Just sentimental fools. Dogs don’t deserve anything that cows or pigs or horses don’t. Numbers have nothing to do with this entire debate. Lots of people in Asia think it’s disgusting we let milk rot and rot and then eat it. I, however, like cheese … I’ve also tried snails, and liked them. No matter how many people think what I eat is disgusting, or even immoral, I’ll eat it if I want to.
Why the hell not? Why are your reasons for eating what you do and not eating what you don’t valid and someone else’s equally idiosyncratic but religiously inspired reasons for eating or not eating things out of the debate?
I think the OP is confusing his dog with all dogs in general.
If eating dog constituted eating the dog you bought as a puppy and brought up for years to be a companion to your family, then yes, I would consider that . . . maybe not primitive, but certainly heartless. However, it doesn’t. Eating dog means you eat a dog. Not your dog, not anyone’s dog. The dog was not a pet. It was brought up like a pig or a cow: like livestock. The only reason you, the OP, think this is primitive is because you were conditioned to think that way. We here on the other side of the world respect that, and as such we do not demand that eating dog be made legal in your part of the world. We would appreciate it if you do the same and leave us in peace to eat whatever the hell we want.
For the record, my emotional response to eating dog is disgust. This is because I was brought up in the US, where dogs have the distinction of being “man’s best friend.” But I have no problems with other people eating dogs at all, and it really annoys me when people take their own cultural norms as some kind of absolute standard by which everyone else should be judged.
I’ve still not heard any sort of argument that makes dog a logical nutritional choice.
p.s. And what about the practice of beating the animals whilst alive, to ‘tenderise’ the flesh? Is this perfectly acceptable too, seeing as they are not pets?
Since when have humans eaten only food based on what is “logically nutritious”? Why do people eat snails or frog legs or grasshoppers? The only reason you have your panties in a twist about dogs is because you think they are somehow superior to other animals. Which is fine, except you seem to be unable to grasp the fact that the reason you think so isn’t based on logic. It’s as arbitrary as any other animal eating taboo.
Animal rights is a different matter altogether. You think cows and chickens are treated with any kind of dignity as they’re being fattened up for slaughter? Are you morally opposed to foie gras?
ivan astikov you are clutching at straws here. I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at - and I’m not one of those people who is obsessed with the idea of cultural relativism and all that - but really, you’re just going to have to realize that different folks eat different animals, and that’s just all there is to it.
Okay, what about a ‘natural’ choice then? Are these dogs merely being chosen because they are so trusting of humans in the first place, and are therefore easy to rear? Obviously none of these people who are eating them have ever watched Lassie?
I suppose I’m opposed to any ‘creative fiddling’ with meat. Kill it and cook it… anything else is a little perverse!
Listen to yourself. You are scrambling for a different excuse with every post.
People eat dogs because the dogs are there, and they are meat. There is no real reason beyond this. And again, you are taking the word “natural” for granted. There are very few things that are universally natural for people of all cultures. And Lassie isn’t one of them.
Why is it so hard to admit that your aversion to eating dog is simply a cultural bias on your part?
I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but unless you hunt, kill, and cook your own meat, the meat on your table goes through a lot more than simply being killed and cooked. Cows, chickens, and pigs are not simply allowed to roam free until the day they are dispatched with a swift ax to the neck (unless you buy free-range meat, I suppose). They are crowded into small spaces and live pretty miserable lives, and they have been bred into creatures that suit our human needs best, which sounds pretty perverse to me. And yet you obviously eat this meat without turning a hair.
Just to make things clear, I’m not a vegetarian. I love meat. I think the way livestock is treated sucks, but a lot of things in life suck, and frankly I don’t feel strongly enough about it to do anything.
Well, I can safely say that I didn’t start the thread to get lessons in morality off meat eaters. I was more interested in learning a bit about it’s prevalence and popularity, and some of the social history behind the practice.
If that was true we’d be in GQ and not in IMHO. Most of what this thread has been about is you passing judgment on people with other eating habits than yours, with increasingly silly lines of reasoning to support why you’re right and they’re wrong, and with very little ignorance being fought.
You’d already made up your mind that it was a primitive practice. If you’d asked the question in a more neutral manner, you would have received answers in kind.
Having a pet is a luxury. It means you have the means to take care of another creature when said creature gives you nothing practical in return. Furthermore, the idea of domesticating an animal purely so it can be a human companion is, as far as I know, a pretty Western idea. I can only speak in terms of Korea, but we didn’t open our doors to the West until the 19th century, and we didn’t enjoy anything close to economic stability until the latter half of the 20th. Even now, we have a bunch of people crowded like sardines into a very small area - namely, Seoul. Most people in this city will never live in a house with a yard. So owning a dog is not as easily done here as it would be in the US. The concept of dog as pet is now a common one here, but it’s not as embraced as it is in the States.
This isn’t to say that eating dog is an everyday practice. Plenty of Koreans go through life never having touched the stuff. But most of us, even those of us with pet dogs, don’t really bat an eyelash at the idea, because we are able to seperate the idea of my pet dog from that dog in the stew. The dog in the stew and I do not share a relationship. As far as I’m concerned, that dog in the stew is no different from that cow in my hamburger.
Now that we’re in the Pit, you’re being retarded. There is nothing special about dogs. Your personal fondness for them does not render them off-limits to the world’s carnivores.
Most people in the west have no problem whatsoever in making the distinction between pets and grub. Many people keep pet bunny rabbits, yet eating rabbit is not uncontroversial practice.