Reading Reflection -- Ridicule in the Conferring of Rights

 For class today, we read the first part of Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac, as well as a chapter by Stone regarding whether trees should have legal standing. For my reading reflection today, I will specifically be sharing some reflections that Stone’s chapter evoked for me. I was particularly struck by their exploration of how new proposals of legality have long been ridiculed, which made me draw to connections from other readings from the class and made me reflect on why people are not ready for the massive paradigm shift that may be needed to create meaningful change. 

Early in Stone’s piece, they provide some historical examples of attempts at conferring new rights onto new entities. Stone explains that the responses to these movements have consistently been “odd or frightening or laughable” (Stone 191). This idea of attempts at mindset changes brought me back to pieces on vegetarianism from earlier this week, in which authors explored that the responses to attempts at expanding moral considerations to other species has always been to “ridicule, consider, and adopt.” This connection made me reflect deeply on the pushback that often accompanies proposals of change and expansion of mindset. Change, such as in the case of conferring rights, will not always be widely welcomed immediately, but will often face pushback, sometimes in the form of ridicule. 

However, this connection also made me feel optimistic of broader change that has the potential to occur. Even with great pushback to granting rights to new communities in the past, immense progress has been made. Ultimately, I believe proposals for shifting mindsets and making progress right now are stalled because of an attachment to the “ridicule” stage and a general attachment to existing systems in place. However, learning from historical progress, more significant change is possible. 

 

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