Tribal People & Animals

[Sam Hillyer]

The BBC has been showing a documentary Human Planet recently and I've got questions.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/humanplanetexplorer/

 

The series has shown people hunting whales, and catching fish, using camels to cross the desert, hunting monkeys, killing birds of paradise for their feathers and using elephants to pull logs.

Animals seem to be vital to these people, at least that's the opinion I get, and they need to eat them and use them to survive. What are your thoughts on this?

 

I don't really know where I'm going with this, but it's sometimes an issue I come up against from people when I talk about vegan being the right thing to do. I always reply that I do not know enough about these people and it's not my place to tell them what to do, but as city dwelling westerners I know we can make an informed and moral choice.

 

So yeah, i guess a discussion would be nice to hear :)

[Nick Dalzell]

Since most tribal acts are also a part of a cultural belief system i do not consider it any way 'natural' nor 'instinctive' there are plenty of facts that support that the human is NOT a natural predator, and IS a natural herbivore. so i can only guess that it is like our modern society but more primitive, but still driven by cultural and/or religious influence all its own.

[Tim Gier]

While it is true that the history of humankind is intertwined with the exploitation of other animals, nothing about that history can imply that such exploitation is either natural or right. The opposite is true, what is natural for human beings is to live as little more than scavengers, scratching out a life from scarce resources. What we have learned to do, instead, is manipulate our environment and those resources unnaturally, giving consideration predominantly to only our own self-interests, wreaking havoc on the world and everyone in it all the while. Moral reasoning, which we are obliged to do, requires that we move beyond our own self-interests, even when doing so comes at great costs to ourselves, in favor of recognizing the interests of others and respecting their rights. It is easier for those of us living in a modern economy to do this perhaps, but all moral agents are obligated to do so, no matter their circumstances.