LD Post - Animal Rights

Over the past year I've been accused of being negligent of the emotional needs of LD'ers on the team.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: My mind was not made for LD.  My intellectual bluffing only carries me so far.  Those of you who are actually in the trenches debating these topics possess far more mental fortitude than I will ever have.  So if I've neglected you, it's for fear that I'll say something that will actually do more harm than good.  Sergio Infante said it best: "Mr. Hill, you can teach the children's encyclopedia version of LD."  It was harsh but he couldn't have been more accurate.  All that said, here are my thoughts on your current topic...

Resolved: Justice requires the recognition of animal rights.

Before you engage in a full on debate it's important to ask a couple of questions:
Do animals have rights?  If so, where do they come from and who enforces them?
If animals don't have rights then we can probably sleep well at night, knowing that no great injustice is being done as we go right along caging them and breeding them for our consumption and rationalizing it all in the name that it's just as God intended and/or it's the natural order of things; we are the dominant species.  But if you were to say that animals do have rights, then we are quickly wading into some great ethical morass.  First, if they have rights, where do they come from?  Our rights seem to be basic; what we would call, for lack of a better word, "human."  The right to justice is a human right, regardless of what country you live in or what race you are or what gender you are or what team you root for.  And if we see injustice being visited upon another person or many persons, we are moved to do something about it.  So, if we were to see an animal being treated unjustly, let's say being abused, we would do everything we could to save it.  Our society does this fairly well for certain animals.  We all did a great job of vilifying Michael Vick for what he did to his dogs, and rightfully so.  It was a truly horrific act that unfortunately was only in the spotlight because someone famous was caught doing it.  But we draw a very fine line of distinction between that and what the workers at the Tyson chicken plant to do chickens on a daily basis.  Why?  What makes dogs any more special than chickens?  Well, the easy answer is that dogs are cute and cuddly and have a utilitarian purpose in offering companionship or being guard dogs (in some cases) and are more valuable alive than chickens, who serve a much better purpose being dead; cooked and prepared for consumption. 

The job for the AFF in this debate is to show that the utilitarian purpose should be overlooked; that the chicken is just as important as the dog.  Perhaps the dog, who the owner thinks s/he is taking care of so well, really doesn't want to kept in a house and would rather roam the streets, free to live in its own state of natu,re.  I would think that the AFF should not be too quick to latch on to Justice as its value.  You are trying to prove that within the scope of Justice, you must include animal rights, and those rights have to include the possibility that certain animals which we enjoy eating don't want to be eaten, that certain animals which we've domesticated don't want to be pets, and that certain animals which we've placed in captivity in zoos don't want to be locked up.  The key question is what is it about animal rights that would indicate that an injustice is being done?  Think of it in geometric proof terms:

1. Prove that animals have rights
2. Prove that those rights are being infringed upon (injustice)
3. Prove that in order to be just we must recognize those rights as the agents of justice

Using the LD language of Value, Value Criterion, and Contentions all you have to do as the AFF is address those issues above.  Proving that animals are being treated unjustly must be shown with a criterion just like you would use for people, but first you have to prove that animals and people are on the same level and that is the crux of this debate.

So, I've given you the children's encyclopedia version of the topic analysis.  You can go on to decorabilia or consult an alumnus for more information.  If you google contractualism animal rights you will get some helpful texts.  Good luck and happy researching!