The abdication of moral responsibility

Prelude (this post isn't really about parrots): Because I like parrots, because I like to be prepared, because I am fond of knowledge, and because it is a way of living vicariously through strangers, I frequent a couple of webforums dedicated to discussing said birds. Because I am who I am, what I am, and the way I am, it's probably fair to say that a few of the discussions I enter end up less ‘discussions’ than ‘debates’. It's not just me, though—there are some definite hot-button issues, and one of them is crossbreeding different species (hybreeding as some people call it, probably more due to poor spelling than clever coining of terminology).

Think what you will of the pros and cons (or harbour no opinions at all), my basic stance is that (ignoring conservationist issues for the moment) the important consideration is whether it is cruel or kind to the animals. After all, if you breed pets, just as if you own pets, you owe it to the animals to make their captive existence a good one, and breeding unhealthy animals merely to satisfy human aesthetics reeks of unnecessary suffering to me—Persian cats, deaf Dalmatians, many dogs prone to hip dysplasia, whatever kills English Budgies younger than the wild genotype…the list could be made quite lengthy (but mindful of you, o humble reader, I shan't make it so).

Imagine my horror, then, upon encountering this ill-conceived sentiment:

All I can say is that God made humans and the animals. God is THE top engineer. If he didnt want it to mix he makes it genetically impossible (ie: humans and animals) He also made Man the keeper and caretaker of all the animals. ALL of them, he gave us brains to think, study and create.

Ignore the spelling and grammar for now. Ignore also the religious sentiments, because for the purposes of this discussion (and of that discussion), it doesn't matter whether life evolved naturally or under the guidance of some magical entity that wanted it this way. The simple and obvious fact of the matter is that either way, life is full of very nasty things, from anthrax spores to intestinal parasites, birth defects and cancer; the naturalistic fallacy gains nothing from being dressed up in holy robes. Of course, I spelled this out—and of course, the poster in question seems quite immune to reason, but I chiefly wrote it in the hope that someone less committed to fallacy will be swayed by it.

What I didn't say over there, because it would be a little too inflammatory and distract from the real subject (what was important there), is what disturbed me most about the cited sentiment: It is a total abdication of moral responsibility. The individual I quoted breeds animals, and takes the moral position that it is physically impossible for her to do wrong in so doing—the corollary is presumably that she therefore doesn't need to think about whether it's good or bad, because—it's impossible for it to be bad. (If you sense a minute earthquake just as you read these words, I suppose I am wrong and there is an afterlife—that'll be Ayn Rand, spinning in her grave.)

This crystallises exactly what I despise about even the non-violent manifestations of dogmatic religion. God wills it—case closed. No need for such a believer to exercise judgement, no need to carefully consider your actions, no need to analyse your own behaviour and check your motivations—most of all, no need to check whether your motivations ultimately result in harmful consequences! After all, God makes it impossible to do wrong.

It is entirely likely that this person will never cause any greater evil as a consequence of this version of faith than cross-breeding two birds of too-far diverged genomes and create a generation or two of genetically unfortunate animals; it's quite likely that even this won't happen (this is a breeder of birds but not necessarily a breeder of hybrids, and hybridisation isn't necessarily a bad thing). But consider the morality of a person like this! Couple it with the very best intentions and the very greatest kindness, and such a person may well commit atrocities, because if you hold a deeply-felt belief that it is just not necessary to consider the consequences of your actions, you have no idea what evils you may do. You have blind-folded yourself to them.

In that famous paraphrasing of Voltaire,

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.