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.)
A day will come when beings, now latent in our thoughts and hidden in our loins, shall stand upon Earth as a footstool and laugh, and reach out their hands amidst the stars.
Language is the most imperfect and expensive means yet discovered for communicating thought.
The world is full of things that upset people. But most of us deal with it and move on and don't try and burn the planet down.
Events of human origin are uncertain, but all is regulated and governed by the incalculable power of God, inspiring us not through drunken fury nor by frantic movement, but through the influences of the stars.
The wish to pray is a prayer in itself. God can ask no more than that of us.
The wretch condemn'd with life to part,_x000D_ _x000D_ Still, still on hope relies;_x000D_ _x000D_ And every pang that rends the heart_x000D_ _x000D_ Bids expectation rise.
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