Letters to the Editor

In response to the letter written by Bob Stevens to the editor of "A Change of Heart about Animals," I do not agree with any of it. In fact, I don't see any intelligence in any of of Stevens' words. Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but the facts that he stated made no sense to me whatsoever. When writing about his thoughts on Rifkin, he implied that Rifkin "wanted to ignore human suffering and focus on animal discomfort." No where in Rifkin's article did I read about lessening human importance. Not once did I question if Rifkin loved animals more than humans. I honestly do not understand where Stevens was coming from with all this false information. In a "A Change of Heart about Animals," Rifkin uses examples of findings, such as the results in the journal Science" to show the intelligence of some animals, such as the two crows, using their brain and surroundings to snatch their food. Another example that Rifkin used was the argument that animals live off instinct and lack any logical reasoning; however, Rifkin overruled this theory by explaining the great geese migration south which is passed down generations between the birds. This explanation implies that geese have intelligence and a sense of family, just like humans do. Does this deprive humans of any emotion? Does this example, one fact of geese, make human life any less important? No. No where in any of Rifkin's words do I see anything relating to less importance of humans. He doesn't take away from the fact that yes, we have a million problems. If anything, Rifkin just adds to the list of problems. He just extends his heart to animals because, like most of us, is compassionate and believes in equality of them. His article as a whole gives light to the way we treat different types of animals and gets us, the readers, to think in a new perspective.