Our dogs are friends and not food by Sung Su Kim

Dogs are amazing animals and considered as companion animals by many people around the world. This is no coincidence. Their ability to return our affection quickly and easily makes them endear to our heart even in environments and climates where people are taught to regard animals as lesser beings. Their ability to communicate with us so easily together with their eagerness to please us enables them carry out special roles in saving human lives.

Unfortunately these wonderful animals have been slaughtered for its meat in the part of the world, particularly in China and Korea. The method of slaughter was often to inflict pain deliberately due to an erroneous belief that doing so will increase health benefit. Some people in the West, while looking at this practice with disgust, comment that it must be their culture to eat dogs and choose to look away rather than try to help the compassionate Asians to end this practice.

Culture has been often used as an excuse to turn away from suffering, including human suffering. People often use cultural relativism to soothe their conscience for doing nothing. Hence the popularity of cultural relativism. If people care a little more and try to understand and solve the problem, cultural relativism will not be so often used as an excuse to allow the suffering to continue. The diversity of culture can be a wonderful thing and however culture, understood as something demanding respect, is not the same thing as common or unusual practices. We see the evidence of cruel treatment of human beings and other animals throughout history. Is this a human culture that we want to celebrate and respect? Surely we want to regard various evils in our history such as slavery and cannibalism as something to be rid of rather than treat them as human culture and demand respect accordingly? If we were going to respect others' culture, the culture should be respectable.

In Asia, people often place greater values on friendship and loyalty than in the West. This does not mean that betrayal does not occur. However in any society promoting the values of trust and love can only be a good thing and something to be celebrated and respected. That dogs are eaten in the part of Asia where people regard friendship and loyalty as prominent virtues shows the extent of suffering these people have experienced. When people suffer a great deal, sadly people tend to become insensitive to suffering. Because animals are at the bottom of the hierarchy in human esteem, people's suffering tend to create even worse deal for the animals. Because animal abuse is often related toward violence against other humans, a vicious circle is created and it is time for us to break this circle and heal the wound. Dogs, because of their ability to return our love with love and loyalty in no mistakable manner, can play a crucial role in this healing process. On the other hand, a society that tolerates dog meat is sending out a message that it isn't such a big deal to betray loyalty and trust.

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