[Trantor]

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The same logic could be applied to murder. People could still do it and wierd legal issues ccouild and have arisen. But maybe you think muder should be legal too because it satisfies your premises.

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This is true, because I pumped out a quick, stupid answer.

I should have mentioned that I believe human beings should have rights that animals quite simply don't have. Society should put humans first because we're the ones who contribute to it. Animals, by contrast, are food, clothing and entertainment to us. I really don't see any reason to protect their rights.

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It all comes down to one's personal feeling of the society one wants to be part of. I would not like to live in a society where, for example, where it was ok to to nail a cat to a fence and leave it to die (ok maybe cats but definitly not dogs!). And so one goes down the line until some cruelty is tolerable, eg in vermin control. Somewhere you make a choice as to what is acceptable to you. No absolute measure, just what you feel is OK. There are no absolute rigts, only what a society choses to bestow.

So the reason to give them rights is so you feel comfortable living in your particular society.