One of the most common arguments of "Humans Are Bastards" is the comparison of humans vs animals. Animals are sometimes oversimplified as living in harmony with each other, and the Equestrians are no exception. I've seen misanthropes argue that humans are incredibly cruel to each other and to other animals too, which can be true. But then again, they tend to blatantly ignore instances of animal bastardry.

The “Bambi-Syndrome”, named after the Disney movie means an infantile way of understanding, or rather misunderstanding nature to be an idyllic without any injustice or cruelty, ignoring the laws, necessities and gruesomeness of nature. For example:

- Cats love to play with severely injured mice, tormenting them before they are dead. (my boyfriend's cat does that to his little mouse toys)
- Lions kill the offspring of their rivals.
- Fraud and theft are reported among Capuchin Monkeys.
- Rape is a common practice within all kinds of animal species.
- Chimps are known to be extremely territorial and violent.
…And many more.

It is naive to think that hu­mans are worse than an­i­mals. There is no good rea­son to believe that a world where not the Homo sapi­ens but any other species is the most pow­er­ful would be a more peace­ful one than ours.

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THANK YOU!

Animals are dicks.

I've seen birds fight for food,even when there was clearly enough for all of them.
...Just to add that to your argument.

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Organics are dicks which is Why I welcome are glorious machine overlords.

1343135 the difference betwen humans and animals is that we can choose to stop doing those things.

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The only evil truly exclusive to humanity are weapons of mass destruction. If you don't count asteroids, volcanoes, ice ages, and other mass extinction events, that is.
Everything else was done in some form or another by something long before humanity was ever a something.

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No, the difference between humans and other animals is that humans have the capacity to comprehend advanced concepts not inherent within the natural world, such as morality and ethics. All animals can choose to stop doing something they voluntarily started doing, they just don't have any reasons to stop — because they don't understand concepts like morality.

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There is no denying humans can be real dicks towards each other, but it's like Gandhi said, "Humanity is an ocean. Just because a few drops in the ocean are dirty doesn't mean the whole ocean is filthy."

Or another quote on the home page, that said, 19 men hijacked some planes and crashed them into buildings, killing several people. Thousands reached out to the families of the victims, paid their sympathies, tried to save the victims at the cost of their own lives, cleaned the streets of New York and many other acts of heroism. Thousands compared to just 19, I think the case is clear.

Animals are far from innocent, that's the argument.

Humans turn out to be the only creatures on Earth that give the tinniest shit about what happens to other species.

You think Cutesy-Tootsy the squirrel would care if Wolverines or Grey Wolves went extinct?

1343181 That is what I meant, animals (as far as I know) don't have the ability to call something "good" or "bad", they do things because they want to, simple, we humans, on the other hand, are able to create morals and values, not because it's better to our survival but because we belive it's right thing to do, even if we don't gain anything out of it.

1343231 like I said, we can chose to do that, this ability can make us both better and worst then other animals.

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VRISKA IS RIGHT!
It's frustrating sometimes to see that people... just don't understand what nature is... they don't understand that living in nature has a special name to it with a special definition... survival. Shocking right?

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Shocking right?

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OMGawd! I was just about to post them. Toplel

1343135 Is it really classified as rape when every female turns into a slut when it hits mating season???

Mother Nature loves us.

Too bad she's a Tsundere that makes Asuka and Louise look like moeblobs.

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Don't forget bears! They make for rather lousy fathers...

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Seconded. Mother Nature can be real beautiful. She can also be a right fcking btch. I'd tactfully remind those who use the "idyllic nature" shtick to bash humanity that nature would see their kindly old grandmother, handicapped sibling, and all those who are ill, old, and infirm, human and animal, DEAD. Can't keep up? Tough. You're another casualty of the state of nature, whether you're done in by a predator, rival, or just left to rot.

Nature sure is nice, isn't it?

1343135 Not to mention that humans are animals themselves.

Mother Nature isn't the kindly old grandmother. She's a female version of Gyn Sgt. Hartman combined with an Amazon and a Spartan warrior.

A nature documentary I saw about predators said this: "Nature is a world at war. There are no Geneva Conventions, no ceasefires and no prisoners."

Or more succintly, "Nature red in tooth and claw."

Why do people fail to see this!?

Nature is disgusting and I can't wait to see every last scrap of it under direct human control.

1343181 Wrong, completely and utterly wrong. Blue-green algae were the first massive polluters and they completely changed this planet's ecosphere with their excretion, destroying nearly all other life on this planet.
I love the environuts who complain about our pollution/destruction who don't realize they are only here because of another species polluting far worse.

TL;DR: Their WMD/pollution: oxygen. Lots of it.

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They don't.

Bottlenose Dolphins in particular have a habit of forming gangs of male friends, finding a female dolphin by herself, and then forcing sex on her by preventing her from reaching the surface and denying her oxygen.

Ducks also have this crazy thing going on that's basically an arms race between genders, but I'm not gonna describe it here. Look it up if you want to know.

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Naive fool!

1343158I think I posted that too once...

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Humans are worse because we are the(current) apex predator.
Also, animals dont rape nor kill in millions...

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So, you want us to be preyed upon,

Secondly,animals do rape, their is no consent in animals humping each-other, secondly millions isn't alot, the flu has claimed more lives than us, but people don't bash it ?

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Since when does being the apex predator make a creature evil? I love eagles and they happen to be at the top of their respective food chains. So are sharks, tigers, lions, and whales (Krill). Does that make them any more evil than the animals they eat?

Humanity is the apex predator of the world, but that position does not make us inherently evil.
(Also, sometimes we aren't always at the top of the food chain ... )

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Humans are worse because we are the(current) apex predator.

Apex-predator, in the most common uses, refers to species-vs-species conflict. Hunting animals isn't evil, so this is irrelevant.

Also, animals dont rape nor kill in millions...

1) They do rape.
2) They do kill.
3) They do both in millions. Whereas humans wage wars of antion-against-nation, animals do it individually and much more frequently.
4) There's also a lot more humans than any other mammalian species (not combined), so a straight number doesn't mean much.

Nature is really fascinating...

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Also, animals dont rape nor kill in millions...

Only because they don't have the capability to do so. Not enough organization, not enough technology, etc.

Actually, that is not exactly true. I am pretty certain ants kill in the millions.

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Ants are dicks.

1345994 Fire ants are especially nasty. Got bit by one and boy it burned.

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And I just watched it happen!

I just watched it happen!!!

In all seriousness, though, one of these days, someone's going to make a 'Animals aren't Bastards! They are just animals!"

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Ants kill and enslave other ants in the millions all the damn time, yes.

They also engage in cannibalism by the millions.

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How do you bash a flu???
And being preyed upon gives you a surprising amount of intelligence and willpower(amongst other things). Something people today lack a lot, especially willpower.

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Doesn't make us inherently evil... hmm.. I wonder how we got on top of that food chain...

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Oh wait, so the cat DIDNT play with his/her food??
Eenope, not a lot do it in millions, and I don't think any animal is guilty of this many cases of species extinctions as us.

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Exactly, also, we are also destroying the planet we live on whilst the other animals very much don't, I wouldn't say every animal lives in harmony per se, but the certainly don't have the capacity to kill this planet.

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we are also destroying the planet we live on whilst the other animals very much don't

Destroying it? Not exactly. Potentially making it less comfortable for ourselves in the long-run? Probably. EDIT3: But fortunately, unlike the blue-green algae mentioned several times we have the capacity to recognize the effect our actions have on the environment and the foresight and willingness to do something about it.

I wouldn't say every animal lives in harmony per se

Oh, most certainly not. They mess up their own habitats just as much as we do given the chance, their habitats are just much smaller than our own.

but the certainly don't have the capacity to kill is planet.

So, since they don't have the capacity to do something that makes them less evil? Not whether or not they would choose to do it if they could, only the capacity for doing it?

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By being more fit than other animals? If other animals were more fit than we were, they would have become the apex predators.

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Eenope, not a lot do it in millions

Ants do it in millions. Hell, MOST species of animals kill in the millions, they just aren't as organized about it.

Humans are the only species of animal that even has a CONCEPT of "good" or "evil". If we judge all animals on our standards of good or evil, I'd think that pretty much all of them would be considered evil. And if we judged ourselves on the standards we judge other animals, we most certainly would not be considered evil.
EDIT:
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How do you bash a flu???

The same way you bash any other form of life, including humans.

And being preyed upon gives you a surprising amount of intelligence and willpower(amongst other things).

Actually, predators tend to be more intelligent. Combination of diet and having to out-think both their prey and other predators.

Something people today lack a lot, especially willpower.

You have any evidence of this? In comparison to what? It is pretty bold statement, mind backing it up with actual data?
Sounds to me like another baseless misanthropic statement whining about how the rest of humanity is to stupid and terrible and useless. If that is what you believe about humanity, do you believe that you are any different? That you are somehow special?

EDIT2:

Oh wait, so the cat DIDNT play with his/her food??

Seconding the question of what the heck this has to do with anything.

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Oh wait, so the cat DIDNT play with his/her food??

The fuck does this even have to do with anything?

Eenope, not a lot do it in millions, and I don't think any animal is guilty of this many cases of species extinctions as us.

But millions of animals do it once or twice with no regrets. The vast majority of humans never even injure another, and a good number of those feel like shit about it. Animals kill just because and don't give two shits afterwards.

1346367 Blue-green algae. As Dan_s Comments said, they basically destroyed the entire ecosystem when they first appeared. And while we have the capacity to destroy most life on Earth, we haven't actually used that capacity. It's like saying that you are evil because you have the capacity to go murder your entire family. Doesn't mean you will, though. Plus, even if we attempted to destroy all life, we'd still be hard pressed to do so, thanks to the various micro-organisms that are spread all across the Earth.

1346308 Common sense, and argument skills, something that alot of people, such as yourself. lack.

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Weapon
Noun.
1. An instrument of attack or defense in combat or hunting, e.g. most guns, missiles, or swords.
2. An instrument or other means of harming or exerting control over another.
Unless you count oxygen as a weapon, algae are disqualified as they don't have weapons. And seeing as how weapons are intentionally meant to cause harm, and single-celled cyanobacteria lack the mental capacity to intentionally harm anything, much less have consciousness, I don't think algae can be considered guilty of creating and using WMDs.

The whole "Animals and Nature live in harmony!" thing is so foolish. A "Stable" ecosystem consists of multiple species of animals competing in a constant game of survival and death. Sure, humans kill and sometimes rape too, but we are capable of feeling bad about it. I highly doubt the fox gave two f***s when it tore out momma rabbit's throat. Also rape isn't our species MO of reproduction, unlike some animals. You know how a lion's junk is barbed? It isn't an aesthetic choice, it's so the lioness has a harder time escaping!

I know "The Lion King" popularized the whole "Circle of life" thing, though in reality it would be more appropriate (and more pessimistic) to call it a Cycle of Death.

Plants grow.
Prey kill plants.
Predators kill prey. They, in turn become prey or are outcompeted by larger predators.

It gets even more nasty when you consider what the "natural" way of maintaining populations is.

Too many herbivores? Not enough plants. Mass starvation, weaker members die. Alternatively, there is a sudden boom in the population of carnivores due to the excess chow.
But of course...
Too many carnivores? Not enough prey. Mass starvation, weaker members die.

Isn't nature so beautiful and sweet?? She will love you to death!

Compared to humanity, does the world constantly devolve into a social darwinist's wet dream each time the population rises? Hell no. We discover more efficient ways to make food! As some of us probably know, overpopulation isn't speculated to be an issue in the future. It's going to level out.

As far as the whole "OH HOOMANS DESTROY ENVIRONMENTS!" thing goes, well, so can animals. The only reason they can't is because in a "stable" ecosystem, they are constantly killing each other to the point in which they can't.

Take this image for instance.

Rabbits were introduced into an environment in which they had no natural predators. Their population utterly ballooned out of control, and they utterly ravaged the ecosystem. Rabbits.

Compared to animals, humans are constantly changing, freeing ourselves from the shackles of the so-called "Natural" world. While we grow and thrive, the lesser species of the world are constantly living in nature's endless cycle of death. Well...except for domesticated animals. Having those humans take care of needs that nature would force them to kill for really give pets cushy lives compared to their feral counterparts.

Heh, it's funny that "Being useful to humans" is one of the most useful traits that an animal can have...unless it's being illegally poached. Then that sucks.

In short, humans are dynamic, the rest of the animals are not. While nature merely allows you to (attempt to) survive, only humanity will let you truly live. Break the cycle of nature! Join humanity!

...we also have better food.

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I'm also wondering WTF you're asking here, but in case you're curious...
A study was done on how murderous cats really are.

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Geez, cats murderize an average of 2,912,000,000 animals every year, in the US alone? 49% of them are for the evulz?

Heh, take that "Oh animals and live and harmony" fools.

Animals are only called "innocent" because they simply don't have the capacity to be "evil". Can a lynx commit mass genocide against other lynxes? No, but lynxes also don't have political ideologies or moral codes to start with. By the same logic, all igneous rocks are the pinnacle of morality. They don't have wars, they don't rape, they don't lie, they don't cheat, and they don't litter.

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That's... not the best example. Rabbits are an invasive species that never belonged there and never would have been there at all had humans not brought them there to start with. Same as kudzu and cane toads and feral cats, all purposely introduced by people who didn't consider the repercussions on the environment. Nature isn't pretty but it usually balances itself out unless something big like a meteor or a ship full of bunnies messes with it.

A better example might be surplus killing in which a predator will kill a bunch of prey animals because... well, because the prey is there and the predator can. Often, the bodies are left uneaten or half-eaten. Sometimes the predator will come back and eat more (moreso with foxes and weasels which cache their food) but sometimes not. The opportunity to kill a thing and eat it comes up, you take it because you don't know when the next meal will be. Even if you don't end up eating it.

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Not only that, but of all the animals aside from primates dolphins have the highest likelihood of actually being aware of what they're doing. Of course, how a dolphin's morality works, if at all, is anyone's guess.
Also, they murder porpoises for apparently no reason. At least lions kill cubs for a reason--gets rid of rival genes and makes the lioness ready to mate again. Dolphins kill baby porpoises because... down with porpoises, I guess.