"It's just that with their high intelligence and their affinity for us, I feel like dolphins deserve extra respect, especially from us conservatives."
You're entitled to that opinion, but I can't forget that people develop an affinity for all kinds of creatures.
I once wandered into what was labeled a "pet store" in Japan, and it was like a house of horrors to me. Spiders, snakes, poisonous centipedes, lizards...the only things that looked halfway like pets to me were the smuggled tortoises, whaddaya call'em, they have a geometric pattern on their shell?
They even had mamushi in there.
People have even waxed sentimental over grizzly bears.
I have no problem with people shuddering and not wanting to eat certain things. I do it, too. Got queasy at the sight of dog meat in Korean butcher stalls. Get really queasy when they bring something to the table here in Japan that's not only raw, but still alive.
In the end, though, they're animals, and while I agree that it's rational to like certain animals, I think it's going overboard to respect any animal.
My point was really the opposite of the above, it was that dolphins have an affinity for people. They like us, and, as I pointed out earlier in the thread, many stories of them saving humans, pushing them to shore, etc. are true. The only other creature I know of that does similar things is the domesticated dog, which may be less intelligent than the dolphin.
All those poisonous critters that people like aren't even close to being in the same class with dolphins and dogs. BTW, most turtles have 13 plates on their shells, one for each of the original 13 colonies ;-)
"while I agree that it's rational to like certain animals, I think it's going overboard to respect any animal."
I may be using the word "respect" in a different sense than you, but IMO all living creatures are deserving of respect. 'Course, that does not prevent us from eating some of them, but I don't think dolphins should be among those that we consume.
I want to put in my qualifier again - I don't recognize the species of dolphin pictured, so can't say if they specifically are the intelligent ones that like people.
However dolphins have been loved and respected by humanity for thousands of years, I don't think it behooves us conservatives to treat that so lightly, without good reason. Instead, I think it to be one of those traditions conservatives should honor, in spite of the fact that politically correct leftists are trying to preempt it for mercenary reasons.
I certainly agree with you Sam!
And I certainly don't agree with dsc, who thinks it preposterous that "People have even waxed sentimental over grizzly bears". or that "it's going overboard to respect any animal". As he says.
I think that the disrespect of the natural world, or callous and willful destruction of it, is in no way a value I would call 'conservative'. It is our responsibility, and our reward, to preserve a spot on this planet for things that are not of man.