[Steve_Seattle]

I saw this coming five years ago. I see this as the camel's nose in the tent for eventually trying to make vegetarianism mandatory. If animals have rights comparable to human rights, killing them would of course be prohibited. Right now they are talking about chimps, but in a few years they'll be talking about all animals. And they will scoff at this as alarmist and ridiculous, even as they plan it, just as abortion proponents scoffed back in the 1960's when abortion opponents said allowing abortion in some circumstances would lead to a call for abortion on demand. Similarly, in the early 1990's gay activists scoffed when conservatives claimed that "domestic partnership" laws were being used to pave the way for demands for gay marriage. "We have no such plans, that is ridiculous!" they said.

[boris]

"I saw this coming five years ago. I see this as the camel's nose in the tent for eventually trying to make vegetarianism mandatory."

Someone told me that Ghandi's parents, members of the Jain sect of Buddhism, convinced themselves that eating plants was immoral, so they starved themselves to death rather than commit an atrocity. Don't know if it's true.

As I commented previously, one could argue that even a Jain could eat, e.g., apples which have fallen from the tree without outside intervention--provided he keeps the seeds for planting. I dunno.

--Boris