Who Gets to be "Human?"

Поделиться
HTML-код
  • Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
  • Are We All Just Animals?
    There is a long history of politicians and media figures referring to particular human beings as animals, usually with an explicitly negative intent. But what does it actually mean to call humans animals? And how can this difference in language lead to drastic social effects? Let's find out in this video on What it Means to Call Humans Animals.
    Support us on Patreon! ► / wisecrack
    Join this channel to get access to perks ► / @wisecrackedu
    === Watch More Episodes! ===
    Disinformation: The End of Humanity? ► • Disinformation: The En...
    Mean Girls and the Secret to Happiness ► • Mean Girls and The Sec...
    Politeness is a Trap ► • Politeness is a Trap
    Written by Rachel Van Nes
    Researched by Michael Lodato
    Hosted by Michael Burns
    Directed by Michael Luxemburg
    Edited by Mark Potts
    Produced by Olivia Redden
    Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
    #animals #culture #wisecrack
    © 2023 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming

Комментарии • 854

  • @HardCodedGaming
    @HardCodedGaming 5 месяцев назад +305

    I realized a little while back that our ability to de-humanize each other is what enables us to hurt each other, and I try to avoid doing the first thing at all times.
    And I got an ego boost when I saw Terry Pratchett thought the same. He might have put it more succinctly: "Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things."

    • @PaperySloth
      @PaperySloth 5 месяцев назад +6

      Therefore, the people who do such things are animals. 😂

    • @Alverant
      @Alverant 5 месяцев назад +10

      The two words after that quote are the most important. "Including yourself."
      I'm reading Hogfather again (as I do every year between Thanksgiving and Hogswatch (err Christmas) and I don't think I ever encountered a fictional character who treated people as things more than Teatime, including the Auditors.

    • @bugjams
      @bugjams 5 месяцев назад +7

      ​@@PaperySloth Yeah, if we keep treating people who view others as animals as ontologically evil "lost causes," then I feel we won't get anywhere. The hardest thing to do is to give empathy to someone who doesn't give it to you - but in doing so, you might teach them how to give empathy back.

    • @principleshipcoleoid8095
      @principleshipcoleoid8095 5 месяцев назад +1

      I mean, if someone tries to invade a country people there dehumanising invading force is reasonable. They valued their lives less than milimiters of land gains

    • @solk.posner7201
      @solk.posner7201 5 месяцев назад +6

      One of the easiest example is the car. When I get behind wheels, I just see everyone as an obstacle, it hard to avoid that. That’s why I really dislike driving

  • @akhayat89
    @akhayat89 5 месяцев назад +301

    “Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
    Man got to sit and wonder 'why, why, why?'
    Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
    Man got to tell himself he understand.”
    ― Kurt Vonnegut

    • @mooncalf191
      @mooncalf191 5 месяцев назад +7

      Busy, busy, busy.

    • @afrikasmith1049
      @afrikasmith1049 5 месяцев назад +1

      Why do I feel like this was or could be used in a rap song?

    • @TAP7a
      @TAP7a 5 месяцев назад +1

      ​@@afrikasmith1049it reminds me of "Can't Help Lovin That Man of Mine" from the 1940s, but the structure of the Vonnegut is couplets of longer phrases
      "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly,
      I gotta love one man til I die,
      Can't help lovin that man of mine"

    • @darkhobo
      @darkhobo 2 месяца назад

      So it goes

  • @LonkinPork
    @LonkinPork 5 месяцев назад +114

    I gotta say, I know it's probably not as lucrative in the Metrics, but the steady slide into more general "Philosophy Applied To Current Events" topics over the previous "Philosophy Applied To Movies & TV" topics has been really enlightening.
    Being able to apply the ideas of some of the world's greatest Thinkers to the horrors of the present day makes the bleakness slightly more bearable 💖

  • @KIT_TV22
    @KIT_TV22 5 месяцев назад +170

    I LOVE that you chose this topic. Yeah man, we're too casual with the words we use.
    It's not surprising.
    Words have power. Few know how to wield it with precision and prescence.
    In the rush to define things, it's not surprising so many of us are calling people animals, like a returning chorus of judgement.
    Great food for thought!!
    I'm fed. Bless.

    • @KIT_TV22
      @KIT_TV22 5 месяцев назад +11

      Mean Girls is pure genius btw, saw it for the first time this year!! It's far smarter than I ever guessed it would be. Glad you brought it into frame.

    • @WisecrackEDU
      @WisecrackEDU  5 месяцев назад +18

      Hell yeah - it's legit such a good movie.

    • @johnsteel5347
      @johnsteel5347 5 месяцев назад

      Guns are not a human right

    • @elijahford3696
      @elijahford3696 5 месяцев назад

      ​@@johnsteel5347The right to defend oneself, however, is. That said, if the military calls something a "ballistics platform", it probably shouldn't be available to the general public.

    • @johnsteel5347
      @johnsteel5347 5 месяцев назад +1

      @@elijahford3696 If the country you're stealing land from decides to fight back you should probably move your colonizers out or they become military targets.

  • @FacterinoCommenterino
    @FacterinoCommenterino 5 месяцев назад +382

    Today's Fact: The world's largest single structure made by living organisms is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

    • @WisecrackEDU
      @WisecrackEDU  5 месяцев назад +99

      I hope we don't ruin the reef as it's pretty beautiful.

    • @danielsantiagourtado3430
      @danielsantiagourtado3430 5 месяцев назад +5

      ​@@WisecrackEDU🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

    • @brandonvillamizar1216
      @brandonvillamizar1216 5 месяцев назад +2

      Dude! I really hate to see your posts! I thought it was only on Charlie's channel, but now also here? Gimme a break!

    • @Keyndoriel
      @Keyndoriel 5 месяцев назад +2

      ​@WisecrackEDU much depressed I'll never see what it looked like in its prime. Only thing to do is to make sure it recovers, for the sake of the sea and ourselves

    • @Keyndoriel
      @Keyndoriel 5 месяцев назад

      ​@@brandonvillamizar1216you're so gross

  • @luukderuijter1332
    @luukderuijter1332 5 месяцев назад +57

    The biggest human flaw is always imparting a hidden meaning behind every construct, which also somehow always places themselves at the top (or at least upholds the status quo)

    • @someoneawesome8717
      @someoneawesome8717 5 месяцев назад +2

      That's because of our advanced pattern recognition

    • @melusine826
      @melusine826 5 месяцев назад

      I think that's a feature, not a bug. Well.... a feature that's been effective at keeping humans doing the generational thing, so is it a unit of cultural transmission?🤔 aka a meme?

    • @alexxx4434
      @alexxx4434 5 месяцев назад +1

      It's called 'bias'. Human psychology displays plenty of them.

    • @leonaise7546
      @leonaise7546 3 месяца назад

      @@someoneawesome8717 It has nothing to do with pattern recognition & is just Humanity’s narcissism

    • @leonaise7546
      @leonaise7546 3 месяца назад

      That’s humanity’s narcissism for you

  • @thisjustin6529
    @thisjustin6529 5 месяцев назад +22

    “Keep the change you filthy animal” is one of my favorite movie quotes. Someone said that to me when I was working at a gas station and it was so funny.

    • @darkhobo
      @darkhobo 2 месяца назад +2

      Every time I get pizza delivered.

  • @TheVincentKyle
    @TheVincentKyle 5 месяцев назад +42

    Unfortunately the drinking-game word wasn't "wretched", but "animality" - by the end my stomach screamed "FINISH HIM".

  • @hichamababou188
    @hichamababou188 5 месяцев назад +94

    Thank you so much Michael for addressing this exact point. Some sick and narcissist "humans" are still using these wretched ideas to justify acts of genocide, displacement of entire populations, and many horrible deeds that are deemed war crimes otherwise. I guess we get the hints you threw between here and there.
    Videos like yours are really cool since they spread awareness in a meaningful way. This one in particular gives a sort of easiness in a rather troubled era. It is really a mad mad world as Shaggy puts it.

    • @eitancodish301
      @eitancodish301 5 месяцев назад +20

      Notice how you also use the sarcastic quotes around "human," dehumanizing the people that you're talking about it. Horrors aren't committed by "humans" they're committed by humans, and that makes them so much scarier.

    • @alexxx4434
      @alexxx4434 5 месяцев назад +5

      What makes humans distinct from animals is that humans are good at rationalizing their animalistic behaviours.

    • @dinglesworld
      @dinglesworld 4 месяца назад

      @@alexxx4434”Thank God for rationalizations!”

  • @KaseyMasterpeace
    @KaseyMasterpeace 5 месяцев назад +16

    R.i.p. to the best dog i ever had Memphis. German shepherd who had a long spoiled 13 years 💜 such a good boy. Never forget all dogs go to heaven.

  • @kyleespinoza7201
    @kyleespinoza7201 5 месяцев назад +24

    Speaking of the biology angle; humanity is shockingly similar when it comes to our genetics. Like, in spite of the incredible diversity of how we all look and our histories and ancestry, you can take two people from opposite sides of the earth, as genetically distinct as you can get, look nothing alike at all, and the differences at absolute maximum is 0.1%
    It's actually kind of a scary sign, because generally the more genetically diverse a species the better the odds of their survival...

    • @FeiFongWang
      @FeiFongWang 5 месяцев назад +2

      We share 60% of our DNA with bananas, that doesn't mean much.

    • @coletrain41
      @coletrain41 5 месяцев назад +2

      .....or does it. VSAUCE here!

    • @gemain609
      @gemain609 5 месяцев назад +5

      It's also a positive in as far as natural selection didn't have to go through massive break ups in genetic diversity in order for humans to survive in different environments (remember kids , the reason why we have different skin colors is because a whole lot of people effectively dropped dead because the sun wasn't giving them enough vitamins)

    • @alexxx4434
      @alexxx4434 5 месяцев назад +1

      Mice have approximately 97.5% of their working DNA in common with humans. Which makes you think, that 'humanity' we hold so dearly is just a tip of the iceberg. In essence we have much more in common with other living beings than we differ.

    • @nobody4248
      @nobody4248 5 месяцев назад +2

      Humans have a ridiculously low genetic diversity (at least for an ape). If you took 2 random humans and 2 random chimps from the same popilation, the chimps are basicly guranteed to be more different from one another then the humans are.

  • @davida.yorkson3397
    @davida.yorkson3397 5 месяцев назад +9

    I studied Biochemistry in university, and having been raised rather isolated from other people I've always has difficulty relating to other, but one day after a Genetics class I had the following thought: every living thing on this planet shared th same molecules. We're all, basically the same. And that was a rather enjoyable moment of "Hey, the difference between me and that pigeon is, literally, shape!"

    • @juliana.x0x0
      @juliana.x0x0 5 месяцев назад +1

      We are made up of the same basic building blocks as everything from bananas to stardust, and we will break down to essentially the same thing.

    • @washada
      @washada Месяц назад

      We do have different immergent properties, though.

  • @caseyczarnomski8054
    @caseyczarnomski8054 5 месяцев назад +178

    The more money you have the more "human" you are perceived to be. Money gives people the entitlement to dehumanize.

    • @raycar9827
      @raycar9827 5 месяцев назад

      We are all always and always have been human. Their funny money doesn't mean shit. It's just racist rhetoric disguised as capitalism.

    • @globaladdict
      @globaladdict 5 месяцев назад

      Chimps have been shown to hoard bananas so hoarding money isn't really a human only thing

    • @sisyphus_strives5463
      @sisyphus_strives5463 5 месяцев назад +11

      It is the easiest form of discrimination, either it is the case that you're chosen and blessed by fate or you have risen to your position through merit(which separates you from everyone else). Of course, there is no such dichotomy except in the obvious extremes, but most will perceive it this way and accordingly their ego will inflate irrelevant of which interpretation they've chosen.

    • @bugjams
      @bugjams 5 месяцев назад +1

      More human? I don't think anyone seriously believes that. I think they simply feel jealousy over the material and powers rich people have because our instincts are hard-wired to make us hoard resources.
      The latter half of your comment is spot on, though.

    • @raycar9827
      @raycar9827 5 месяцев назад +1

      @@bugjams not entirely true across the board. I've powerful people hate me for my laid back attitude because they worked so hard for everything they have.

  • @llsilvertail561
    @llsilvertail561 5 месяцев назад +15

    Honestly this is why I’m much more interested in what gets which degree of personhood over being a “human” or “animal”.

    • @99sins
      @99sins 5 месяцев назад +2

      Same thing in this context since it's pointing at the moral consideration associated with the terms being used.

    • @williamcooper8024
      @williamcooper8024 5 месяцев назад

      The second edition DnD book of human(oids) may have had a chart. I just look at how much they try to separate other humans from themselves, money really seems to dehumanize the afflicted but in a more virulent way with more horrific consequences.

  • @TrepidDestiny
    @TrepidDestiny 5 месяцев назад +4

    A similar dehumanizing term I've seen trend a lot, especially in particular internet spaces is calling people "NPC's". They aren't real people, they're programs walking around masquerading as human, as the logic follows. Allegedly the "NPC" only regurgitates information it's been told to, knowingly or not.
    For those who don't know, NPC is a gaming term for "Non-player character", as in the created characters to make up a game world, like townsfolk in D&D, or the characters you interact with in an RPG video game.

  • @ioannisaliazis
    @ioannisaliazis 5 месяцев назад +10

    I think all we need is “The Denial of Death”, that book is a complete eye opener and explains a loooot of the stuff covered here.
    Would also love to see a video on Jiddu Krishnamurti.

    • @WisecrackEDU
      @WisecrackEDU  5 месяцев назад +10

      That book absolutely rules.

  • @purewhiteloverbizarrejelly
    @purewhiteloverbizarrejelly 5 месяцев назад +9

    Kudos for scripting a video that’s both evergreen and topical while also being soul crushingly depressing

  • @turkoizdog
    @turkoizdog 5 месяцев назад +15

    I asked my dog once if being a good boy was important to his self identity and he responded by sitting in what we call The Good Boy Chair, so it sounds to me like he IS capable of intellectualizing.

  • @TheRepty818
    @TheRepty818 5 месяцев назад +2

    This whole conversation reminds me of Tomi Lahren claiming that BLM was protesting wrong, then when asked how they should protest she admitted she doesn't believe in protesting period. Then years later, when Biden was in office, she was the one protesting.

  • @nimged8952
    @nimged8952 5 месяцев назад +10

    Have you ever thought about exploring these concepts from a non-western philosophical perspective? There is so much that can be said on this subject from a perspective of animistic worldviews, that are so different from the standard western world views.

  • @nebojsadurmanovic2268
    @nebojsadurmanovic2268 5 месяцев назад +15

    I see what you did here, Wisecrack, and I like it. #notThatComplicated

  • @alexxx4434
    @alexxx4434 5 месяцев назад +4

    What makes humans distinct from animals is that humans are good at rationalizing their animalistic behaviours.

  • @user-zn4pw5nk2v
    @user-zn4pw5nk2v 5 месяцев назад +25

    9:18 Imagine now we call this hypothetical a "war", and practiced it regularly on the "ENEMY".

  • @jacksonrocks4259
    @jacksonrocks4259 5 месяцев назад +4

    As evergreen as this topic is, it’s super important to talk about now as events in Africa and the Middle East unfold. Also very happy to hear you reference Fanon. He doesn’t get enough love

  • @silverswordstudios7334
    @silverswordstudios7334 5 месяцев назад +5

    One critique: Locke did not maintain that property was owned by whomever was most capable of using a resource, but rather by whomever actively applied their labor to it. This entails that imperialism is, by-and-large, anti-Lockean as the imposition of a major power in controlling a given territory does not recognize the right of those existing settlers and labor-mixers' rights to their own property.

  • @drugsdelaney2907
    @drugsdelaney2907 5 месяцев назад +5

    Dehumanization is manufacturing consent.

  • @Martinarmonica
    @Martinarmonica 5 месяцев назад +1

    During Pinochet's regime in Chile, one of his fellow generals became famous for doing press conferences in which he frequently called communists "humanoids". The same people the government was exterminating, was publicly dehumanized on live tv every tuesday. The general was named José Toribio Merino, and his "segment" was known as "Merino Tuesday".

  • @ryansutter4291
    @ryansutter4291 5 месяцев назад +5

    "He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." -Samuel Johnson

  • @domiwomi628
    @domiwomi628 5 месяцев назад +1

    Thank you so much for this video! Took me right back to the best parts of grad school, like I love the ways you connected the social implications of our definitions of humanity, especially in the present moment.

  • @MD0Hatter
    @MD0Hatter 5 месяцев назад +3

    I've been waiting for this one since you first mentioned it, very excited!

  • @fionamason4725
    @fionamason4725 5 месяцев назад +3

    Humanity thinking it was above nature, rather than of it and deeply intertwined with it, how wild. Love the content :)

  • @KBird204
    @KBird204 5 месяцев назад +2

    Awww yeah, another piece to the Terror Management Theory (TMT) discussion I inevitably have with any of my friends who like to discuss philosophy, psychology, anthropology, history, etc
    Lowkey, it kind of feels like a ‘Roko’s Basilisk’ type of weight to drop on others who may have been happier in their ignorance before hearing about it. I consider TMT a compelling theory- that explains so much of what we do, have done, and will continue to do as humans in the future.
    I’ve had similar discussions with friends about how lots of ideologies around the globe have a similar underlying framework that are just localized, contextualized understandings (and sometimes justification) of human psychology.
    This was a very in-depth dissertation that will further add to my discussions in the future. Thanks Wisecrack 👌

  • @someoneawesome8717
    @someoneawesome8717 5 месяцев назад +5

    I wish I could be a crow, smart enough to appreciate the fun of throwing snow, no pesky anxiety about existentialism

    • @MisterCynic18
      @MisterCynic18 5 месяцев назад +3

      Who's to say the crows don't suffer existential dread every day of their brief lives? Smart enough to have a concept of self, yet powerless to affect a world seemingly fixated on their inevitable and often painful demise. They can't even distract themselves from their doom with drugs and tv like the giant hairless monkeys that throw rocks at them.

    • @someoneawesome8717
      @someoneawesome8717 5 месяцев назад +2

      @@MisterCynic18 that's an excellent counterpoint

    • @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield
      @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield 5 месяцев назад +2

      Crows hold "funerals" of a sort. It's closer to a murder investigation, but in doing so it clearly displays the understanding of their mortality, and actively attempting to learn from it and alert the community in an effort to avoid the same fate.
      While, perhaps, this doesn't fully reach the level of how you define "existentialism" but I feel that these intelligent animals, comprehend existence as both individuals and a community, bordering at least upon the fact of each being a part of a greater whole as a species, and, once again imo, perhaps in a way superior to humans. They all work to help other crows.
      Humans... not so much.
      Being able to write poetry and whatever (there has been a crow that can paint, we ain't that special) or make thought experiments, doesn't make us that much better.

    • @bugjams
      @bugjams 5 месяцев назад +3

      ​@@yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield hehe, "murder investigation," don't know if you meant to include a pun there, but it works. :P

    • @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield
      @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield 5 месяцев назад

      @@bugjams *Law and Order SVU noise*

  • @DragonDrummer2
    @DragonDrummer2 5 месяцев назад +1

    One of my favorite videos the wisecrack team has put together!

  • @dsgdsg9764
    @dsgdsg9764 5 месяцев назад +4

    The problem doesn't come from everybody believing it's okay the problem comes whenever tensions have rise so high that everybody is okay with calling everyone else an animal and that is the real problem

  • @CamWeezy16
    @CamWeezy16 5 месяцев назад +5

    I love the picture in my mind of someone patiently watching every video this channel has ever posted with a bottle of vodka in hand, waiting to hear the word "wretched" so they can take a shot and maybe they've gotten to do it a time or 2 but today was their super bowl

    • @WisecrackEDU
      @WisecrackEDU  5 месяцев назад +5

      That's a beautiful vision.

    • @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield
      @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield 5 месяцев назад

      ​@@WisecrackEDUi had a beer, and grabbed another to do so. I have the vodka, but even for me, thats too rapid a frequency.

  • @t_ylr
    @t_ylr 5 месяцев назад +9

    It's funny cause i use animal as an insult but like when ppl litter or they're rude to their server lol. I'm not attacking ppl's humanity 😅

    • @WisecrackEDU
      @WisecrackEDU  5 месяцев назад +8

      That's fair, we should shame people who litter and who are rude to servers.

    • @danielsantiagourtado3430
      @danielsantiagourtado3430 5 месяцев назад

      ​@@WisecrackEDU🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

  • @skafiend167
    @skafiend167 5 месяцев назад +6

    That was from the Animorohs tv show, wasnt it? The blonde cat lady thing at the beginning. Damn, i love Animorphs

    • @K1ng1995
      @K1ng1995 5 месяцев назад +3

      It's weird to think Jake from that show went from Animorphs to Iceman in the Live-action X-Men movies.

  • @budget_ballin
    @budget_ballin 5 месяцев назад +6

    Shoutout to my dog, bear. My best man at my wedding.

  • @jeddafakee91
    @jeddafakee91 5 месяцев назад +2

    Facts. People really do get treated as a means to an end and lives are not valued equally

  • @kareemdaking5145
    @kareemdaking5145 5 месяцев назад +1

    Exactly what I was Expecting from the title and soo... Much More. Needed.

  • @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield
    @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield 5 месяцев назад +1

    Michael, I watched your Mean Girls Video, and it was mint. You're cash money and you probably don't know how much you truly are, you should be proud, but, I'll watch it again, and even share it with a friend that quotes mean girls frequently. For you.
    Though, I doubt I am the change you wish to see in the world.
    I am the change I wish to see in the world, and while, I'm confident we have love for each other, and would be able to be actual friends irl in that unlikely event such was a possibility, because as much our venn diagrams overlap, there are some very critical points upon which we are unlikely to ever agree.
    So it goes. Still on the same team.
    Thanks for being you and all you do.

  • @endormorre6567
    @endormorre6567 5 месяцев назад +5

    Have people ever committed atrocities without dehumanizing the victim or being dehumanized themselves?
    It feels like an elegant answer that the only real bad thing people can do is to treat others as lessers, as if they are less real or less human. The over simplifications of reality can lead to a lot of blind spots as no one person can completely define what the real world is. This doesn't stop people from finding their own answers to big complicated issues. That is my conclusion, and it isn't exclusively mine, but I'm sure I'm wrong somehow.
    If anyone can think of an instant where lessening of another isn't the course of an atrocities I would be very appreciative to be proven wrong.

  • @A.Filthy.Casual
    @A.Filthy.Casual 5 месяцев назад +2

    As a flower, I find it offensive that others would automatically assume I couldn't be an intellectual.

  • @stefanmilicevic5322
    @stefanmilicevic5322 5 месяцев назад +2

    I am partly an animal, partially non-animal.
    As Hegel puts it:
    “Man is an animal, but even in his animal functions, he is not confined to the implicit, as the animal is; he becomes conscious of them, recognizes them, and lifts them, as, for instance, the process of digestion, into self-conscious science. In this way man breaks the barrier of his implicit and immediate character, so that precisely because he knows that he is an animal, he ceases to be an animal and attains knowledge of himself as spirit.” ― Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
    Also, I think I am in favor of a sharp distinction but with the added modification of being empathetic and non-disparaging towards both humans and animals. Both a distinction and a harmonious coexistence can coexist.

    • @FelisImpurrator
      @FelisImpurrator 5 месяцев назад

      Nah, that idea has always been cope. Humans have been inventing excuses to pretend to be special forever, and none of them mean anything.

  • @TheSquirrelChaser
    @TheSquirrelChaser 5 месяцев назад +2

    When you said "philosophical glossover," all I could see was that glorious DOME!!!

  • @dfj232
    @dfj232 5 месяцев назад +5

    Animals with pants that play "society"

  • @lizardhumanhybrid
    @lizardhumanhybrid 5 месяцев назад +7

    Thanks for dipping your toes into animal related philosophy Wisecrack Team! As a vegan, animal rights advocate who does environmental work i super appreciate even tiny steps into this vast, often ignored area of philosophy.
    This video dealt a lot with how mans reconciling of our human-animal identity crisis inpacts human systems...but i would love to see a video where you cover the deeper question: what rights, obligations, and moral considerations do we owe to animals, if any, and why?
    Basically, Wisecrack, please make a video covering animal rights. The history of the idea, perspectives, and or argumentation.

    • @WisecrackEDU
      @WisecrackEDU  5 месяцев назад +6

      Great idea and we should definitely get into this in 2024. When we make that video be sure to jump in to remind us that it was your video and we owe you gratitude and a coffee!

    • @JohnnyVee007
      @JohnnyVee007 5 месяцев назад

      A (vegan) coffee you LA Based peeps can get from It's All Good Coffee?? ;p

    • @lucyandecember2843
      @lucyandecember2843 4 месяца назад

      o.o

  • @tysonasaurus6392
    @tysonasaurus6392 5 месяцев назад +5

    I was hoping you would mention Fanon when I saw the title of the video, great work as always guys, thank you for what you do
    P.S. I've seen your Mean Girls video Michael, it's very good and I hope people go watch it because it pairs well with this video

  • @callahanh14
    @callahanh14 5 месяцев назад +2

    Yo man, that was one of my favorite videos when it came out! I was in my old English literature classroom before the professor showed watching it

  • @srf2767
    @srf2767 5 месяцев назад +12

    Yet another solid wisecrack vid 👍
    *Veganism peeks its head out*

    • @GWT1m0
      @GWT1m0 5 месяцев назад

      Animals eat animals, checkmate Veganists

  • @s73squee
    @s73squee 5 месяцев назад +3

    The scriptwriter missed their chance to drop the term "merciless savages" from the USA Declaration of Independence

  • @MatthewNash
    @MatthewNash 5 месяцев назад +3

    I've not put much stock into John Locke's theory of property previously, but you do make a convincing argument that TVs should belong to those who know how to turn motion smoothing off.

    • @Ford_prefect_42
      @Ford_prefect_42 5 месяцев назад +1

      I can't tell you how much I love this thought

  • @MrGksarathy
    @MrGksarathy 5 месяцев назад +2

    We are humans, a type of animal. The distinction between us and other animals is completely arbitrary, as are all distinctions and similarities. There is no truth but emptiness...

  • @danaugust993
    @danaugust993 5 месяцев назад +7

    How groups are portrayed and talked about is something I find myself thinking about a lot because it seems to affect political discourse a lot. I'd love to see more videos on these kinds of topics. I started reading about the "5 filters of mass media" recently.

    • @kodaxmax
      @kodaxmax 5 месяцев назад +2

      It is difficult. Because when you are a politicians or ruler ir even ceo you litterally can't consider the thousands or millions of people your responsible for individually when making decisions. But that also inherently dehumanizes them and encourages these leaders not consider them as human at all. So the best middle ground is to give them all a say and act based on that data (a democracy for example). This is why smaller communities can successfully implement communist and socialist policies. Because it's viable for them to consider the few individuals they are effecting.
      I don't know if theres a better solution. given the national and international scale of todays society a heirachy with few leading millions or billions seems unavoidable, even if you broke them into small communities with local leaders there still needs to be a minorioty leadshership to allow all these hypotheticall small cominities to oc-exist peacefully.

    • @lucyandecember2843
      @lucyandecember2843 4 месяца назад

      @@kodaxmax o.o

  • @pennywaldrip3774
    @pennywaldrip3774 5 месяцев назад +17

    The comparison of people to animals, and the distinction between them, makes more sense in an era when people might likely be attacked by animals, if they don't live in a populated city. We are all animals, we just think we're more important because we can say things like, "I think."

    • @realDonaldTrump420
      @realDonaldTrump420 5 месяцев назад

      Humans are the least natural (most sinful) animals.

    • @bugjams
      @bugjams 5 месяцев назад +2

      Important in the universal scale? No. But we certainly are important on our own planet, which is to say, significantly powerful. We have the ability to completely change landscape and ecosystems, for better or worse.
      We have the capacity for cruelty beyond what other animals are capable of, but also empathy beyond what other animals can do.
      I don't think it's wrong or even narcissistic to acknowledge that we play the most significant role in deciding the fate of our planet. Because if not us, then nothing else decides at all - it just is.

    • @Ford_prefect_42
      @Ford_prefect_42 5 месяцев назад +2

      To be fair- parrots can also say that

  • @solk.posner7201
    @solk.posner7201 5 месяцев назад +1

    Sad so few countries guarantee the most simple of human rights. I hate when people make fun of the poor and homeless that struggle to fulfill their daily needs, dismissing it to their merits and faults when in fact it shouldn’t be a problem in the first place…

  • @markduest8780
    @markduest8780 5 месяцев назад +1

    "If your a guy named Mike from Jersey, shout out in the comments which part of your meat would be the tastiest."
    "Ayyy, get outta heeeeeeeya"

  • @kated3165
    @kated3165 5 месяцев назад +2

    I think we are very much still animals, and its part of the problem. We have created a world that is no longer adapted to (and too complex for) the level our instincts still operate on.
    We are still, at our core, the apes obsessed with securing land... but now the most powerful of us can literally own massive chunks of the world.
    We still have minds wired to care for a small community, ours, and view ''the others'' as threats (or at the very least not worthy of worrying over)... except we are building a world where we would all benefit greatly from learning to cooperate and function as one global species.
    We still use survival strategies that are harmful to others of our species (stealing/deception/killing/bullying/conning), when we have created a world that depends so much on everyone's cooperation.
    We still run on the instincts of an ape in the forest who ''can never secure enough resources'', only we have replaced fruit and leaves with money and the power imbalances we are creating are allowing a few (big oil giants, pharma giants, etc'' to rule over the masses while destroying the planet we all live on at their leisure.

  • @Bendylife
    @Bendylife 5 месяцев назад +3

    We often see it used as a way for us to distance ourselves from behavior and actions we find unpleasant or abhorrent, as well.
    I think one of the worst things we took away from the Holocaust was the idea that Nazis werent human. Its dangerous because it should never be forgotten that they were human and all humans are all capable of committing horrible crimes, just as they did. It is hard to see the humanity in people who do horrible things, especially when they also have dehumanized us in the past, but its so important to remeber they are human and treat them as such or else we learn nothing and risk doing the exact same.

    • @elijahford3696
      @elijahford3696 5 месяцев назад +1

      Agreed. That said, there's lines a human being shouldn't cross. Some things are such an affront to the concept of decency that they should be abhorred. That doesn't mean these things aren't human. Cruelty is very human. We're very good at it, historically speaking.

    • @Bendylife
      @Bendylife 5 месяцев назад

      @@elijahford3696 That's my point. Regardless of how cruel actions might be, those who commit them never stop being human and we need to always remember that. Things don't happen in a vacuum and we must understand why and how things get to those points if we wish to stop them in the future.

  • @CottonCandySharks
    @CottonCandySharks 5 месяцев назад +1

    I watched the mean girls episode when it came out (: thanks for writing it!

  • @SpoopySquid
    @SpoopySquid 5 месяцев назад +2

    As a great philospher once said: You and me, baby, ain't nothing but mammals

  • @CottonCandySharks
    @CottonCandySharks 5 месяцев назад +4

    This is a good topic for right now, thank you for making it

  • @eaglesclaws8
    @eaglesclaws8 5 месяцев назад +2

    The dif is behavioral. When a wolf is trapped it will naugh off its leg to escape. Now there is an animal kind of trick. A human, knowing that the hunter is a threat not only to him but his kin, will escape and lie in wait for the hunter to return so that they can remove a threat to the group. Thats a human sort of trick.

    • @SageWon-1aussie
      @SageWon-1aussie 5 месяцев назад +1

      Wow, you watched Dune. Well done.

  • @justinbyrge8997
    @justinbyrge8997 5 месяцев назад +3

    It's quite simple dear Watson: You see, the term "people" or "person" in most contexts spoken of is synonymous with the term "God" or "God-like", as in "above" someone else or something else. I've met many humans who don't think other animals even have self awareness or a conscious or even any sense of consciousness - as if they are meat robots. Even the scientific community gets into debates as to whether other living organisms are conscious and to what degree.
    It's a way of protecting oneself from the negative psychological effects that come with causing harm or destruction - by disassociation and justification. If others are "animals" then by implication you are not. And therefore the other is "less than" or "unworthy" of whatever it is you happen to be worthy of or above. After all, you are good. And so rather than face the truth of any perceived entitlement or harm you cause to anything else, you end up maintaining your goodness and reinforce your belief that you are in the "righteous" team through demonization.
    It's an effective way that cult leaders, politicians, and military officials convince their troops to kill or destroy for the sake of whatever ideology or empire is being forced into being. It's also an effective way for wealthy business owners and corporations to be able to deal with the so called "tough" decisions that effect many lives for the sake of profits.
    Basically, it's one thing that happens in order to win the internal conflict that arises when one tries to hold onto two or more beliefs that contradict or conflict with each other. It's a form of cognitive dissonance, that's it that's all.

  • @FoxMacLeod2501
    @FoxMacLeod2501 5 месяцев назад +2

    Reminds me of a fantastic Primus album: _Animals Should Not Try To Act Like People_ - also, IMO, one of the best album titles ever, too.

  • @Dr_1212
    @Dr_1212 5 месяцев назад +3

    Absolute power corrupts absolutely

  • @Ford_prefect_42
    @Ford_prefect_42 5 месяцев назад +5

    Something I've been looking into lately is my insane belief that everything has a level of consciousness and it's not just restricted to humans or animals. I genuinely can not be cruel to a rock, for example. One of the most popular contemporary composers of our time has the same issue and his story puts it perfectly: he was at Starbucks trying to buy a banana to go along with his drink. His dilemma was that if he chose a banana, would the others feel left out? Would the one he picked feel sad it was leaving it's friends? Would it know that it was going to be eaten and be scared? Would it be happy it was going to fulfill it's purpose?
    This (possibly psychotic) belief is Panpsychism- as much as I would love to say I'm a humanist, I'm really an everything-ist. I don't think I'm more important than a tree, or cow, and I'm thankful for their existence and loss when I need to eat or live in a building. I try to honor everything as though it was a human that made a sacrifice and treat it to the best of my ability.
    I'd love to hear Michael's take on this belief/compulsion.

    • @lucyandecember2843
      @lucyandecember2843 4 месяца назад +1

      panpsychism is a very difficult word to say lol

    • @JaceDeanLove
      @JaceDeanLove 2 месяца назад

      I think there's zero evidence for this, but it results in you being a good person so it doesn't matter if it's "psychotic"

    • @Ford_prefect_42
      @Ford_prefect_42 2 месяца назад

      @@JaceDeanLove there's actually a ton of studies on it currently, because consciousness is pretty highly debated and the current theory just got a ton of scrutiny. You can look up those studies and see their research. I was surprised this was even being studied

    • @JaceDeanLove
      @JaceDeanLove 2 месяца назад

      @@Ford_prefect_42 oh I know they're studying it. I just haven't been convinced yet. I don't discount it either

    • @Ford_prefect_42
      @Ford_prefect_42 2 месяца назад

      @@JaceDeanLove that's fair. If I wasn't this way since birth I'd think I'm crazy too 🤣

  • @Kchewy
    @Kchewy 5 месяцев назад

    Mike from PA always sends me. And I always comply. love this channel

  • @PaladioBlaze
    @PaladioBlaze 5 месяцев назад +1

    I watched your Mean Girls video and I've never even seen Mean Girls!

  • @TommyHanusa
    @TommyHanusa 5 месяцев назад +2

    I think humans are animals. And as animals can be noble when responsibly cared for; when they are treated 'like animals' we shouldn't be surprised when they bite and lash out. Or inversely, if humans are lashing out against power structures then those power structures are not responsibly caring for them.

  • @ComradeDt
    @ComradeDt 5 месяцев назад +3

    Burns forgot to do a Dome promo in the Wisecrack Live promo

  • @ShakaWhenTheWallsFell
    @ShakaWhenTheWallsFell 5 месяцев назад +2

    🎉 so proud of you guys for making this

  • @jess_o
    @jess_o 5 месяцев назад +1

    I loved your Mean Girls video!

  • @user-hx6wy3kk4m
    @user-hx6wy3kk4m 5 месяцев назад

    Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

  • @deathlytree434
    @deathlytree434 5 месяцев назад +2

    We're all animals embrace that we are part of the ecosystem not above or separated from it

    • @SageWon-1aussie
      @SageWon-1aussie 5 месяцев назад

      I think you missed religious class.

  • @danielsantiagourtado3430
    @danielsantiagourtado3430 5 месяцев назад +3

    You're amazing Michael! Keep going! Please leave hearth ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • @somniaaeterna0
    @somniaaeterna0 5 месяцев назад +1

    Hi, a real rose here! I would share some ideas about postmodernism but no one ever discusses it with me on account of being a flower :(

  • @moribell1083
    @moribell1083 5 месяцев назад +3

    Human rights are a western ideal, so it is hard to separate it from western lenses of society.

  • @danielsantiagourtado3430
    @danielsantiagourtado3430 5 месяцев назад +4

    Love wisecrack ❤❤❤❤❤

  • @utz2867
    @utz2867 5 месяцев назад +1

    Great vid as usual, very prescient

  • @jessekoansmith3758
    @jessekoansmith3758 5 месяцев назад +2

    I feel you’ve avoided an elephant in the room

  • @dukeman6008
    @dukeman6008 5 месяцев назад +1

    I often talk heavy philosophical matters with my basil plant

  • @happinesstan
    @happinesstan 5 месяцев назад +2

    We all get the opportunity, but nobody gets a choice.

  • @aeonophon
    @aeonophon 5 месяцев назад +1

    If the distinction between human and animal is that humans wear pants, call me animal.

  • @mrsloan7361
    @mrsloan7361 5 месяцев назад +2

    That mean girls video was fascinating, I still remember it. But I’m gonna go watch it again, as an act of sacrifice to the algorithm.

  • @ahorrell
    @ahorrell 5 месяцев назад +1

    Animals are people too.
    People are animals too.

  • @fred_e
    @fred_e 5 месяцев назад

    My dog passed away someone this morning before we woke up. It has been a long time coming, but it's still tragic

  • @Sammy2phones
    @Sammy2phones 5 месяцев назад +2

    In Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and you can definitely make a drinking game out of the word “wretched”.

    • @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield
      @yourfriendlyinternetmeatshield 5 месяцев назад

      You would want to have the creations liver and other such superhuman benefits for that.
      I didn't take a shot, but for fun a took a gulp of beer for the quote in lieu simply from the suggestion.

  • @gunnstash
    @gunnstash Месяц назад

    My guys ability to drive engagement every 30 seconds is unmatched. Here I am complying

  • @Duhveed777
    @Duhveed777 5 месяцев назад +1

    I definitely had already watched the philosophy of mean girls video 😭😭😭😭

  • @KittySnicker
    @KittySnicker 5 месяцев назад

    Gonna watch your Mean Girls video STAT!

  • @tribalbear84
    @tribalbear84 5 месяцев назад +1

    I often think about how they in the Dune series talk about being human as being capable of conscious thought and physical self discipline, where animals act on instinct and impulse.
    The test of the Box in the first book where Paul Atreides is tasked to put his hand in a box and not remove it even if it feels like it's being slowly burned to an ashen lump (it's not, though, it is simply "pain by nerve induction"), and his level of self control is how he is judged to be either human or an animal. He passes the test and is deemed "human".
    I think that argument is quite fascinating.

  • @ExiledSummoner
    @ExiledSummoner 5 месяцев назад +1

    Thank you for this video

  • @jameslee1145
    @jameslee1145 5 месяцев назад +1

    Cetaceans, corvids, elephants, parrots and the other great apes have entered the chat

  • @AndreyEvermore
    @AndreyEvermore 5 месяцев назад +1

    Humans ARE animals our special ability is to make things into tools.
    Even sounds, words, concepts… etc

  • @MrJ1S
    @MrJ1S 5 месяцев назад +1

    Lol the intro made the song...more human than a human...play in my head

  • @jart83
    @jart83 5 месяцев назад +1

    "They dont deserve human rights! They're just a clump of cells!"

  • @PorkotylerClips
    @PorkotylerClips 5 месяцев назад +3

    I’ll tell you who’s an animal…that cousin of Tony Soprano, Tony Blundetto

  • @kawonewilliams1949
    @kawonewilliams1949 5 месяцев назад

    This is an excellent video. 👏🏾