Philosophical Vegan Forum

HI... I'm a new member... looking forward to discussing and hopefully making some sense of this crazy world.

What I want to discuss is empathy towards animals, especially with the dog meat festival happening in China right now. I struggle with the idea of eating dogs, but I also understand that China went through a huge famine that killed a great deal of people in the past, so I can understand they had to eat anything to stay alive.

What I don't understand, from what I've heard, that dogs are killed in horrendous ways to cause as much pain as possible before death, apparently to add to the health benefits to the meat, because of the adrenaline running through the body. (eg. skinned alive, boiled alive, feet cut off etc...).

I know the Chinese attitude towards the west is that we kill cows and other animals, so why shouldn't they kill dogs ? I understand that perspective, but I don't understand having a lack of feeling towards the suffering of another living thing. Abattoirs in my country don't try to torture animals as much as they can before their death.... they are generally killed with the least amount of suffering.

It is something I just can't get my head around.

I am wondering if it's something to do with suffering the people may have been through themselves in a communist country, where human rights have not been a priority. ??

Welcome gwendolin,

How long have you been vegetarian? Have you considered going vegan?

gwendolin wrote: ↑Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:49 amI am wondering if it's something to do with suffering the people may have been through themselves in a communist country, where human rights have not been a priority. ??

Probably not communism in itself, but there seems to be a positive correlation between wealth/opportunity and regard for others. It is rare to see a person operating on the lower levels of Maslow's hierarchy to care about anything besides him/herself and his/her closest family members. One could probably put the following levels of sympathy and regard next to Maslow's tiers.

Physiological needs: Care for oneself and family
Safety needs: Care for others in the community
Love and belonging: Care for pets plus others of the same race and/or nationality
Esteem: Care for all humans plus a bit of regard of the suffering of animals
Self-actualization: Care for all sentient beings.

As there is little evidence of the truth of the hierarchy, and because there are a couple of more factorsin play, one should take the above with a huge grain of salt. However, it roughly gives an idea.

thanks for those ideas Jebus... I'm afraid im not completely vegetarian... i catch and eat fish, and have pet chooks whose eggs are very nice... I do feel guilty when I eat meat... which makes me wonder how anyone could not feel something when eating an animal that has died in a horrible way intentionally... that would make me feel like I was putting bad energy into my body...
My friend mentioned the word "Machiavellian" to me.... it could be relevant. It means something like.... getting what you want, without caring about what/ who is affected along the path to getting it... or something along those lines.

Welcome @gwendolin. Do you mean you feel guilty when you kill and eat fish?