AP WORLD ESSAY- JUNE

June
Let us assume a fully grown, completely healthy, Clydesdale horse has his hooves shackled to the ground while his head is held in place with thick rope. He is conscious and standing upright, but completely immobile. And let us assume that--for some reason--every political prisoner on earth (as cited by Amnesty International) will be released from captivity if you can kick this horse to death in less than twenty minutes.You are allowed to wear steel-toed boots.Would you attempt to do this?

The relevance of human lives in comparison to those of other animals is an age old debate that many feel very passionately about. To choose between ending the life of a powerful animal, such as a healthy Clydesdale horse, and the lives of every political prisoner on Earth implies that either animals’ innocence takes priority over the lives of men and women, or that humans, who are animals themselves, should feel no compassion towards other living creatures because they are fixed farther atop Darwin’s evolutionary ladder. Although humans should not strive to hurt other living creatures, they should do what is necessary to protect and prolong their own existence and the existence of their fellow human beings, especially those who are held captive because of their political or religious views. Therefore, if given the choice between kicking an immobile, but otherwise healthy Clydesdale horse to death in less than 20 minutes using steel-toed boots so Amnesty International would release every political prisoner on the globe from captivity, or letting the prisoners remain in captivity to save the life of the animal, I would attempt to kill the horse on the grounds that humans have a responsibility as creatures of reason to help their own kind before leaving them to die to save a “lower animal.”

Primarily, one must deliberate on human rights in relation to animal rights. Animals are an important element of the global ecosystem that are often used as sources of food, as companions, and subjects for medical and medicinal studies, as well as serving many other valuable functions. Although many people feel strongly that animals, both domestic and wild, live on the same level as humans and should be treated almost as equals, the fact remains that humans are creatures more advanced than most others. “Rights are ethical principles applicable only to beings capable of reason and choice. There is only one fundamental right: a man's right to his own life” (Locke). Following the teachings of the “survival of the fittest”, evolution, or the even book of Genesis, it is obvious that humans do, and were meant to, dominate, and should not endanger their biological standing with sympathy for the existence of less evolved animals over the lives their own kind. Therefore, if the life of a Clydesdale horse and the life of a human being, or the lives of many human beings, are being weighed in respect to one another, the humans’ lives should certainly take priority over the sole Clydesdale’s life.

Although any human life should take priority over another animal’s, the fact that the lives of people whose liberty has been taken from them as a result of their political, religious, or philosophical believes presents an even better reason for killing the Clydesdale. “To reduce controversy and as a matter of principle, Amnesty International’s policies regarding release of prisoners only applies for those who have not committed or advocated violence” (Political Prisoner). “In many cases, political prisoners are imprisoned with no legal veneer directly through extrajudicial processes” (Political Prisoner). Any concerns that the released prisoners would have a negative effect on society would not influence the decision to choose the humans over the horse. These freed people could return to their families, their homes, and their jobs, so they would actually benefit their communities and countries with their safe return.

Animal rights activists may counter this reasoning with arguments that animals, like people, can reason, and should therefore be treated as equals. The fact remains, though, that “animals do not survive by rational. They survive through sensory-perceptual association and the pleasure-pain mechanism. They cannot reason. They cannot learn a code of ethics. A lion is not immoral for eating a zebra (or even for attacking a man). Predation is their natural and only means of survival; they do not have the capacity to learn any other” (Locke). Humans can think and decide to help their fellow humans. Knowing we have this gift, be it given or acquired over time, it would be a travesty to waste it by choosing not to help our fellow man.

In practice, kicking a Clydesdale horse to death may prove to be a challenge, but it would be a justified attempt to free thousands of people, even if one did not physically succeed in the allotted 20 minutes. “A Clydesdale horse is, on average, almost six feet tall, 2,000 pounds, and is usually used primarily as either a working horse or a show horse” (Thomas). A way to defy the horse’s impressive stature would be to use the boots and kick it in the head multiple times, fracturing its skull. “Horses suffering a skull fracture often have a history of being handled with the horse rearing and flipping over, and striking its head on the ground, or hitting its head on an overhead structure such as a trailer or stall ceiling. In other instances, the history indicated the horse running directly into an object…” (Skull Fractures in Horses). “Consequently, striking the horse in the skull with the steel-toed boot multiple times could result in a fracture, which leads to hemorrhaging, which would kill the animal” (Skull Fractures in Horses). Knowing this, killing the animal could be a quick, painless, and practical process.

Subsequently, killing a nonhuman animal to potentially save the lives of thousands of innocent prisoners would be an acceptable sacrifice. With the help of a pair of steel-toes boots and Amnesty International, numerous injustices to individuals could be absolved with the grant of freedom, even though one Clydesdale’s life was taken to do so. Human beings are creatures of rationale and reason that have a responsibility to aide their own before any other species, and certainly not sacrifice another human being for a common and less evolved animal’s life. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world…. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”


Bibliography

Locke, Edwin A.. "Animal "Rights" Versus Human Rights." Intellectual Conversation 02 June 2005 Web.16 Jun 2009. http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4376.html.

"Political Prisoner." Wikipedia 12 June 09 Web.16 Jun 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_prisoner.

Thomas, Cindy. "Clydesdale Working Horse Breed Description & Equine History." Horses and Horse Information 2007 Web.16 Jun 2009. .

University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture. "Skull Fractures in Horses." The Horse 7254 17 July 2006 Web.16 Jun 2009. http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=7254.

[Editors Note: Copy & paste and the blog's formatting pretty much killed the indentation of the paper and bibliography.]