ethical consideration reflects a broader moral philosophy that values the well-being of all sentient beings and challenges us to recognize our responsibilities towards those who lack the ability to advocate for themselves.
In practice
To open a discussion on animal rights during a presentation on ethical consumerism.
The belief that the animals exist because God created them - and that he created them so we can better meet our needs - is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and, of course, to the fossil record, which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all.
Pain and suffering are in themselves bad and should be prevented or minimized, irrespective of the race, sex, or species of the being that suffers. How bad a pain is depends on how intense it is and how long it lasts, but pain of the same intensity and duration are equally bad, whether felt by humans or animals.
What is faith? If you believe something because you have evidence for it, or rational argument, that is not faith. So faith seems to be believing something despite the absence of evidence or rational argument for it.
Almost everybody accepts that some people can be killed. 'The concept of 'brain death' - the belief that people on respirators can legitimately be killed - shows that.
If we all think only of our own interests, we are headed for collective disaster - just look at what we are doing to our planet's climate.
Even in the era of AIDS, sex raises no unique moral issues at all. Decisions about sex may involve considerations about honesty, concern for others, prudence, and so on, but there is nothing special about sex in this respect, for the same could be said of decisions about driving a car. (In fact, the moral issues raised by driving a car, both from an environmental and from a safety point of view, are much more serious than those raised by sex.)
I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace.
A delusion is something that people believe in despite a total lack of evidence.
There are worries that seem to me sustained by the love of worry. For example, that people are reading from screens, or listening to recorded books. Why scold the impulse to enjoy language and narrative in whatever form it takes?
We cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself.
Minds that are ill at ease are agitated by both hope and fear.
A man does not always choose what his guardian angel intends.
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