racism sexism speciesism

A few nice Animals images I found:

racism sexism speciesism

Image by ThinkVegan

Speciesism-Discrimination due to specie of belonging:

Speciesism is the discrimination*1 of someone’s*2 interests due to his/her specie of belonging*3.

1*-Discrimination (moral discrimination): Not weighing someone’s interest fairly for arbitrary reasons (sex, specie, race, type/degree of intelligent etc.)

Normally non-human animals are discriminated using two reasons as an excuse;
A-The fact that non-human animals don’t belong to our specie, implies they don’t deserve equal consideration: According to this we could discriminate human animals (for example) simply because they don’t belong to a certain group (skin colour, gender…) but doing this is wrong (just as discriminating due to specie is) because the group we belong to doesn’t determine our interest *2 in living and avoiding pain.

B-The fact that they lack certain capacities justifies their discrimination:
What this argument usually hides is a simple discrimination due to the specie of belonging, because human animals lacking these characteristics are usually considered morally.
If this weren’t the case and someone held that our cognitive capacities do determine the respect someone deserves (discriminating as a consequence some human animals such as babies and Alzheimer victims, etc.), the thruth is that if we are affected by suffering and pleasure it is due to our capacity to feel, not because of our intelligence, linguistic capacities etc. (although these can influence on the amount of suffering we experiment, they are not necessary to feel pain and wellbeing).
Animals (human and non-human one’s) have interest in life and in not suffering because they are aware of their experiences.

2*-Interests: Any individual with a nervous system and aware of it’s sensations has the capacity to experiment what happens in his/her life, and in consequence has interests that can be discriminated.
Those organisms lacking such capacity do not have interests, because they can in no way experiment subjective sensations (there is no “mind” that perceives “things”) and therefore cannot be discriminated morally.

Often humans respect some non-human animals (usually dogs and cats), although they would continue to be speciesist if they didn’t consider equally other animals such as cows, tunas, pigs etc.
Although I must add that although many humans do feel empathy for some non-human animals, it is probably adventurous to say they consider them their equals, and a proof of this is that these animals are usually bought, sold...this meaning, used in other ways.

3*Specie: A specie is a taxonomic group used to classify those who share a series of common characteristics. A specie does not have interests, only those who form the species do, and therefore it is these individuals who suffer the consequences of discrimination.

www.thinkvegan.net




Especismo - Discriminación en función de la especie:


Especismo es la discriminación*1 de los intereses*2 de un individuo por especie*3.


1*-Discriminar (léase discriminar moralmente):No darle el peso justo a los intereses de alguien en función de características arbitrarias (sexo, especie, raza, tipo/grado de inteligencia etc.)

A pesar de qué existen diferentes tipos de especismo, es decir hay animales no humanos cuyos intereses son priorizados con respecto a otras/os (tal es el caso de los perros y gatos).
Normalmente se discrimina a los demás animales con respecto a los humanos - especismo antropocéntrico- y esto se hace habitualmente en base a dos argumentos:

A-No pertenecen al grupo humano, por tanto, no merecen ser considerados igualitariamente: Según esto, podríamos discriminar a algunas/os humanas/os (por poner un ejemplo) simplemente por no pertenecer a un detrminado "grupo" (raza, clase social etc) Pero si hacer esto es injusto (al igual que lo es discriminar en base a la especie), es debido a que el grupo en el que somos clasificdos no determina nuestro interés*2 en vivir y en hacerlo sin sufrimiento.

B-Al carecer de determinadas capacidades cognitivas no merecen ser considerados iguales:
Lo que realmente esconde este argumento la mayor parte de las veces es una simple discriminación por la especie de pertenencia, ya que los humanos carentes de dichas capacidades en cambio, sí suelen ser considerados merecedores de respeto.
Si no fuera así, y se sostuviera que nuestras capacidades cognitivas determinan el respeto que merece un individuo (discriminando en consecuencia a algunos animales humanos como los bebés, enfermos de Alzheimer, etc.), cabría decir que si nos vemos afectados por el sufrimiento y el disfrute es por nuestra capacidad para sentir, no por nuestro tipo o grado de inteligencia, habilidades lingüísticas, etc. (aunque éstas sí pueden influir en la cantidad de sufrimiento o disfrute que experimentamos, no son necesarias para experimentar dichas sensaciones).
Los animales (tanto los humanos como los no humanos) tenemos interés en vivir y en no sufrir principalmente porque somos conscientes de nuestras sensaciones.


2*-Intereses: Todo individuo con sistema nervioso, consciente de sus sensaciones posee la capacidad de sufrir y disfrutar, y en consecuencia, tiene intereses que pueden ser discriminados.
Aquellos organismos carentes de dicha capacidad no tienen intereses ya que no experimentan sensaciones subjetivas (no existe una "mente" que perciba "cosas") y por lo tanto, no pueden ser discriminados moralmente.

A pesar de que hay humanas/os que sí parecen respetar los intereses de algunos animales no humanos (normalmente perros o gatos), dichos humanos seguirían siendo especistas si no incluyeran bajo el paraguas de la consideración igualitaria a otros animales con los que no conviven o no pertenecen a alguna especie que consideren merecedora de cierta consideración, como suele ocurrir con las vacas, cerdos, atunes, etc.
Aunque a esto hay de añadir que a pesar de que muchas/os humanas/os sienten cierta empatía por otros animales, es aventurado afirmar que les consideran iguales, y una prueba de ello es que estos animales suelen ser comprados, vendidos, regalados...en definitiva, utilizados de otra forma.


3*Especie: Una especie es un grupo taxonómico en el que se clasifica a quienes reúnen una serie de características comunes, pero la especie en sí no siente ni posee intereses, sino que son los individuos que forman ésta los que son discriminados y se ven afectados por ello.

www.thinkvegan.net/es

Animal Farm: Napolean Trading Card




Image by lynnemb

Created with fd's Flickr Toys. Pig image at www.flickr.com/photos/auvet/548830461/ from Pigs on Parade.

Summary: In this activity students studying Animal Farm create a trading card using images from Flickr and Trading Card Maker from bighugelab.com . In the description area of the card students will write a little rap about the character they have chosen

This lesson can be easily adapted for different grade levels and applied to many novels.

Understandings: Students are able to express key personality traits in a creative writing exercise and choose a representative photo.

Essential Questions: How do images reflect character traits?
How can we briefly express a key character attribute?

Performance Task: Students will describe the essential traits of a character from Animal Farm in a short 'rap'

Student will choose a photo to represent a character in line with that character's personality.

DO NOW: Write 2 phrases that describe a main character from Animal Farm.

1. Working in pairs, students choose a main character from Animal Farm to write a short rap about.

2. Students go to bighugelabs.com and select Trading Card activity.

3. In another browser window, students go to Flicker and locate a picture that exemplifies a main character from Animal Farm from the "Fiberglass Public Art on Parade." (no account is required)

3. Students copy and paste the URL of the picture into the "Choose a photo: URL" section of Trading Card Maker.

4. Students complete the Title with the Name of the Novel (Animal Farm) and the sub-title with the name of the character.

5. In the Description box, students write a short rap (6-8 lines) that fits into the available space about that character.

6. Students save the card to their class account if available (or send to their flicker account) and print it when finished

7. In their class blog, students write a paragraph describing how and why the chose that photo to represent the character.