Probably every one of us is happy when he/she is accepted by others and taken as a being worthy of compassion. However, if we ourselves are happy when we are perceived as important, it is our duty to take others as important as well; not just humans but also animals and all forms of life.
Let's try to think about the following text:
Imagine that one day alien beings from space land on our planet. They are incredibly intelligent, outperform people and are aggressive towards people. As humans are unable to find any way to defend themselves against these beings, alien beings will soon triumph over humanity, depriving them of their freedom. An unprecedented war of terror begins. Aliens use humans for medical experiments, make shoes, car seats and lampshades from their skin, use their hair, bones and teeth for production purposes. In addition, they eat people, especially children and infants. They like them most because of their delicious meat.
One person, who is being dragged out of a dungeon for a medical experiment, shouts at these creatures:
“How can you do something like that? Don't you see that we are sentient beings … that it hurts us? How can you take our children away and kill and eat them? Can't you see how we suffer? Don't you realize how unimaginably cruel and barbaric you are? How come, you have got no compassion and no morals? "
Aliens answer:
“Yes, right”, one of them agrees. “Maybe we're a little scary. But look,” he continues, "we're superior to you. We're more intelligent than you, and we're smarter, we know a lot of things you don't know. We're a superior species, we exist on a completely different level, and that's why we can do with you whatever we want. In comparison to our lives your lives are not worth much. And besides, even if our actions are not O.K., one thing is for sure: You just taste great!”
No need to say anything more.