{"id":85,"date":"2011-04-30T09:17:58","date_gmt":"2011-04-30T13:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/?p=85"},"modified":"2019-03-24T07:17:29","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T11:17:29","slug":"frets-about-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/","title":{"rendered":"Frets about Pets"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just saw this brief piece in Time<\/a> on academia’s ongoing efforts to diminish our vocabulary in the name of enhancing it.\u00a0 It’s always difficult to tell how well articles like this actually represent the content of the journals they report on (the journal itself<\/a> is behind a pay wall).\u00a0 However, the basic idea seems to be that many words we use for animals are derogatory (including anything from “vermin” to “pet”).\u00a0 The terms we use reflect the unkind behavior of the past, and reforming our beliefs and behavior means reforming our language.\u00a0 In short, it’s another brand political correctness as the progressive civil rights model is mirrored for animal rights.\u00a0 There’s nothing really new here, but we might as well get a handle on refuting this sort of thing before<\/em> we need to vocally oppose legislation based on it.\u00a0 Let’s start with the word “pet.”<\/p>\n

It’s certainly true that the words we use have power over how we act as the journal suggests.\u00a0 But that very fact ultimately undermines their case about the language of animal rights.\u00a0 If “companion” is to be preferred and “pet” deemed derogatory, it is probably based somehow on the observation that calling someone a “pet” would be derogatory while “companion” would not be.\u00a0 We should therefore use the better, non-derogatory terms for animals because they’re no less valuable than humans.\u00a0 Unfortunately for their case, however, the word “pet” is derogatory specifically because it is dehumanizing, and dehumanization should only be offensive when applied to humans.\u00a0 How is humanizing an animal by using this new language any less offensive than dehumanizing a human?<\/p>\n

Applying “better”, more human terms to animals still leaves humans as the gold standard to which animals must be compared.\u00a0 So what they propose is still rank speciesism–they should complain no less about this than about trying to improve the lot of African-Americans by making them more “white.”\u00a0 By this model, the basis for our relationship with animals therefore cannot rest in these human “prejudices.”\u00a0 So how do we treat each other “well” and “respectfully” and “kindly”?\u00a0 The meaning of the words must be abstracted away from humanity and drawn instead from across the animal kingdom.\u00a0 When this happens, they must necessarily lose any distinctly human concepts such as goodness, truth, or beauty.\u00a0 What is more, if humans apply these words to each other, they cannot reclaim such concepts, or we would be right back to the rank speciesism we started with.\u00a0 Ultimately then, humans must talk about each other without regard to the good, the true, and the beautiful.<\/p>\n

And so the power of words begins to cut both ways.\u00a0 As is all too common in the animal rights movement, equating the value of humans and animals doesn’t mean treating animals better–it just means treating humans worse.<\/p>\n

But what about “owner”?\u00a0 The article says that this word is even worse, and here, they might have a better case.\u00a0 What do we usually think of when we say “I own this”?\u00a0 Usually ideas of power and possession–some variation on “I can do whatever I want with it.”\u00a0 This certainly isn’t a very kind concept to apply to animals.\u00a0 However, their thesis would still be wrong because this use of language isn’t some holdover from unkind treatment in the past–it’s just that we’ve come to possess a very deprived notion of “ownership.”\u00a0 Contrary to progressive assumptions, it’s caused by something we’ve lost rather than something we’re holding onto.<\/p>\n

Think about less common and more “old-timey” uses of the word.\u00a0 For example, when you admit to having done something wrong, you “own” up to it–you confess and take responsibility.\u00a0 This doesn’t indicate an act of power over property.\u00a0 On the contrary, “ownership” in this context is an act of humble submission.\u00a0 Or consider a more balanced use of the word:\u00a0 taking “ownership” over a task at your job.\u00a0 Here it implies both responsibility and the power to carry out that responsibility.\u00a0 It’s simultaneously a claim to authority and an act of submission.<\/p>\n

In our hyper-individualistic culture, we focus so much on our rights that we completely forget about the responsibility part.\u00a0 Indeed, any solid concept of rights is inseparable from concepts of responsibility (and vice versa).\u00a0\u00a0 Because we try to chase after rights while escaping responsibilities, pet “owner” has simply come to mean pet “user.”\u00a0 If, on the other hand, you think of “owner” as necessarily implying a humble submission with respect to taking responsibility, then “owner” isn’t really offensive with respect to pets at all (assuming we aren’t trying to humanize them in the first place).<\/p>\n

Perhaps linguistic solutions to animal cruelty would be better served by nourishing our language rather than continuing to prune it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just saw this brief piece in Time on academia’s ongoing efforts to diminish our vocabulary in the name of enhancing it.\u00a0 It’s always difficult to tell how well articles like this actually represent the content of the journals they … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrets about Pets - The 96th Thesis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Frets about Pets - The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I just saw this brief piece in Time on academia’s ongoing efforts to diminish our vocabulary in the name of enhancing it.\u00a0 It’s always difficult to tell how well articles like this actually represent the content of the journals they … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The 96th Thesis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-30T13:17:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-24T11:17:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@matt_e_cochran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@matt_e_cochran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/026b49396f19b6940e8bb4a68d94b5fa\"},\"headline\":\"Frets about Pets\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-30T13:17:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T11:17:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\"},\"wordCount\":786,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/026b49396f19b6940e8bb4a68d94b5fa\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\",\"Ethics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\",\"name\":\"Frets about Pets - The 96th Thesis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-30T13:17:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-24T11:17:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/frets-about-pets\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Frets about Pets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matthewcochran.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The 96th Thesis\",\"description\":\"The Devil Never Sleeps; 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