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Speciesism
Speciesism is the idea that being a human is a good enough reason for human animals to have greater moral rights than non-human animals.
The term speciesism was coined by Richard Ryder in 1970.
Ryder challenged the morality of current practices where non-human animals are exploited in research, farming, domestically and in the wild.
Non-human animals are not inferior or superior to human beings, they are a different species, and therefore should have a similar moral status.
Human and non-human animals are sentient beings - they feel pain and suffering.
Specisism, like racism and sexism is a prejudice based upon morally irrevelant physical differences.
Peter singer, animal rights activist states that speciesism is a "bias towards the interests of members of ones own species and against those of members of other species."
Peter Singer's term "equal consideration of interest" is extremely eqalitarian as such, it opposes, not only racism and sexism but also speciesism and some forms of nationalism.
"Racists violate the principle of equality by giving greater weight to the interests of their own race when there is a clash between their interests and those of another race. White racists do feel that pain is as bad when it is felt by blacks, as when it is felt by whites. Similarly, those that I would call speciesist give greater weight to the interest of members of their own species when there is a clash between their interest and the interests of other species. Human speciesists do not accept that pain is as bad when it is felt by pigs or mice as when it is felt by humans."
 Peter Singer
Studies show we share 98.4% of our DNA with chimpanzees.
The ability to feel pain is the defintion of moral worth suggested by Peter Singer who calls this "sentience". Richard Ryder calls this "painience", who also coined the term speciesism.
Animals cannot be inferior or superior to human beings, they are different, a different species.
The naturalist, Charles Darwin, a christian and a scientist, whilst on his voyage to south America was enraged to see manacled slaves being abused and tortured by catholic traders. He realized that the slave trade relied on the false notion that slaves were a different, inferior, and exploitable species. Upon his return to England, he extended the idea to the way we treated animals. "To say man is the pinnacle of creation and all things were created for him, that is the same arrogance we see in the slave master."
 Charles Darwin
Richard Ryder, a British psychologist states that "speciesism is racism, both overlook or underestimate the similarities between the discriminator and those discriminated against."
Tom Regan, an animal activist and philosopher argues that animals have inherent rights and that we cannot assign them a lesser value because of a perceived lack of rationality whilst assigning a higher value to human infants or mentally impaired human beings and serious criminals, such as, muderers, rapists and paedophiles, simply on the grounds of being members of a specific species.
 Tom Regan
Why experiment on animals, which are a completely different species from human beings and expect to produce effective results and solutions and why factory farm animals and completely disregard their quality of life and cause them pain and suffering, just because human beings can and wish to do so. These animals do not receive the protection and care they deserve to live out their natural life, pet animals are given much more consideration from their human companions, although they are all animals and are definitely not inferior to each other or to human beings.
Some animals are more intelligent, healthier, kinder, harmless and have caring relationships with their own species as well as with human beings.
Some human beings are violent, murderous, wicked, criminal, dangerous, highly abusive in their behaviours, and it would seem that they possess no moral or higher thought towards anyone or anything.
Speciesism is a very important yet simple theory to understand and it cannot be disregarded. It is essential to grasp this term and to use it for our understanding and treatment of non-human animals.
Williams James, a psychologist (1842-1910) said "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does."
Mahatma Gandhi, Hindu spiritual leader (1869-1948), once said "Be the change you want to see in the world."
"I abhore vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood count of no significance."
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated."
"As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as man massacres animals they will kill each other. Indeed he who sows the seeds of muder and pain cannot reap joy and love." Pythagoras, philosopher and mathematician (582-507 BC).
"Speciesism clogs and constrains and distorts our outlook just as tenaciously as racism and sexism. There is a widespread tendency of people to wish to regard others as subordinate to themselves. Partly this is a reflection of their own insecurity, often the insecurity of the sawdust Caesar. The fascist is a very weak person pretending he is very strong. He wants to convince himself (as well as others) that he is not the inferior creature he fears himself to be. Such psychological cripples need crutches and they often use racism or sexism or indeed speciesism for this purpose. For example, those who choose to become lion-tamers or big-game shots, as well as some herdsmen and hunters - a proportion follow these occupations because they like to play god with other creatures. By subjugating Jews or women or "vermin" into an inferior position such people manage to make themselves feel a little bit more superior and more secure."
Richard Ryder
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Speciesism
