Yay~ third post! I'm getting somewhere [not].
Alright before I start this off let me state, I used to be a vegetarian. I was a vegetarian for a year until I stopped for personal and health reasons.
I'm a senior in Highschool that is involved with three sports so I know a good amount of people, and I sit with a lot of people from those sports during lunch and enjoy talking to them. One day, one of the girls I sit with stated that she had read some countries in Asia ate dogs. This is true in some countries, dog is considered a cuisine.
As I sat and listened the conversation began to unfold on how "cruel" people were and how "disgusting" it was. And before I could think I had blurted out: "If I can eat Betsy, why can't I eat Fifi?"
Now let me add another thing, I'm the only [known] vegetarian in the group and that statement was actually stolen from my father's work friend who's controversial views always amuse me...but back to the subject at hand.
My friends all looked at me, appalled that I could say such a horrible thing, but hey, I think it's true.
My reason? It's simple, if we can just mindless slaughter cows for meat why not dogs? Sure dogs are "man's best friend" and don't get me wrong, I loooove~ dogs, I used to work at the SPCA in Virginia with them.
The girls all looked at me funny as I tried to explain why I thought this, "Cows have feelings too! Some people keep them as pets."
I'm not saying we should all go out and eat dogs, I'm just stating that maybe instead of whining how cruel they are because *gasp* they ate Fifi, maybe people should just realize that some people eat certain things and others don't.
Plus they also found that Islamic people were "funny" because they didn't eat pork. Haha, not that funny.
There's a restaurant in Minneapolis that serves Guinea Pig. It's a delicacy in Peru or somewhere (and if it's not Peru, please don't get mad at me Peruvians. I can't remember where it's from). It's just a matter of what meat is available and easy to raise in a country's climate/environment.
And have any of your friends ever read The Omnivore's Dilemma? They might start thinking more about where their meat comes from. Eating cow in the U.S. is more messed up than eating dog.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
It serves Guinea pig? Now that is truely interesting, I've never heard of that. Ha, if any of my friends knew about that they'd think me weird for not finding it offensive.
The Omnivore's Dilemma? I've never read it but it sounds interesting. I'll have to look it up.
It's a culture thing. We don't completely understand because eating dogs is not acceptable in our culture.
Just an idea, but if you need a future blogging topic you may want to talk about being a vegetarian and the health concerns that made you stop. That would be pretty interesting.
I know, it's sad that people can't understand cultural differences, or at least be open-minded about them.
Oh, culture, why don't people understand you?
As for a next blogging topic, I think I might do that. When I would tell people that I used to be a vegetarian I got the whole "Oh, you quit? Quitter."
I totally agree with you. I get squeamish and a bit upset at the thought of eating a dog (because I think "dog" and I think a cute fluffy puppy... not a dog actually bred to be eaten), but I know logically I should be more upset about people eating pigs, which are more intelligent than dogs.
Pigs are more intelligent than dogs? I do believe I just learned something new <3.
I used to get squeamish but not so much anymore, I've never eaten it (and probably never will, I wouldn't be able to stomach it) but I kinda understand more about it.
I totally get where you're coming from with this. I'm vegetarian, and yet I can still understand. If you're going to raise and slaughter animals for food, why only some? Why not dogs, or cats, or even ferrets? Sure, I don't eat them...but I don't find it cruel when someone eats a dog, unless the dog suffered in any way.
I couldn't possibly eat meat anymore simply because I love all animals too much...eating meat left me with an incredible sense of guilt, mostly because my family raises their own beef, and I absolutely adore our cows...So I decided to treat all animals equally--by not eating them because of my personal feelings, instead of saying, well, it's bad to eat this one, but not that one...
And that's comin' at ya' from yer local redneck hippie.
--
The Story of Myself