Werewolves Should Receive Equal Rights

Thanks for responding. I’d like to point out that my opponent’s burden is to argue that Werewolves should be given equal rights. My BOP is to prove otherwise. It can be to argue that Werewolves should be given rights, but not as equal to humans or to argue that they shouldn’t be given any rights at all. If I satisfy my BOP to uphold any of those premises, then it’s sufficient to negate the resolution and to ensure my victory. REBUTTAL RE: Werewolves are people This argument is too shallow. Humans are part of the species of Homo sapiens, so that means other related species (like gorillas, chimps, monkeys, etc.) can be considered humans or human-like. My opponent claims that werewolves are human so we need to give them equal rights. If that’s so, then why can’t we give chimpanzees the same rights as a human being? RE: Werewolves have no choice My opponent states that because werewolves do not have a choice to become werewolves, we should give them equal rights and that we shouldn’t blame them on crimes they didn’t commit. What does this argument have to do with Werewolves being bestowed with equal privileges to normal people? My opponent needs to expand this contention further before I accurately refute it. RE: Werewolves are not always people PRO is saying that because a Werewolf is not always a person, we should still give it some rights as equal as a human. What? If we follow PRO’s logic, does that mean we should also give equal rights to other animals? PRO also states that by not giving them rights, they will be harmful to society. How so? PRO didn’t offer any evidence to support this. Also, how are Werewolves (which are part animal) capable of understanding these rights? How can they be less harmful if we give them equal rights? Werewolves are harmful, what we need is better protection from them and we need to restrain them. Giving them rights without the knowledge of them actually understanding it is a bad idea since it will make due process more complicated. Would you like the Werewolf who massacred your family get off trial due to a technicality? My opponent further argues that a werewolf doesn’t want to harm a person, yet he fails to give evidence to this. A werewolf is an animal, wolf, it cannot think properly so it does whatever it wants, it can kill whenever it wants. Yes, convicting him is like convicting a regular wolf. But a lycanthrope doesn’t need to be convicted because it is not capable to stand trial. So if a werewolf is to be caught, it would probably be killed or be tested. If we give them rights like humans do and give him a fair trial, it would be a waste of courts’ time, it would be like putting a normal wolf to trial. RE: Werewolves benefit society My opponent’s argument to support this premise is: A werewolf is human. Humans benefit society. Therefore, werewolves benefit society. This is a correlation-causation fallacy. Just because werewolves correlate to humans being beneficial doesn’t mean that werewolves are beneficial. Apes are related to humans, but does it have significant benefits like humans do? No. CASE These are my contentions for now, please note that I may expand them next round if challenged. Furthermore, my arguments in these premises have additional points to refute my opponent’s premises above. C1: Werewolves are not capable of thinking properly. This is somewhat the core of my argument, to prove that werewolves shouldn’t have equal rights like humans, I must show that Werewolves are different from humans. Werewolves are part human, part animal. So they are not 100% sentient human beings. So we must consider the latter that they are animals (particularly wolves). Lycanthropes are not self-conscious, they are not aware of deaths. They have no sense on life, morality, the law and their surroundings {1}. So why give these creatures the same rights as humans if they do not think like humans? Ask yourselves; are lycanthropes capable of signing a legal contract? Are lycanthropes capable of giving consent on marrying a human? Are lycanthropes capable to adequately stand trial? Can a lycanthrope communicate to other humans? The answer, obviously is no, because the animals’ brains are not fully developed like a human brain, they cannot distinguish from what is right or wrong. C2: A werewolf’s harmfulness overrides its benefits to society, If werewolves exist, then it would probably be considered as the most dangerous creature in the world. We get wolf attacks per year {2}, so don’t tell me there are benefits on that. Werewolves, according to popular culture, have the tendency to attack the nearest human, which makes them hated by society, and by this, lycanthropes have a grudge on their oppressors {3}. So this means that they are highly dangerous. If we give them rights, we would be like letting them roam the streets at anytime, we wouldn’t want that. What makes a normal wolf different from a werewolf? What makes a gorilla different from a werewolf? Why don’t they have equal rights as humans? Do these animals benefit society like what we humans do? No, because they are animals, they are not capable of understanding. C3: Giving Werewolves rights are useless Again, a werewolf is 50% human and 50% animal. And since today’s rights only affect sentient human beings, we must not consider a werewolf a sentient human being. Giving them rights is unnecessary because they cannot fully understand, recognize and exercise said rights. CONCLUSION My opponent needs to give evidence that a Werewolf can be capable on understanding human rights, he needs to show that a werewolf is psychologically and mentally equivalent to a human being. If he cannot adequately show these things, then it is sufficient to negate the resolution because I’ve argued that when we give equal rights to other creatures, we must have knowledge on their capacity to understand. I know these arguments aren’t enough, but seeing that my opponent somewhat made a weak case, I made this brief for him to expand his contentions. CITATIONS {1} http://www.realtruth.org... {2} http://en.wikipedia.org... {3} http://harrypotter.wikia.com...