Mark Wiesenfeld: ‘Wildlife management’ is a euphemism for killing

The writer Joan Dunayer defines speciesism as “a failure, on the basis of species membership or species-typical characteristics, to accord any sentient being equal consideration and respect.” In her book “Speciesism,” she defines “sentient being” as one having a nervous system, which allows the individual to feel, experiencing life in his or her own way, and beautifully expands on the multifaceted aspects of speciesism.

Each and every elk is, indeed, a living, feeling individual, experiencing life in his or her own way. It saddens me that the Boulder County Commissioners approved another year of “elk management.” The words “wildlife management,” “harvesting” and “culling” are all euphemisms for killing — in the supposed interests of the ecosystem and its vegetation.

Hunting, fishing, and trapping all exemplify speciesism, the disregard for nonhuman animals embodied in their legal status as property, with no rights, that underlies the intentional harming and killing, in myriad forms, of billions of sentient beings annually.

I leave you with a brief excerpt below from the epilogue of Dr. Albert Schweitzer’s autobiography, “Out of My Life and Thought”: “To undertake to lay down universally valid distinctions of value between different kinds of life will end in judging them by the greater or lesser distance at which they seem to stand from us human beings — as we ourselves judge. But that is a purely subjective criterion. Who among us knows what significance any other kind of life has in itself, and as part of the universe …?”

Mark Wiesenfeld

Boulder

Edna Ralston: Read what Amash says

Conservative Republican Rep. Justin Amash read Robert Mueller’s report and was shocked. All Camera readers, but especially the 30% or so who support Trump, should have the opportunity to read what Amash has to say. Here is some of Amash’s analysis, with emphases added:

“Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller’s report …, (and) helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation. … in fact, Mueller finds considerable evidence that several of Trump’s actions detailed in the report meet the elements of obstruction. … Mueller urged the release of the report’s … executive summaries. … Barr declined; he allowed the confusion to fester (for) three weeks. Barr used further misrepresentations to help build the president’s false narrative that the investigation was unjustified. He … implies falsely that the investigation was baseless. In truth, Mueller’s report describes concerning contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and people in or connected to the Russian government. … Barr says the White House ‘fully cooperated’ … but (actually) Mueller unsuccessfully sought an interview with the president for over a year. Barr has so far successfully used his position (as Attorney General) to sell the president’s false narrative to the American people. This will continue if (we) … do not start pushing back on his misrepresentations and share the truth.”

Most of us do not have time to read the full report. But we can trust what a conservative Republican has to say. As Mueller has made clear, our election system is under threat by at least one hostile foreign government. We all need to know about the deceit and stonewalling by those in power, and also their lack of action to protect the integrity of our democracy. We have indeed been invaded by a hostile power.

Edna Ralston

Boulder

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