Rattling the Cage
By Steven M. Wise.
Short of a mass attitudinal metamorphosis, some would argue that the quickest, safest and most permanent route to gaining freedom for the animals is by changing the law, thereby accommodating species other than the homosapians.
The author's compelling argument defines a rational, moral and ethical legal relationship between humans and the Great Apes.
Rattling the Cage makes it impossible to continue thinking of animals as mere property. This book makes no bones about the fact that the continued abuse and killing of chimpanzees and bononos must be recognised and forbidden for what it is – genocide.
Wise addresses the questions that are not necessarily measurable and could remain an obstacle in a court of law. For example, what constitutes consciousness? Where is the dividing line between full autonomy and realistic autonomy regarding the law?
It is here that we see the author has taken up the mantle that Gary Francione first ignited with his book Rain without Thunder. Those in the Animal Rights Movement who are struggling to extend the idea of legal personhood to non-humans are initially bound to sound odd or frightening or laughable.
Wise's ability is in weaving the theme that there have always been reformers among us who strove to, and did turn a legal "thing" into a legal "being", whether that be a woman, a slave, a child or a foetus. This book takes us through an elementary understanding of the law itself (a world unto itself!!) It is not without humour that the author gives us ample insight into the workings of common-law judges minds. He notes that "they seem to value the past simply for having been the past".
This work is of a timely and important nature, worthy of study that will yield much that's new. Although primarily based on working towards rights for non-humans, this work admirably addresses the human mentality that has lead to a kind of legal cul-de-sac for the non-human animals so far.
The fulcrum of the author's views pivots around a premise which concludes that the human species must move away from childish and narcissistic attitudes to allow a passion for liberty and mature reason to flourish.
Rattling the Cage is a valuable book that deserves pride of place on an Animal Liberationist's bookshelf.
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