"Almost" Isn't Close Enough

There's the old saying - "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades". But if some scientists get their way, dolphins might be added to the list.

From the Daily Mail online: Dolphins Are Almost As Clever As Humans - So Treat Them Like People, Scientists Say

Dolphins are so intelligent they should be given the same status as humans, scientists are recommending.

The aquatic mammals are the world's second brightest creatures after humans - leapfrogging chimpanzees who have been pushed down to third in the cleverness stakes.

Experts say it is now time for dolphins to be treated as 'non-human persons' after research showed their brains have many features associated with high intelligence.

They claim it is cruel to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks, or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way every year.

Wouldn't it be interesting if dolphin scientists determined long ago that humans are nearly as clever as they are, and ought to be afforded "non-dolphin person" status - but the only thing stopping them is that we insist on killing our unborn children? And who's to say the dolphins don't like performing in amusement parks? The ones I watched seemed happy to me - lots of food and attention, no predators, excellent health care.

What does it say about these scientists, that they complain of the slaughter of 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises each year, but seem conspicuously silent on the fact that 50,000,000 babies are aborted worldwide every year? I'm not saying the cruel treatment and killing of the animals is acceptable - what I'm saying is that their priorities are backwards. Until they apply their intelligence and effort to ending abortion, they should keep their mouths shut about the "personhood" of dolphins. Until they recognize the complete and total personhood of the unborn child, they have no moral standing on declaring the "almost" personhood of dolphins. It makes no sense to assign "personhood" to non-humans when it's denied to a segment of the human population. Almost isn't close enough.

And since there are no Planned Porpoisehood clinics anywhere, perhaps the aquatic mammals are more intelligent than some humans...