Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

The crackpot, anti human ideas keep on coming.  The latest proposal comes from an Australian Academic named Dr. John Hadley, who wants to give property rights to animals and provide a court for them—really, a forum for radical environmentalists to legally enforce their own ideological goals—where lawsuits could be brought by “guardians” to enforce the animals’ ownership interests.  From the story:

A radical proposal to introduce property rights for animals has been slammed by farming associations across the country. Australian research lecturer Dr John Hadley from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) said under his proposal, particular animals would be given legal property rights, and human guardians would be appointed to represent them in court...A radical proposal to introduce property rights for animals has been slammed by farming associations across the country. Australian research lecturer Dr John Hadley from the University of Western Sydney (UWS) said under his proposal, particular animals would be given legal property rights, and human guardians would be appointed to represent them in court.

This kind of anti human prosperity and freedom movement flows directly from the misanthropy that is a natural byproduct of rejecting human exceptionalism.

I know it is tempting to say, “This will never happen,” and move on.  But five years ago, would not the same thing have been said about “nature rights,” now legal in two countries and heading for a UN debate?  Wouldn’t it also have been said about granting intrinsic dignity to individual plants, now embodied in the Swiss Constitution?  Wouldn’t it have been said about the Great Ape Project that seeks to create a “community of equals” among humans and gorillas, chimps, orangutans, etc., which is now the public policy of Spain? In fact the best way to make sure these things do happen, is to assume they never will.

HT: Gunther Franz


Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles