Animal Testing and Henry David Thoreau

About 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for the purposes of scientific and commercial testing. Through this testing scientists develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of different medications, and check the safety of products before they are used by humans. This is an immoral issue because it fails all three of Immanuel Kant’s tests. In terms of “Universalizability”, we could not test and treat all animals like this because under this extreme circumstance a harmful substance could eliminate entire species of animals. This would disrupt the delicate balance of the affected ecosystem. Essentially Earth could not exist under these circumstances. Animal testing also fails the test of “Human Dignity,” it is cruel to experiment on animals. Even though this method of testing has shown to advance science, there are other methods of testing that could substitute animal testing. Third it fails the test of “Reciprocity,” personally I would not want people to perform the same kind of testing on me that they perform on animals. Tests may involve withholding of food and water, burning skin, blinding, and other miscellaneous invasive procedures.

Thoreau would advocate not using the products that had animal trials. He would also support the actions of Jacqueline Traide who subjected herself to tests, typically performed on animals, in a window front so people could see how animal testing is cruel and unfair. For ten hours she was subjected to the same tests and treatments as animals, for example she was force fed and given injections. She was technically risking her life which is the most you could contribute to fight injustice according to Thoreau. Sometimes it is not enough to just stick out an “arm or a leg,” you have to fully and actively seek change. There are a good number of people who forgo buying products that were tested on animals, yet there is still a lot of animal testing which leads to the conclusion that this is not enough to enact change.

In regards to animal testing, Thoreau’s plan could be effective. It could result in the eradication of animal testing or at least decrease the number of animals that are used in scientific and commercial testing. I could imagine myself exercising civil disobedience to the extent of refusing to buy products that were tested on animals. However I don’t think I could exercise the amount of civil disobedience that Thoreau would deem necessary, such as the treatment that Jacqueline Traide was subjected to. This is due to the fact that I can’t even get a vaccination at my yearly physical because I am extremely uncomfortable around needles and often feel faint and sick after having to use them.

F-a-i-l-u-r-e, failure

Since we don’t have school before Easter, I spent the day playing Animal Crossing on GameCube. If you’ve ever played Animal Crossing, you may understand how you can spend a whole day in the game fishing, catching bugs, organizing your items, and socializing with your neighbors in order to obtain bells which is the currency in the game. You do a lot of these activities to pay off your house debt to the raccoon character Tom Nook. Each time you pay it off, he offers to upgrade your house which locks you into a cycle of debt. Since I had played most of the day, I had upgraded my house several times which was an impressive achievement in my 12 year old eyes.


At this time I had a bunk bed (which to my disappointment had a desk under the bed, instead of another bed, so does it really count as a bunk bed?) and my TV was across my bed, on top of a dresser, so that I could see it from a high altitude. I also had a shelf that ran parallel to my bed so that I could easily access books and other miscellaneous items without having to climb down the ladder every time I needed something. It was on this shelf that I kept my GameCube, which meant the wires ran across the room whenever I was playing.


I played until night, which was when my mom called my brother and I to come put out carrots for the Easter Bunny. When I went to get up, I accidentally got caught on the wire and the GameCube fell off the shelf which caused it to unplug. As a result I lost all of the progress in the game that I made that day. This disastrous failure can be attributed to me being impatient. Had I gotten up slowly and carefully, then the whole thing could have been avoided. It depends on the situation but for the most part, I’ve become more patient and tolerant of how long it takes for some things to happen. A lesson learned from this debacle is to save your game every now and then even if you intend on playing more after the save. Now I obsessively save my progress in any video game that I play.

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 is a relatively new animated movie that was released on October 23, 2014 in the United States. This movie takes place in a fictional setting called “San Fransokyo” wherein Hiro Hamada forms a superhero team, consisting of his scientist friends, in order to fight a masked villain. His team includes characters, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Fred, and Baymax. Baymax is a robot created by Tadashi Hamada (Hiro’s brother) that was designed to give medical attention to those in distress.


Big Hero 6 has a diverse cast of characters. There are people of color in this movie. One of the heros, Wasabi, is an African American. He is super smart and strictly abides to rules in general. When they were being chased by the villain threatening their lives, he refused to go through the red light even though everyone else in the car was yelling at him to go through it. Another hero, Gogo Tomago, is Korean. She is an athlete, and has a tough personality. When Wasabi refused to go through the red light, she took over the steering wheel and skillfully drove the car, finding shortcuts which led to their successful escape.

This movie features strong, capable female characters as well as completely lacking humor that is gender-based. Main characters, Honey Lemon and Gogo Tomago are both female and scientists. In American society, subjects such as math and science are known as “boy subjects” and until recent years the careers in these fields were completely dominated by men. During the movie Gogo uses the phrase “woman up” to encourage one of her teammates to do better. As opposed to “man up” which is commonly used in America. Aunt Cass, the single guardian of Hiro and Tadashi, is also female. She never complains and she is depicted as a happy business owner and caretaker. Also Abigail, the villain’s daughter, is the test pilot who braved teleporting into another dimension.