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Basically you can argue either selectively or broadly on this one. Really we're all animals so we should treat all animals similarly to ourselves. We humans share a pretty similar genome and unique characteristics like empathy and consciousness (or so we believe) so we should look out for our fellow humans before animals. Additionally, in our smaller groups such as our societies, the outcasts such as junkies break our social norms so why should we care about their life or well-being?
the question is really what do you emphasize? your group, species, or biological kingdom? and under what circumstances?
personally? I say, fuck junkies. If there's someone out there who loves them, then they should be taking them off the street. The government doesn't need to play daddy with fuck-ups.
as for animals...I generally side with them because when ever they seem to be getting in conflict with people it's because the people are usually being fucking stupid whereas animals just act on "instinct" (which includes instinctual learning). As for pampering pets, its pretty stupid, but apparently having a pet makes you live longer so how does that factor in?
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