Moral Considerability – What does it mean? To whom does it apply?

First, moral considerability is essentially the technical jargon in the field of morals that is used to indicate whether or not one is worthy of moral consideration. As moral people tend to grant moral considerability to all other humans, the term is primarily used in relation to other species.

As an aside, I would point out that religion or other strong ideologies sometimes cause people to treat other humans without granting other groups moral considerability. Anyone who believes it is OK to kill or enslave members of any outgroup is clearly not granting that group moral considerability.

That said, I would try to keep this post to the topic of what species other than humans should also be granted moral considerability. As I have hinted in my title by the use of the word whom for members of other species, I clearly believe, quite strongly, that many other species are worthy of such consideration. I have often surprised people by asking who that bird is, rather than what that bird is or other equivalent. I believe living beings should be referred to as who and whom rather than what. It keeps us from forgetting that they are indeed other beings, not inanimate objects.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Onion Articles

I’ve been reading The Onion since about 1996 and love it!! Here are a few classic onion articles that never fail to amuse me no matter how many times I read them.

Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs: ‘Oh Shit,’ Says Humanity

Pope Admits: ‘God Ain’t Said Shit To Me’

Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over’ – Too true to be good. And, quite prescient as well; check the date.

Voice Recognition Software Yelled At — This one is short and not politically or religiously charged. Just plain funny.

That’s probably enough for one day. I have to keep reminding myself to add humor to my blog. I keep getting too serious.

New Zealand Millennium Travel Log and Photos

From 12/1999-1/2000, my wife and I went to New Zealand with another couple, our closest friends. We were all together for parts of the trip, especially the millennium new year’s eve, and split up for parts of the trip since we have slightly different interests. They are less interested in wildlife than we are.

My wife and I are strongly of the belief that it is better to see a few places well than to race from place to place to place and see none of them well. To that end, we not only did NOT combine this trip with Australia, we did not even make it to the North Island of New Zealand other than to fly through it.

This trip will serve as a good example of how my photographic skill and equipment have improved with time. I probably considered these photos very good at the time. I no longer do. Looking at them, I just downgraded the rating I gave them on my voting page for the next travel write up. I hope these do not disappoint too badly. Of course, these are the best. I hope you’ll find them interesting.