What "A Change of Heart about Animals" is about

In the article A change of Heart about Animals by Rifkin he claims that our fellow creatures are more like us than we might ever have imagined but also that you do not have to be human to feel emotions. The fact that they feel emotions has changed many people's views on animals. It is then said that companies such as Burger King and KFC have started researching into emotional, mental, and behavioral states of the creatures that they use. From the studies that have been done on pigs it has been found that they crave for affection and are easily depressed when they are isolated or kept from playing with one another. There have been big step made by countries to outlaw and ban pig stalls but also requiring people with pigs to provide them with a certain amount of human contact daily. Also to support the claim that creatures are more like us studies have been done on other types of animals also like on New Caledonian crowns and on a gorilla named Koko. In the findings with the crows researchers were able to find out that they re smart because Betty which was one of the crow's when left with only a straight wire at an instance bent it just like the hooked wire and then snagged the food and out of ten trials she did this nine times. Koko the gorilla is just as impressive as these crows because she was taught sign language and has managed to master more than 1,000 signs and understands several thousand's English words. Just to prove of her intelligence on human IQ tests she scores between 75 and 90 which is really impressive for an animal. Rifkin thinks that animal rights should be included in the constitution but also that some should be changed in a way that they will protect animals more than they already do. In order to protect animals more, Germany has guaranteed animal rights into its constitution. Rifkin denies that statement that says that animals behave by sheer instinct and claims that they in fact don't but are rather taught by parents just like geese teach their goslings their migration routes. Rifkin agrees with the teachings of law courses on animal rights but also with the animal rights lawsuits that are being filed due to painful laboratory experiments, and the raising of animals in inhumane conditions.

Fish Feel. Fish are Smart.

Hooked on a Myth, by Victoria Braithwaite argues about how fish feel pain and have emotions as well. She presents a variety of arguments and experiments on fishes feeling pain. But, on the emotional side I didn't really feel convinced. She really didn't have much information to bring that topic up. I don’t believe she should have stated that fishes had emotions if she wasn't quite sure and didn't have as much information to back it up. Rather, she should have just stuck with fishes feeling pain. That is just my own opinion.  When I first read this article I was actually surprised on the experimentation of, vinegar on an open cut.  It was weird how the fish reacted and when it started to experiencing a lot of agitations, but when it was given medication it started to calm the fish agitations, I didn't expect the fish to react the way it did. I thought it would have gotten weak and eventually die.  I don’t really know much nor absolutely anything about fish or about their anatomy. So, it’s kind of hard for me to actually feel bad for the fish. But I know we should take into consideration of the fishes pains, if there have been experiments presented that showing that they do feel pain.

There are many ways for us to actually put into effect on how we treat fish. For example, barbed wire should be banned when you are trying to catch a fish. There should be other supplied wires that won’t actually hurt the fish, but still allows you to real in the fish. The second thing in protecting the fish, is the catch and release method.  When the fish is out of water it is suffer trying to grasp for air in order to survive. When it is out of the water you can see from the fish’s eye that they are suffering and hoping they will actually survive that is the worst pain you could put a fish through. It’s like taking away the oxygen of a human; we suffer as well and experience great pain. So, why should we be taking a fish's life away? It is better to just catch and then release it back.  In the article scientist determined consciousness in a human but not on a fish.  I believe a fish is conscious as well. They know their own surrounds and how they feel. They are aware when they are dying and when they are hungry. In paragraph 11 it talks about how fish are smart and clever. They are able to guide themselves in order to survive. They can detected many things that we aren’t much aware of. They are smart enough to take care of themselves and use their surroundings in order to survive.

What I think....

In Jeremy Rifkin article, A Change of Heart about Animals, he believes animals should have rights in the constitution. That they should be protected and that we should acknowledge that animals do feel pain and have emotions just like humans. He presents his argument by using a variety of experiments. I understand that we harm animals and let’s face it we don’t take their emotion and pain into consideration as much when we are eating delicious food and devouring our faces into wonderfulness.  We are humans trying to survive. But, at times we do take into consideration on animal’s pains and emotions when it’s OUR pet. We treat our pets like royalty, protect them, and talk to them like they are humans.  If it’s not a meal to eat we care more for the animal. But if it’s providing us food and allowing us to live our views are differently on the animal.  In my opinion, I believe the way the animals benefits us is the way we treat it. I think we should just be more aware on how we treat animals and not use them for foolish tests. Be more cautious and aware of what we are doing to the animal and acknowledging what we are putting the animal through. Realizing if it’s worth it or even reasonable.  In one of Rifkins experiment, it was about a pig needing 20 seconds of play time and human interaction. When I first read it I thought it was hilarious.  20 seconds. That is ridiculous an actual kid would need an hour or more of playtime to keep a kid happy. That is where an animal and human are different. A human needs much more attention and have more needs than an animal.  The second experiment that surprised me the most was the gorilla Koko. It’s crazy how smart that gorilla is. I would have never expected that from an animal. I knew animals can understand but never figured their brain development is just like ours. (Not saying we have the same brain, but rather the processes of learning). It is amazing, to see that Koko was able to learn several English words and learned how to sign more than a thousand sign. I guess they can be like us; just those animals are special and unique. Lastly, I guess we don’t really care when we kill an animal because the animal kingdom does the same. They kill their pray in order to survive I don’t think they would be aware of the difference of killing an animal and a human being. Their mind is not developed to see the difference. They just see human and animals as food (meat) and they would do anything in order to survive. So why can’t we do the same without having activist getting all crazy about us hurting an animal if the animal does the same thing.

Animal Rights

To be frank, I really don’t care much for any of the articles that we read. I like animals, but I also happen to love meat. I know that animals have certain human characteristics about them, but that does not make them human. There are certain animal right that I respect though, for example, I don’t believe that poor gorilla should have to be tested on to make sure a certain lipstick is safe. I find it quite disheartening when humans test animals for selfish reasons. If animals were only tested for serious things such as medications, then I understand, but makeup? Come on now! I agree with Bob Stevens when he responds to Rifkin’s article. He mentioned that animals naturally hunt and kill each other. With that said, why should humans be restricted in the hunting of animals for food? I believe that certain animal rights activists have taken things too far. So we should spend money making sure that animals have food and toys and in some cases, clothes, while there are little children who don’t have food to eat or clothes to wear or toys to play with? That doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense to me.

 Also take Braithwaite’s proposition for example. She believes that we should take precautionary approach to fish and their feeling. She herself pointed out that it is not proven that fish affected by pain. They might feel it, but that does not mean they react to the pain. In that case, why should I think twice before going fishing? Fish are one of the most vulnerable animals in the world. They have been hunted since the beginning of time by both humans and other animals. I don’t think I should now start worrying about their feeling.  Does it really matter if fish feel pain? No matter what happens, people around the world will still eat fish, I included.

Giving thanks

This thanksgiving, I was compelled to look back and recall things that I am thankful for. Well I don’t know about you guys, but I am thankful that I made it to senior year. If we looked back we will see that we lost so many of our class mates over the years. Our class size in seventh grade was over 600 students and now, there are only 513 seniors. What happened?!! Anyways, I am just thankful that we are able to go to school free of charge and can be guaranteed safety while in school. (for the most part.)There are so many kids our age all over the world that would give anything to be able to go to school. I sometimes feel guilty when I complain about too much homework or other petty things like that because I know that there are kids who will take Mr. Nguen’s homework six times a day if it means they get the chance to get a solid education. We should be grateful that we have teachers at Mayfair that are willing to stay after school to make sure we understand everything they taught or just to offer us help. I hope that during this thanksgiving season, we will take time to really appreciate all of the things that we have especially all of the food that we got to eat during thanksgiving. I know I was not the only one holding my belly after dinner on Thursday. I ate way too much. I know it might be a bit late but Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

AF: The Latest -- Three Things

Kids, I just have a few things to say -- first, the blog is open again and waiting for you to write 1 Post and 2 Comments about the "Rhetoric of Op-Ed" articles and ideas.  You can write about any of the articles (Rifkin, Braithwaite, Yong), or you can write about rhetorical appeals and how these appeals function in the texts, situations and conversations that we encounter.

TWO:  I want you to start writing your rhetorical precis for "Hooked by a Myth."  Have a draft on Thursday, and a final on Friday.

THREE:  Also, start looking for your own Op-Ed piece.  Good places to look are the Op-Ed sections of

1. The Los Angeles Times
2. The New York Times
3. The Washington Post
4. The Wall Street Journal

AF: Scholarships! November 2014

Here is a link to available scholarships that was just forwarded from Mrs. Lane.  Check it out!

Bellflower residents:  don't forget that Bravo scholarship.  The essay is due to Mr. Vinagupta by Friday, December 5, so write it during the break and schedule time  with me for comments or help between Monday - Thursday, December 1-4.

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