21st Century Wire says…
You know that western society is approaching its final hour when animal rights activists start advocating individual animals to be able to sue humans in courts. That’s exactly what has happened in the US.
We can trace some of this line of thinking back to Cass Sunstein, the radical, liberal progressive technocrat and chief advisor to President Barack Obama (as well as the husband of disastrous UN Ambassador Samantha Power). According to his own writing and public declarations, Sunstein believes that activists should be able to bring a lawsuit on behalf of an animal in US courts. In his 2004 book Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, Sunstein remarked:
Cass Sunstein.
“My simplest suggestion is that private citizens should be given the right to bring suits to prevent animals from being treated in a way that violates current law. I offer a recommendation that is theoretically modest but that should do a lot of practical good: laws designed to protect animals against cruelty and abuse should be amended and interpreted to give a private cause of action against those who violate them, so as to allow private people to supplement the efforts of public prosecutors. Somewhat more broadly, I will suggest that animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law.”
As one of liberal America’s most influential technocrats, Sunstein argues that this legal right can be invoked on the basis of animal cruelty. While no cruelty seems to be present in the case of the “Monkey Selfie” (see story below), activists at PETA were no doubt emboldened by Sunstein and others who have propelled their ideological argument into the political activist discourse.
While our society and our legal system are far from perfect, a move like this from a wealthy charity like PETA could throw that system into even further chaos.
Surely, if animals can sue humans, then shouldn’t humans be able to sue animals? As you can see, when you pursue this activist rabbit hole, reality starts to dissolve rather quickly.
More on this incredible story from AP…
“Monkey Selfie” – Copyright credited to David J. Slater (UK)
Linda Wang
AP
curious monkey with a toothy grin and a knack for pressing a camera button was back in the spotlight Wednesday as a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether an animal can hold a copyright to selfie photos.
A 45-minute hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco attracted crowds of law students and curious citizens who often burst into laughter. The federal judges also chuckled at times at the novelty of the case, which involves a monkey in another country that is unaware of the fuss.
Andrew Dhuey, attorney for British nature photographer David Slater, said “monkey see, monkey sue” is not good law under any federal act.
Naruto is a free-living crested macaque who snapped perfectly framed selfies in 2011 that would make even the Kardashians proud.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA] sued Slater and the San Francisco-based self-publishing company Blurb, which published a book called “Wildlife Personalities” that includes the monkey selfies, for copyright infringement. It sought a court order in 2015 allowing it to administer all proceeds from the photos taken in a wildlife reserve in Sulawesi, Indonesia to benefit the monkey.
Slater says the British copyright for the photos obtained by his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., should be honored…
Continue this story at AP/Chicago Tribune
Pictured here is a typical Indonesian Crested Black Macaque monkey (Image Credit: Lip Key Yap, Wikicommons)
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