Humanising Animals

Inversions and Perversions

We in Jerusalem are acutely aware that Unbelief has a persistent tendency to de-humanise humanity. It shows up in almost every place. There is the insistence that the yet-to-be-born child is not a human being. There is the pop-culture sobriquet of children as "rug rats". Society now celebrates the decision of couples not to have children as enlightened. Rationing calculations are made as to whether sufficient "quality of life" exists to warrant medical treatment. The death and malnutrition of millions is casually accepted, as long as less carbon is emitted.

But there is a flip side. The more Unbelief dehumanises man, the more it humanises animals. Certain animals are protected, not because they face extinction or are under threat, but because they are "human-like". Dolphins and whales are classic examples. While people may eat meat they cannot face animals and birds being killed: like abortion, it is deliberately suppressed out from consciousness as the modern Unbeliever walks the meat section of the supermarket aisles. It is the same kind of psychological legerdemain as occurred in Germany during the Holocaust: people at one level knew what was happening, but they preferred not to know.

Another absurd and evil manifestation of the humanising of animals amidst Unbelief is the way (usually childless) households elevate pets into the status of children. Consider the following:

Americans this year will spend $45 billion on veterinary antidepressants, canine hip replacements and doggie spa days. Pet spending has nearly tripled in 15 years, with dogs taking up the lion's share. As the animals have made the physical move from backyard doghouses to ergonomic indoor puppy beds, they've undergone an even more significant philosophical evolution: Man's best friend has become what marketing types now call America's "fur baby." . . . .

It's a central irony of our pet-obsessed era: As retail-driven humanization of pets reaches increasingly improbable levels -- 56 percent of dog owners report buying Christmas presents for their animals -- we're more eager than ever to understand their essential dogginess.

A culture that dehumanises man will inevitably end up enslaving itself to animals. We are well on the way.