Yes, yes, yes! This bulletin board is indeed a "wonderful forum," as
Dennis called it. What a pleasure this morning to continue reading the
dialogue sparked by last week's "red in tooth and claw" message. I must
admit to some confusion, though, at Dale Goble's statement: "The most
egregious form of anthropomorphizing is to deny that animals have any
psychic life." Deny? What about assert? That I could understand. Am I
reading this wrong?

Anyway, I especially liked your message, Dennis, particularly your
clarification, and I'd like to make a comment in response to your
discussion of the Westerner's fear of death. I'm not sure that it's
entirely this fear of death that motivates animal rights supporters to
behave inconsistently. I think we Americans (North Americans, that is,
for those who insist on political correctness, [gag]) have an affinity
for the underdog. But we also feel ambivalence toward the weak: there's
that limbic reaction to destroy, and then there's the urge to be humane
and protective, especially of the individual. I think that many of us
feel so strongly about the rights of the individual that it borders on
fanaticism, and colors our reactions to a wide range of issues, all the
way from the "rights" of humans to conduct AIDS research in primate labs
vs the rights of the chimps in those labs, to the rights of the unborn
child vs a woman's right to choose. Then there's gun control...

Hmmm, now that I think about it, I can see the connection between the
fear of death and the strong feelins about individual rights. After all,
death is the cessation of an individual consciousness, whether that
consciousness is human or some other animal. Well, *hell* -- there goes my
argument. Ooops, should I have said heck instead?

Ultimately, as far as our reactions to Nature being red in tooth and
claw are concerned, it's a question of balance, I suppose, which is
one of the things I found so attractive about your discussion, Dennis.

Thanks to everyone so far who's participated in this "round table,"
especially Dennis, Michael Price, Burton Guttman, and Dale Goble. I
sure have enjoyed learning more about the personalities behind these
messages. Besides, it's almost as good as being in the classroom again,
with all these ideas and opinions crackling in the air.


Lisa

P.S. Any other writers by trade out there? I mean, writers who just
happen to enjoy birding.