Okay, I’m done. I literally can’t and won’t write another word about animal rights. Seriously, no more. I can’t take it. It is causing me to suffer from compassion fatigue: “indifference towards the suffering of others or to charitable causes acting on their behalf, typically attributed to numbingly frequent appeals for assistance.”[1] 

KIND OF HOW I AM FEELING ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS AT THIS MOMENT. 

And animal topics have become numbingly frequent. I’m on the brink of just saying “screw it! Kill them all, for all I care.” Well, I guess that is a little extreme. I just feel like I am writing the same DB over and over and over and over. I don’t think any more needs to be said on the subject, at least not in the context of this class. 

ALSO, KIND OF HOW I AM FEELING RIGHT NOW. WELL, NOT EXACTLY, BUT YOU GET THE POINT.

All eighteen of us know “shall of the monstrous lion have no fear”[2] because we are on top of the food chain in today’s world, and with that position we should be more responsible. Also, I think for the majority of our class, our general attitude is “ Do I like animals? I eat them, so I suppose I must like them, some parts of them”[3]—and there is nothing wrong with having such an opinion, especially since none of us approve of how the animals that we consume are treated. Yes, we are compassionate understanding people, but that doesn't mean that we are going to stop eating meat or owning pets. Abstaining from meat is an act i definitely respect, but at the same thing I don't really believe it proves or helps anything. 

EATING MEAT DOES NOT MAKE SOMEONE A BAD PERSON OR INDICATE THAT THEY AREN'T COMPASSIONATE. 

Another thing I wanted to just get off my chest real quick is the problem I have with the argument that since God stated to Adam and Eve “Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, and all living animals on the earth”[4], we are justified in treating animals as we please. This is just a bad argument, for after God discovers that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, he says “you shall crawl on your belly and eat dust the rest of your life.”[5] Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I sure as hell don’t eat dust, and I definitely walk on both feet. Even if this statement isn’t meant to be taken literally, then neither should the other statement.

THERE ARE JUST SOME ARGUMENTS THAT I THINK THE BIBLE SHOULD BE LEFT OUT OF.

While I am not one-hundred percent sure all that I just said made much sense, it sure felt good to say it.

            While on the subject of the Bible, I guess I will go ahead and bring up some points that have bothered me about the whole creationist theory since I first heard it. I have never been able to understand why God created a “tree of the knowledge of good and evil [that Adam and Eve] are not to eat.”[6] Why even make the tree at all? I mean, was it absolutely necessary to have a tree in the Garden of Eden? I guess we will never know. 

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[1] Definition of compassion fatigue, X42

[2] Virgil, “Eclogue IV,” X124

[3] J.M. Coetzee, “Disgrace,” X79

[4] God, “Genesis,” X115

[5] God, “Genesis,” X117

[6] God, “Genesis,” X115