French animal rights organization One Voice has launched a pre-Olympics campaign calling attention to Chinese zoo conditions and the slaughter of dogs for consumption. There is an online petition form that will go straight to the desk of His Excellency, Hu Jintao! The audacity of One Voice in demanding that China treat animals better than its political prisoners or North Korean refugees.
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20 Comments
I’m not saying I agree with animal abuse/slaughter - in fact, I think it’s horrible. But the overwhelming amount of petitions/campaigns/etc. calling for the stopping of “animal abuse” by Chinese that I’ve been seeing these days is just ridiculous. Such things as “animal slaughter” will never cease, no matter what.
Also, the notion of animal abuse only exists in the Western psyche. I’m sure there are many indigenous peoples even today that believe that animal slaughter is just dandy, and that in fact keeping an animal as a pet is backwards instead. It’s all just a matter of perspective.
they don’t just eat dogs. They eat the penis of dogs, too.
Anyway, Beijing should be boycotted by none other than South Korea, if South Korea had balls.
They should boycott it until the Chinese Gong-An agrees to cease participating in returning North Korean escapees into North Korea.
PRChina is violating all sorts of human rights on every level. The only thing that spares them from prosecution is
They haven’t lost a formal war.
and they make cheap stuff at an affordable price. This, however is starting to show problems. Long time coming in South Korea. Recent in America and Japan.
Stop being China’s lap dog. Break the tradition. Shilla was a stupid country.
During the 2002 World Cup in Korea, a Korean anti-dog movement emerged. Their main approach was to blame the custom on China.
Did Jay Leno ever tell more than one dog eating joke — the lame one after the Apollo Ohno controversy?
@#1
“Slaughter” in the context of talking about animals simply means to kill animals for food. What used to be called slaughterhouses are now known as meat processing plants.
I’m a lot more comfortable knowing my lamb was “processed” instead of “slaughtered”.
That’s a pretty clear pronouncement. Anything to back that up? You got an “A” in Anthro 101 or maybe a Soc seminar?
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
— Mahatma Gandhi
#6 - Yes, that’s a really clear pronouncement, but it is, after all, just an opinion, so no, I dont have anything to back that up. I’m so sorry.
But, I do have a question: How come Westerners (as they are mostly the ones that have a problem with dog-eating) are fine with eating cows, chickens, pigs, and other domesticated animals, but not dogs? Is it simply because dogs are pets? Or is there another reason?
“During the 2002 World Cup in Korea, a Korean anti-dog movement emerged. Their main approach was to blame the custom on China.”
How do you blame a custom on another country?
“For hundreds of thousands of years the stew in the pot has brewed hatred and resentment that is difficult to stop. If you wish to know why there are disasters of armies and weapons in the world, listen to the piteous cries from the slaughter house at midnight.”
—Ancient Chinese verse
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Does that mean Paris Hilton is a moral person because she pampers her chihuahua?
I heard that quote as “by the way its PRISONERS are treated,” — and personally, I’d hope China cleans up its prisons before people even bother agitating about the slaughterhouses.
#6 and 7: I’d half-seriously like to add that as far as I’ve observed, the basic rule for (some) western bleeding-hearts goes something like this: the cuter an animal is, the more rights it should have, and the more immoral it is to kill/eat/experiment on it.
Cows sleep in their own poop, so eating them is ok. Dogs like to cuddle, so eating them is wrong. That’s also why more people complain about experimenting on bunnies and chimps than about rats and badgers. If somebody came up with a koala burger, they might actually go to war. It takes a person with actual principles to fight for the dignity of ugly animals, too.
but #2 hit it on the head: china’s just too powerful for anyone to dare stepping up and speaking out; and China’s responded to all its criticisms (ie Spielberg, Canada’s PM speaking against China’s human rights record, etc.,) by counterattacking and punishing (in canada’s case, on the negotiating table), rather than by listening, changing, or even caring about the critics. they even intimidated britain into preemptively forbidding their athletes from speaking out on political issues.
Bet a million bucks all spielberg’s movies are banned in china for the rest of time. They counterattack instead of listening — that seems to be the modus operandi.
“they don’t just eat dogs. They eat the penis of dogs, too.”
So do many South Koreans. The gaeshin is considered the most potent and delectable part of the animal here in the land of your forebears.
You know, WJK, one day you will wake up and see that there are other far more interesting ways of looking at the world than through an outmoded paradigm of “national differences.”
The Chinese eat everything, including cats, rats, etc. Personally i hate the idea of eating dogs and my family would never eaten one.
I blame the old korean folks who learned the tradition from China.
Sir Roger Moore used to eat foie gras, French for fatty liver. But when he learned about the dark side of the industry, he vowed never to eat the French delicacy.
Foie gras is made from the grotesquely enlarged livers of male ducks and geese.The birds are kept in tiny wire cages or packed into sheds. Pipes are repeatedly shoved down the birds’ throats, and up to 4 pounds of grain and fat are pumped into their stomachs two or three times every day. The pipes puncture many birds’ throats, sometimes causing the animals to bleed to death. Many birds become too sick to stand up.
King Baeksu, I can respect that. I can respect you personally as well. I’ll leave it at that.
Anyway, I knew of Chinese people in the US, who had access to eating chicken balls.
I’m dead serious. My Chinese friend said so. His grandfather regularly ate chicken balls.
Joe, what are you talking about OLD Koreans?
this is continuing well into succeeding generations. Doggy restaurants are alive and well. It ain’t ajoshis daring waegooks to eat gaegogi in Korea. It’s the dude in the 20’s.
@#13:
The French group also opposes the consumption of fois gras.
@wjk,
its old seniors and the early portion of the baby boomers. China was a huge influence back in their time. I’m not saying all though, but most dog meat eaters are the older generations.
Yeah i’m sorry but i’m in my 20’s and I have never seen or know of a young guy eating dog meat. Chinese cultural influence ended with the Korean war.
“its old seniors and the early portion of the baby boomers. China was a huge influence back in their time. I’m not saying all though, but most dog meat eaters are the older generations. Yeah i’m sorry but i’m in my 20’s and I have never seen or know of a young guy eating dog meat. Chinese cultural influence ended with the Korean war.”
Really? You haven’t really spent much time in Korean society, have you? If you’re old enough to get a job, it’s only a matter of time before the entire dept. starts buzzing with anticipation of heading out for “Seasoned soup.” A few lost souls sit on the side and eat chicken, of course.
I remember those ubiquitous sidewalk tents in the 70s and 80s where you could get steamed sparrow, which was eaten by picking it by the beak and devouring it whole, head, bones and all. Quite popular. And whatever happened to the the shop windows writhing with live snakes for snake whisky, stews, etc. Fried crickets were served in beer houses - I remember getting the legs stuck between my teeth. Then there was the ever popular beef gonad soup.
The dog meat has gotten worse though. It used to be Po Shin Tang - spicy soup. Nowadays, they just steam it, fat and all with watercress on top. Quite chewy and just about as tasteless as blowfish, which people only pretend to like simply because it’s expensive and a status thing.
But seriously, there’s nothing wrong with any of these foods, so long as the animal is treated humanely. And in the case of dog, the poor animal is caged in deplorable conditions and then hanged by the neck until it dies.
The recent films of sick cattle being prodded into slaughter in California made me almost want to go vegetarian again. Fortunately, that company;s demise is imminent. It’s bad enough we eat meat, but we should at least do so humanely.
Actually, rabbit is still a socially-acceptible meat in most places in the US or Europe. Rats and badgers, not so much. Go figure.
And for WJK: http://www.testyfesty.com
Go and have a ball.
#19: but that’s just because rabbits multiply so flippin’ fast — ya gotta do SOMETHING about them. There’s still lots of cute to go around.