My "Starbuck's Cup" is Out
Starbuck's has an interesting program called, "The way I see it," in which people who are somewhat in the public eye submit pithy bits of wisdom that are then printed on the cups (usually seen beneath the hot cup holders). I submitted one last year that was accepted. I just heard from a friend whose daughter received one of "my" cups this morning at her local outlet.
Here is the comment: "The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to this simple but profound question: Does every human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human? Answer yes, and we have a chance of achieving universal human rights. Answer no, and it means that we are merely another animal in the forest."
I have to admit I am pretty jazzed by this. Thank you Starbucks!
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 11:24 AM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Nice succinct way to put it. I sometimes come across the sentiment in others that it is somehow fascistic hubris to acknowledge "human exceptionalism". I wonder if there is a discernable difference between some who link life is the bottom line as in bacterial life and some who think material is the bottom line, just collisions of atoms. Both reduce humanity to a killing caricature of what it is.
The more I deal with these issues, the more I understand that our self perception is crucial to how we act with each other and the environment. I sometimes want to say to the human reductionists, well, both carrots and humans are made out of carbon molecules, so there is no difference between a human and a carrot. Thaks for writing.
That is great, and I agree 100%!The possibilities are many. I have come across several aquaintances who are not pro-life and who happen to frequent Starbucks.
I am happy that they may now truly get their money's worth in the form of a much needed education.
I'll have to go back into a Starbucks! but one wonders how many Apes Are People, Too selections S. has made....
Definitely an interesting thought (and well put given the small space), but I think you offer a false choice. A question like this requires an definition of what it is to be human or animal. Is it our genes, or is our brains, etc? I believe there is some sort of a continuum (or many discrete levels with their own continuity) based on cognition. Given this belief, nothing is "just another animal in the forest," but rather each animal is itself different. I generally put us "above" them because of our level of ability to reason and all that reasoning entails (complex emotion, pain, and joy based on past and future, and much more). However, an animal with greater cognitive abilities might be regarded at a higher level than some particular person with severe mental retardation. There's a lot more I could say that comes out of this viewpoint, but I won't clog up the comment area any further.
Let me just append briefly that I haven't really spent a lot of time looking through your posts, so my above comment is based solely on the post above absent any further context.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home