University of Sydney backs research into giving plants and animals legal rights (paywalled)
University of Sydney research probing into the “moral, legal and political status” of animals and the environment has been slammed as “out of touch”, prompting questions over who is funding the study.
A team of 14 university researchers studying “Multispecies Justice”, claim to explore rights for those that are “more than human” as part of the University of Sydney’s broader FutureFix program they themselves have dubbed as “counterintuitive”, as stated on their website.
“Justice is typically thought to be the preserve of humans, and advocacy has sought to ensure all humans are subjects of justice,” researchers wrote on the university’s website.
“But harms inflicted on animals and the environment are coming to be understood as injustices.”
The 14 researchers claim they are working to reconceptualise justice to accommodate “the vast breadth of the multispecies world” in an issue the University deems is of “global importance”, according to the University of Sydney website.
The university today defended the research, stating that many legal systems and scholars see harms inflicted on animals and the environment as a form of injustice.
“The project is examining what justice across the human and natural world might entail,” a spokesperson for the University told The Australian.
“It will provide a rigorous academic forum for those views to be researched, analysed and debated.”
“The FutureFix research themes were established to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems… We require counterintuitive thinking to address the deep complexities involved,” the spokesperson said.
How will a jury of your peers be formed? Will it be a vegetable garden?
If high court justices are a cabbage patch, it will be slow deliberation.
The fact that these 14 researchers are all human is bigotry. Humanity should have no more than 1 participant in this forum.
We’ve already got a turnip for Prime Minister.
It reminds me of a joke I heard about Margaret Thatcher.
She and her cabinet went to a restaurant and, after they were seated, a waiter came over with menus. After a few minutes, he asked her what she would like. “I’ll have the roast beef,” she replied.
“And the vegetables?”
“They’ll have the roast beef, too.”
(Ta-dum tish!)
Saying they are giving animals and plants rights is just leftspeak for their plans to take more of our rights away.
Nothing new here. The German Socialist Worker’s Party thought that forests had rights, too.
“A team of 14 university researchers studying ‘Multispecies Justice’…”
Bedlamites all.
The first suit should be a SLAPP. On behalf of plants, I sue University of Sydney for misrepresenting and victimization of plants.
“… We require counterintuitive thinking to address the deep complexities involved,” the spokesperson said. Umm, sounds like this needs alot of cannabis to get that counter-intuitive. But would that not be murder! Exploitation or plant slavery? The mind boggles.
They’re so far past smart they’ve become stupid.
It’s a circle. Like going from right to left. center, right-center, right, alt-right, extreme right, extreme left, alt-left, left, center-left, center
How dare you eat beef! THAT COW HAD RIGHTS!
How dare you eat that salad! YOU OPPRESSOR OF LETTUCE!
Honestly, it sounds like something out of a Monty Python sketch, except worse because they’re serious.
Reminds me of a Sci-Fi novel I read in high school called “Brain Wave” by Poul Anderson. In the plot, the Earth suddenly moves out of an energy-damping field in space that suppresses neuron activity, and within weeks, the intelligence of all animal life on Earth increases by a factor of about 5. Humans had to create a new religion for chickens, cows, and pigs that incorporated self sacrifice, just so they could continue to eat meat.
I can imagine myself being in court because the last dog in our family sued me for not playing “go und get it” with him whenever he demanded it while staying at my house.
On the other hand, I can see different species suing each other. Imagine polar bears being sued for eating seals without their permission. Cattle will be taken to court for eating grass without a legal contract allowing them to do so. After all, the grass has to agree to be eaten, right?
Does that mean we can sue bacteria and viruses for making us ill? Oh, I’m sure that someone will argue that bacteria and viruses aren’t animals, so the definition of what an animal is will have to be debated, right?
And people laughed when there was fierce debate about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin…..
Hey, don’t the various fruits count? Why just veggies?
I can see it now.
a go-fund-me page for some shmuck sued by ACLU for stepping on a squash.
truly folks, a ‘sign of the [end] times’.
oh, law of unintended consequences? what better way to cause 100,000s to shy away from adopting a rescue animal for fear the MADNESS will reach THEM.
I nominate my dog to be one of the authors of the study (studies) as he’s smarter than any of the humans involved.
For the best quality research, send them to Venezuela. They can interview all the spare meat(animals) and vegetables(plants), they’re able to find. The locals will call them loco and put them in the empty zoo cages.
leftists are taking away rights from humans and giving more rights to plants and animals
Actually they are taking rights mostly from white males, other demographics kind of get a pass
then they wonder why white males tend to NOT vote liberal
“The FutureFix research themes were established to CREATE some of the world’s biggest problems… ”
A more accurate take.
Taken to its logical conclusion, eating is an immoral injustice.
“Education” is dead.
“rigorous academic forum”
This just example goes to show that we could reduce the number of universities by a factor of ten, the result being an increase in the actual level of scholarship by a factor of one hundred. Truly less would be more in the overgrown, decadent, venal and corrupt world of academia.
The University claimed “that many legal systems … see harms inflicted on animals and the environment as a form of injustice.”
How many? Name them.
It is just for scavengers to eat anything. We are scevengers, no matter what vegans and other arse-hat ideologues say.
How does one get a job as a radish whisperer in the courts? Could be a lucrative gig…
For the record, I also speak zucchini, carrot, Pea and cucumber, but my potato is a little rusty.
Does this mean that I’ll have to sneak out in the dead of night to use Kill-ex on the weeds growing along the back fence. I’ll send my kids out to either end of the back ally to watch for the WPP (Weed Protection Police)
Future kangaroo courts will now have actual kangaroos in them.