Humans are superior. Period.

What makes us different from every other creature is our ability to reason. We are rational beings who pursue knowledge for its own sake. We further set ourselves apart by our linguistic abilities, use of tools and technology, morality, and superior social skills, which include emotional intelligence, compassion and empathy.

Our superior intelligence, backed by science, is what we have come to believe as undisputed fact. After all, we have been key to the world's "progress." The repercussions of this self-centric, self-serving and narrow-minded view has proven to be lethal. It has contributed to untold bloodshed, suffering and destruction of humans, wildlife and nature alike!

The thought that we are superior is intellectually erroneous. It is important to challenge and re-think this thought because it is the source that drives our behavior.

TOP TEN REBUTTALS

1. A common argument presented against dolphin captivity, for example, is sharing data about their intelligence and how they are social creatures just like us. While true, since when is intelligence the barometer for whether ANY animal should be kept captive?

2. In the documentary Blackfish, Sea World decided to separate the baby Orca from her mother. Her mother cried with agonizing pain. In the documentary Blue Planet II, the Pilot Whale mother held on to her dead calf for days and would not let go.

How are we not hearing the screams and cries of mothers and babies being separated from each other? How are we not able to understand they have feelings? Where is our self-professed higher emotional IQ?



Pigs slammed against the floor. Rabbits electroshocked. They scream and twitch while writhing in pain and blood after their throats are slit. Cows beaten, kicked and punched. Each cow gets to watch their fellow mate being mutilated. They know they are next. They push and scream. But no one hears their cries. Not even the so-called intelligent humans who brag about having compassion and empathy like no other.

3. Since when does someone have to be EXACTLY like us in order to receive empathy from us? But then again, silly me! We find ways to pinpoint differences even amongst humans, and treat each other inhumanely.

4. Even if we succumb to the idea that we are the most intelligent creatures on the planet, how and why does that give us a license to do as we please with wildlife and nature? The response, because we are intelligent, is stupendously empty-headed.

5. We know only what we know. That does not mean that what we know is absolute and the entire truth. Eagles, tigers, lemurs, dragonflies and chameleons - all have better eyesight than we do. Mantis Shrimp see color like no other; they have 12 color receptors compared to only 3 in humans. Our claim to superior intelligence is judged only by what we can see and what we know. This has all the markings of a rigged game.

6. Have we even considered the possibility that other creatures may be more intelligent than us? And if they are, we would never know it! Wildlife may never build roads or invent iPhones. But what if they use their intelligence for things they find more value in? What if their communication language is too complex and high level for our small minds?

7. If intelligence is the determining factor, then shouldn't half of us have the same fate we subject animals and trees to?

8. On surface level, it would appear that trees are the farthest from being anything like us. Not that it matters, but they are. Roots of trees spread laterally, interconnect and support each other. They even give their nutrients to other trees who need help. Trees store information like their age, flood, fire, climate change and human behavior, within their growth rings. They think, communicate, record and feel too.

9. As intelligent creatures, how do we explain human actions that are headed towards our own demise and extinction? Despite having the intelligence to know WE NEED SHARKS for a balanced ecosystem, we continue to slaughter 100 million sharks every year.

Our planet is 71% ocean. Human activity has altered the composition of this unfathomable vast body of water; our oceans are now 30% more acidic and rising . Rainforests once covered land by 14%; deforestation has reduced it to a meager 6% and counting.

10. We determine quotas and sell licenses to kill wildlife to bring their population under control. Who the hell are we to make this call? And if we claim to be intelligent stewards of this planet, then we have undoubtedly proven to be the dumbest and deadliest stewards ever.

Oh, and by the way, why are we not doing anything about our own overpopulation that is egregiously out of control? 7.7 billion people. It’s scandalous.

The answer to our survival is not reproduction. It’s the opposite.

CONCLUSION

We are obsessed with superiority. Therefore, on a permanent quest to prove others inferior. Despite all of us being of the same human race, we continue to find ways to differentiate, claim superiority and assert dominance over each other. Two things are clear. We don't know what we don't know. And what we should know, we choose not to accept. We should know that while we are ALL different, we are ALL equal. No one person, one race or one species' life is more valuable than another. No one was put on this planet by God or otherwise, for the human race or a select group of humans to use and abuse at will.

APATHY OR ACTION?

1. Watch Blue Planet II, Trophy, Blackfish and THE LAST LIONS
2. Read "DEEP" by James Nestor and "The Hidden Life of Trees" by P. Wohlleben
3. Reduce your dairy and meat consumption, especially beef
4. Reduce your footprint - Buy less. And say no to plastic, fur and leather
5. Watch Timelapse of Human Multiplication "World Population."
6. Have Sex. Not Kids.

The planet does not need another me. The planet needs more trees and wildlife.