Page 33 - Fables volume 2

Ethipets

“As we come to an end of this, the First Ethipet Congress, I would
like again to thank the organizers, Unleash the Power, and their
human sponsors, No Soul Left Behind, who graciously provided us
this recently-abandoned zoo for our historic meeting.”
A smattering of approval rumbled and squeaked, a sound recalling
a great orchestra tuning up before performing a tendentious Teutonic
tone poem.
The chaircreature continued. “Let me review the main points our
speakers have made. We are among the privileged of the animal
kingdom: we have names, most of them assigned at birth—as are
those of humans. And many of us enjoy the same care and attention
given to a child. It was thus for me, Bella the bulldog, as a pet in an
American household. All of you in attendance are human pets, and
therefore also bear an epithet: Rollo the bear.” The ursine on the
platform to her left nodded, pleased at the acknowledgement. “Slinky
the axolotl. Pretty Boy the parrot. Wanda the goldfish. And that is
crucially important for our cause.”
The crowd was all ears; the congenitally deaf were given an outline
in mime by their neighbors.
“In contrast to our treatment, animals in the wild and in the
industrial gulags of agribusiness suffer violence and malign neglect in
vast numbers. Human stewardship of the planet has not benefitted
them. Is it a coincidence they are nameless?”
“No!” came the hooted, whinnied, grunted, clacking response.
“No, indeed,” said Bella, warming to her topic. “And when those
same humans want to wage war or exterminate whole categories of
their fellows, what do they do? They dehumanize them! Redefine
them as animals—then they can exploit, enslave and eliminate vast
numbers of their own kind without guilt or any thought of granting
them the same respect and rights they claim for themselves. In other
words, demoting them to nameless creatures of the disposable
biosphere, mere objects without—dare I say it?—souls.”
“Right!” “Hear, hear!” “Shame!”

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