Myth # 72 : " But our ancestors ate meat .”
( also heard as “ But we humans have always been hunters .")
Well , our ancient ancestors also raped women , enslaved their enemies and murdered their adversaries , and yet we have fortunately evolved to the point of realizing that these practices – just like abusing , enslaving & murdering other sentient animals – are not acceptable forms of behavior . But I ’ m getting ahead of myself ...
When it comes to understanding the actual role our ancestry plays in the animal cruelty debate , feel free to consider the following facts :
* Fact : We humans are not instinctively aggressive or cruel ... To the contrary , we are by nature plant-eating herd animals who have thrived as a species not due to our self-destructive tendency towards aggressive violence , but rather due to our ability to come together in groups and care for one another . Consider the wisdom of Robert Sussman , PhD – professor of anthropology at Washington University in St . Louis : “ Our intelligence , cooperation and many other features we possess as modern humans developed from our attempts to out-smart predators … [ The idea of humans as hunters ] developed from a basic Judeo-Christian ideology of man being inherently evil , aggressive and a natural killer . Yet in fact , when you examine the fossil and living non-human primate evidence , that is simply not the case .”
Yes , our herds ( often called " tribes " or " communities " or " nations " today ) did sometimes compete with one another – admittedly sometimes violently – and yet they did so ( and sometimes still do so ) against their true nature . Indeed , behaviors that are aggressive & practices that are cruel are not " natural " to our species – rather , they are habits inherited from our previous cultures , responses learned from our parents , or thoughtless reactions to circumstances in our environments .
Yes , we are still a young , confused species , and yes , acts of violence are still widespread in human societies around the globe , and yet these are not arguments for the continuation of these practices . Indeed , the time has come for us to " grow up " as a species . The time has come for inhumane behaviors that are protected by tradition , custom and ignorance to succumb to a more mature humanity – a humanity that is championed instead by thought , by reason , by morality and by compassion .
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