This is a very interesting discussion and one that has helped me
conceptualize my views more clearly!
Thus far, I think Starchild is exactly on point.
Do they believe that individual rights exist only for humans, and that when
it comes to animals, it's OK to brand entire groups as dangerous?
No.
I think the belief is that individual pit bulls have a right to be deemed
innocent until proven guilty and also enjoy the same duty of care we'd
expect for a baby human.
I do agree that sentient beings have the right not to be intentionally
brought into the world with genetic defects, and I would consider a
predisposition toward violence to be such a defect.
I would too, though not as such, but perhaps because the being's natural
desire to run around having fun attacking things is always thwarted, or its
tendency is used to its own harm (e.g. in intentionally staged dog fights)
Once such an animal is in the world, however, do we assume that he or she
cannot exist without engaging in inappropriate violence?
I don't know enough about pit bulls (my fancy is cats not dogs) to say. But
I have heard stories of some friendly pit bulls, so it is not impossible.
And your argument from statistics is compelling.
The question is whether the risk to public safety outweighs the freedom to
have a presumably friendly or controllable pit bull as a pet.
And the capacity to think rationally obviously does not stop many humans
from committing violent, irrational acts, while many dogs do succeed in
avoiding such acts despite lacking the capacity for rational thought. So it
makes little sense to me to use that capacity as the standard by which a
human or non-human animal is judged to be worthy of having individual
rights and not prima facie declared unacceptably dangerous to polite
society.
Well said!
DG
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