Daniel over at nihonmnom recently posted about eating whale.
Not incidentally eating whale that was served at school, actually going out
looking for some whale. I don’t know Daniel personally, but I’ve been really
enjoying following the experiences of another Australian, especially since he
is “fresh off the boat” and still so happy and excited about everything. His
post didn’t bother me. Then I wondered if I ought
to have been bothered. Because actually, another ALT in my prefecture recently
posted on facebook about eating dog in Korea. That bothered me. That bothered me so much
that I completely changed my opinion of the person in question. Is this hypocritical? I’ve been thinking about it a lot, because I
dislike hypocrisy intensely. I can rationalise it out to the following
breakdown:
- There is no supply-demand relationship for whale. The industry is entirely artificially, and is not going to shut down if private sales stop. So Daniel’s purchase of whale does not contribute to future whales being hunted. Adam’s purchase of dog does perpetuate that industry.
- Whales are hunted from the wild. They have horrific deaths, but the rest of their lives are unaffected by the industry. Dogs, on the other hand, are breed for food and therefore suffer from birth to death.
- I don’t know Daniel personally, so I don’t have the same compulsion to react. Adam is someone I interact with in real life, which means that our relationship is quite different.
I wonder though if I am simply justifying my reaction after
the fact? Deep down I think the real issue for me is that dogs have been breed
selectively into the animal they are today specifically to be empathic with
humans. Dogs are one of the only animals that can understand pointing, for
example. They have been “created” specifically to attach themselves to humans,
to love us, to understand us. When you bring a puppy into your home you become
his entire world. To take that and turn it into abuse and death hits me so much
more than hunting a wild animal. It’s not ultimately about the animal; it’s
about the psychology of the humans involved. If you look at a dog and think
“food”, I feel that the most important part of your mind is damaged. If you don’t
empathise with a dog, you are inhuman. That’s how I feel. I don’t think killing
whales is OK. I don’t think any unnecessary killing of anything is particularly OK. I do
think that people who eat pork but oppose whaling have their heads up their own
rectums. But I happily spend most of my time surrounded by meat eating friends
without complaint, so perhaps my inability to forgive Adam for eating dog is
just as hypocritical as bacon-loving whale-warrior-watching.
Your comments on my hypocrisy are welcome and invited: How do you feel about eating one animal versus another?
I don't know, I guess it's more of what's "normal" for me. I don't think people should be eating whale because they are endangered, but I don't feel like crying if I see a commercial for better treatment of whales. However, there are VERY popular commercials here with Sarah Mclachlan here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc) *Warning* grab tissues if you watch this and have never seen it before.
ReplyDeleteThere's a whole line-up of these that are played pretty heavily at Christmas time here in the states.
Anyway, I guess my point is that I always get an initial shock when people eat animals that I would normally never consider eating. However, I agree that eating dogs is the worst. Anyone who can look at a puppy and say "that looks delicious!" is quite messed up, IMO.
Not going to watch that video, I'll be upset for days XD
ReplyDeleteWise decision, just remember it in case you need an ugly cry.
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