Pericles:”Is it better to breed your own slaves, coupling selected samples for specific work - say, in the cotton fields, or in the kitchen preparing chittlins or whatever. Or do you buy them at auction, and take pot luck.”

Breeding them would maybe not be profitable in the long run… take a human longer to mature, train etc.

If money wasn’t an issue I’d say breed them for required tasks.

“Keeping animals for our personal pleasure has to be on a par with slavery, as one of the most unattractive traits of supposedly civilized human beings.”

Ah yes and I keep my foster kids in kennels out the back but they all have a chew toys.

I can think of many worse traits than keeping a widdle doggie to wuve.

Greetings Bronwyn and thank you for your kind words. Dickie, my magnificent(and once feral) feline has gone to his secret place where he runs for fun, instead of running for his life. It was an appropriate time to change my pseudonym.

"Keeping animals for our personal pleasure has to be on a par with slavery, as one of the most unattractive traits of supposedly civilized human beings."

Yep you've told us many times before Pericles yet you persist with the notion that the lump of meat on your dinner plate (for *your* personal pleasure of course) is exempted from your definition of slavery.

Perhaps you might lobby to enslave cats and dogs for a cook-up too, to help us evolve towards that "civilised" society you dream of.......please Pericles......no drooling on the keyboard...ya hear?

I've heard that a few times too, Protagoras.

>>Yep you've told us many times before Pericles yet you persist with the notion that the lump of meat on your dinner plate (for *your* personal pleasure of course) is exempted from your definition of slavery.<<

It's the standard defence of the indefensible.

Only vegetarians, according to the Protagoras principle, are allowed to observe that keeping animals as pets for one's personal amusement is a morally degrading and fundamentally decadent pastime.

So tell me, would having this reality paraded in front of you by a vegetarian enhance, or diminish the basic message?

Do the facts - that we habitually and without thinking deprive a fellow-creature of their freedom and free will, simply to indulge our feelings of mastery over nature, or whatever other excuse you might find - change, if delivered by a Buddhist rather than a Fascist?

It's the message that matters, Protagoras. Not the messenger.

Is this a good time to bring up that may breeds couldn't live in the wild.

I think turning all dogs free scenario has well and truly passed with our Neanderthal ancestors.

The idea that keeping dogs in analogous to having a slave is stretch of the term way too far. Some dogs naturally want human company and need the pack (family)

Our dog is a member of the family.

Keep in mind the collie we gave to a nursing home the dog was the right size for bed ridden patients and gave them the love/attention/affection they craved. When He died two old dears fretted badly and dying soon after one claiming she now had no reason to go on. The home now has Collie number 3. all they do is visit each patient sleep on the floor guarding the the patients at night. No 2 reputedly called the night nurse to a patient in distress.
The benefit of a pet if handled properly can sensitise children to the plight of animals. i.e. all 4 are committed to conservation and endangered animal..I suspect the menagerie we had and still do when they were young contributed greatly to their views today.
We have two turtles that due to injuries wouldn't survive in the wild but are happy enough in their tank. 19000 litre .
My rescued native bees, My son's blinded dragon (courtesy of a #*%&@ cat)and other transiting research injured wildlife.
The point dear Protagoras and like minded is that it isn't that open and shut.

"The point dear Protagoras and like minded is that it isn't that open and shut."

Examinator - Who said it was "open and shut?"

"Only vegetarians, according to the Protagoras principle, are allowed to observe that keeping animals as pets for one's personal amusement is a morally degrading and fundamentally decadent pastime."

Pericles - Having to endure your hypocrisy is tiresome enough, however, I take exception to your innuendo - particularly when posters like yourself present false information with the intention of deceiving.

I am not a vegetarian as you well know!

"Do the facts - that we habitually and without thinking deprive a fellow-creature of their freedom and free will, simply to indulge our feelings of mastery over nature,"

The above is only "fact" in your deranged mind Pericles but you remain free to regularly indulge "your feelings of mastery" over the brutalised dead flesh on your dinner plate whilst demanding the wanton destruction of all companion animals - a total obliteration of any animal whose bloodied carcass is not wrapped in plastic at the supermarket for your "personal pleasure!"

Consequently, I recommend a soap box for you in Hyde Park in good old Sydney town. That's where the whackos and zealots hang out. So why not sod off and take your sick, bigoted dogma with you?

Dear Examinator,

Your reference to the collie and the nursing home
reminded me of a story I read about Oscar the two-year
old cat... You can read the story on:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/07/26/cat-death.html

According to the article, "Oscar was adopted as a kitten
and grew up on the third-floor dementia unit at a Rhode
Island nursing home, which treats patients with
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses.

Oscar makes his daily round, waiting patiently outside
rooms if the doors are closed...Once insde, the grey-and-white
cat jumps onto beds and appears to inspect patients by
sniffing the air.

If Oscar leaves the room, the patient isn't likely to die
that day...

But when the car curls up on the bed, staff notice. They
start phoning family members because the patient usually
dies within four hours.

Usually indifferent and sometimes unfriendly to staff and
visitors, Oscar purrs and nuzzles the patients during their
final hours.

Since he arrived at the nursing home Oscar has been at the
side of 25 patients who have died...

For his efforts, a plaque mounted on the wall reads,
"For his compassionate hospice care, this plaque is awarded
to Oscar the Cat."

"I do think there is some biochemical reason, some odour
or smell is helping the cat sense," said Dr Joan Teno, a
physician at the nursing home.

Perhaps, but how does the cat know to provide comfort?

Ah, the beauty and wonder of animals!