Conversation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Conversation - Essay Example Such a practice invariably ends with the death of the fox and oftentimes severe physical injury to the terrier due to the wounds that the fox has inflicted upon it as an act of self defense and being cornered. Phyllis Daugherty, the author of the newspaper article that discusses this practice proffers to the reader that the government of Ireland is currently considering legislation that would ban the practice of the â€Å"digout† itself; however, such legislation would have no effect on the continued prevalence of fox hunting as such (Aaltola 395). With regards to how this particular news article would relate to Pollan’s analysis that we have read, this author would have to connect it to one of the primary points that Pollan made concerning animal rights. As Pollan’s article progresses, he develops a rhythmic analysis of animal rights that uses a type of Boolean logic to draw the reader in to understanding the complexities of the given viewpoints. Due to the fact that these viewpoints deal with such issues as morality, ethics, the further definition of animal welfare/fair treatment, and rights, Pollan incorporates metaphorical parallels to other â€Å"rights† issues that have preceded animal rights in order to more fully develop and nuance his approach (Pollan 59). In order to understand Pollan’s view on the particular process as it relates to the fox hunt and the practice of the â€Å"digout† one must first broach the topic of what is meant by the term â€Å"equality† within the given news article that has been selected. The given news article expressly connects the ideas put forward by Pollan and Singer; ethically humans have responsibilities. Therefore, what one determines to make of these responsibilities therefore becomes the crux of the matter (Singer 11). Says the news article, â€Å"Fox  hunting  is a ‘blood sport,’ masked as an elite activity. Introduced in the 16th Century in the U.K.,   fox  hunting  is still popular in Ireland.  Ã‚  Fox  hunting  involves the tracking, chasing and killing of a helpless, terrorized fox hounded for hours until exhaustion delivers  it to the waiting dogs, to be killed in a frenzy of biting and savagery† (Daugherty 1). Regardless of how one feels about the issues of animal rights, the Daugherty article appeals to the dignity of life as a means to end such savage practices in the same way that Pollan and Singer evoke the higher ethical principles of overall equality and the nonsensical nature of animal cruelty. In this way, although the topics that Daugherty, Singer, and Pollan discuss are divergent, they all hinge on the belief that humans possess an innate responsibility towards other animals. Although Singer and Pollan would take this idea of responsibility further, Daugherty assumes that at the very least, this concept applies to lack of cruelty. Pollan discusses this idea of responsibility within the first tw o pages of his analysis and begins to encourage the reader to take a position as to how they stand upon this principle. Likewise, if one pursues the basis that equality is a moral ideal that should be ascribed to all things equally, there is but one logical end for the reader. Pollan describes such a process by defining that equality, as it relates to humans, does not mean that all people are equally intelligent; instead, he argues through the logic of Peter Singer that the idea of equality