No...the "best" choices are those which cause the least amount of harm/suffering/damage to other living things.  "Emotionalism" having nothing to do with it.  If you think cuddly little furry creatures deserve to die a violent death because some man can make money off its fur, even though there's a such thing as fake fur in the modern world that is indistiguishable, that's your business.  More people throughout the world, including unemotional men, disagree with that -- and it will be those people who finally put an end to the slaughter of baby seals, dolphins, whales, etc for their bodies or body parts, not for their "food"

Oh, boy, oh, boy - abortion rights somehow has made its way into the discussion.

As a firm believer in pro-choice myself, I see nothing wrong with a woman terminating a pregnancy in the early stages when the supposed 'human' is nothing more than a zygote or an embryo.

I don't see why a woman who has been raped, or a woman whose health would be in danger if she carried a fetus to term should not be able to have an abortion.  The rights of a woman come before those of a zygote, embryo, or even a fetus.

It's her body, and it is up to her to decide what to do with it.

So, yeah, I'm a card-carrying atheist who believes in animal rights and women's rights, think LGBT people should be able to get married if they want (or do anything else they want - because what consenting adults do in private that doesn't hurt anybody is nobody else's business), think socialism is a good system, and always vote Labour (which would be the Democratic party to you).

And, where seals are concerned, I don't give a hoot whether they are cute and cuddly or sweet little babies or anything else.  The bottom line is that nobody needs their fur, nobody needs their meat, and nobody needs a job so bad that they have to kill seals to make a living.

Howdy Rabello

Apr 28, 2012 -- 11:54PM, rabello wrote:

Being against the slaughter of baby harp seals is hardly an indication of black-and-white thinking, and the reaction such a thing elicits is the opposite from "zeal". 

The slaughter of baby seals is not a black and white to those who oppose the murder of this poor innocent babies by brutally using nail spiked clubs and hitting them in the head is pure black.   

I would imagine that though bloody it would relatively quick if not instaneous. It is my understanding that the reason for using a club to the head is to prevent damage to the seal fur.  

But everybody knows that the "real" reason that the Canaidiaon gov't is sponsoring the brutal mass murder and genocide  of the harp seals is to stop them from brutally murdering fish and eathing the fish that the fishermen want to brutally murder and selling for profit and riches.  

Instead of brutally murdering baby seals and fish for fun and profit when they could easily get re-educated and move.   They could grow soy beans make tofu and save the world.   

You can't get much more whiter then growing soy beans and making some yummy tofu. 

Those who oppose the right of women to brutally murder their own fetuses use some of the same tactics as those who murder baby seals.   They would use bloody gruesome pictures and paint the entire abortion industry as black profit making industry.

I would think that those who oppose advocates of the humane treatment of animals would come up with a different counterargument than the tired old equivalent of "your mother wears combat boots" to express their opposition.   It's ok not to care about the seals, or the dolphins, or the whales, or the moutain gorillas, or the siberian tigers, or the elephants, or the wolves, or the prairie dogs, etc, and since it's ok not to care, that's all one really needs to say:  "I don't care and I don't care that you care".

Howdy Teil

Apr 29, 2012 -- 10:09PM, teilhard wrote:

Our "Modern" Human (distinctly DYS-Functional) Relationship to the REST of Nature is rapidly becoming ever more obvious and TRAGIC ...

Trying SERIOUSLY to HEAL that broken Relaionship will require BOTH our "Hearts" AND our "Minds" to be changed and engaged, for sure ...

And it appears that is what Solf is trying to do.