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Further, by the same argument, aren't people more important than animals?
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People ARE animals.
This fact - that so many people seem to either forget or be oblivious of - is the main factor that separates plants from other animals. It's not that animals are "important" while plants are "unimportant." It's about respecting that common bond between us ... why should human beings, as one species of animal, be protected from abuses and atrocities, but pigs, as another species of animal, be totally open to them?
Most animals form some kind of bond, within their own species ... and many species - not just humans - form bonds across species. Dogs, for instance - how many dogs do you hear about who risk their own lives to save their masters? Or cats who travel great distances to get back to their families? Or dolphins who save a drowning human being?
Non human animals also have the ability to experience pain and fear. Has anyone ever proven that a plant has those capabilities. Plants lack the organized central nervous system, neurotransmitters, and receptors to even send pain signals, much less have a "brain" that can experience something as complex as emotions.
Do you deny that other species of animals love? My cat, who greets me at the door every day ... who follows me from room to room ... who allows no one but me to pick him up ... do you deny that he loves me?
I just don't understand how anyone can compare plants to animals, no matter how "gentle" their spinach may be. How often does that spinach show you affection? Actually, how often does the spinach do *anything* except sit in the dirt and just grow? it has no real survival instinct ... no sense of fear ... nothing ... nothing at all.