Empathy In Erica Fudge's We3

Learned Empathy in We3

In society, animals are commodified and part of an animal hierarchy where their placement depends on their relationship to humans. Animals whose relationship to humans is based solely on use value are considered lower than pets. For example, these animals are used for food products, clothing, transportation, and animal testing. On the other hand, pets are viewed differently because their relationship to humans does not rely on what they can produce. As Erica Fudge explains in Animal, the relationship between pet and human is focused on how pets are loved as individuals and how humans are humanized by learning empathy. In Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s We3, Fudge’s idea of learning empathy is clear with Rosanne and

Although this may seem like a simple question, it is quite difficult. Fudge explains that a pet is “an animal that enters our (human) domestic space” (Fudge 27-28). Pets are different from other animals because they live in our homes. Because the question is difficult to answer, Fudge further explains that pets are a “different class of creature” because they are “both human and animal”. Unlike other animals, pets are like us in the way they live in our homes and have names. Despite these similarities, they are ultimately not human. Fudge not only explains how pets ride the boundary between human and animal to attempt to answer her question, but she also mentions the relationship between humans and pets. Pets are individualized and are loved as “individual creatures”, which makes them different than other animals. Moreover, she explains how our relationships to pets may be the “closest contact many of us have with non-humans”. Because of the way that pets are loved as individuals, she concludes that “a pet is a pet first, an animal

Trendle, in fig. 6, we see them discuss the heated discussion that took place with Roseanne. The General mentions the, “LOOK IN HER EYE” and feels the need to explain himself. He claims, “I DON’T HATE ANIMALS. I HAVE TWO DOGS OF MY OWN”. The General feels that Roseanne was insinuating that he hates animals and has no regard for their well-being if he is so willing to kill three innocent pets, despite them following his orders. The General is trying to support his statement of not hating animals by using evidence of his own pet ownership. The General believes that by being a pet owner himself, that there is no way he could be considered an animal