Eating a Dog

[metis]

You live in China, don't you? It was a delicacy! The problem with your neighbor is that it was HIS meal.

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

 

[metis]

Yes because you stole from your neighbor. Barbecue your own dog!

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

 

[metis]

The dog was his property and you had no right to kill it and do whatever with it without his permission.
That by itself is already enough to argue that you would be in the wrong.

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

 

[metis]

I just realized that you never mentioned killing the dog first in your story. Did you skin it alive? That would put your story and question into a different light all together. There may be deeper concerns here. Do you like starting fires? You did mention a grill.

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

 

[metis]

Several issues.
The dog was your neighbours property, so it was theft.
There are animal cruelty laws that may have been breached.
There was emotional attachment, so just as offering a random orphan to replace a child you killed, it doesn't work like that.

Your analogy fails because you similarly can't demolish your neighbour's house just because he works in the demolition industry.

However, the basic act of eating a dog is no different to eating a lamb or horse, if they are reared and killed according to livestock animal laws.

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

 

[metis]

Major moral considerations from relatively common human perspective, as I see them:

• disregard for human emotional attachments/family
• stealing (though this only because we humans believe that we can "own" other animals, which will be recognized by law most everywhere)

Moral considerations that are not as major (again, from human perspective), as I see them:

• killing an animal without need as the impetus
• offering to pay for something to fix a perceived problem (bribery/reparations) that you had forethought in creating yourself. As in - you knew it was going to be a problem, but you went through with it anyway, and later expect that money is going to fix everything - thereby assuming that you understand the value-implications of the situation. Corporations get called on this sort of thing all the time for things like waste dumping, and we understand it to be a moral consideration

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

 

[metis]

Moderators, sorry for the repeated responses you read above but so many seem to have thought that this really did happen.

 

[Bathos Logos]

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

I understand this. But you were clearly asking at the end what anyone/everyone felt the moral implications were for such a scenario (whether it truly happened or not), weren't you?

"Did I do wrong?"

I think your confusion came in with my last point, where the "you" being put forth there was a colloquial "you." As in "anyone" finding themselves in such circumstances.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

This is not so for me, which probably feeds (haha) into why I do not eat meat.

That's strange to me.
Even if you would put a dog's life on the same level as a human life in every way, then still it is strange to me.

For the simple reason that killing a stray wild dog is then a crime that has only 1 victim.
Whereas if it is a pet, there are 2 victims - one of which experiences lasting suffering.

So no matter how one looks at it: the net suffering increases when it concerns a pet.

How then is it not worse to kill a pet then it is to kill a stray wild animal?

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

It most certainly pertains to well-being. But not human well-being strictly.

I didn't say "strictly" or "exclusively". I said primarily.

Animal rights. More and more people seem to care about animal well-being each passing day.

Yes. This doesn't negate what I stated.
The majority of human beings will instinctively find it easier to empathize with a human rather then with a dog.
When both suffer, the suffering of the human commonly will have bigger psychological impact.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

My OP was a "set up" as it didn't really happen.

I know. I'm responding to the hypothetical.
I thought that was the point... that we pretend this actually happened and make a moral evaluation of it. Right?

Did you think I really believed that you skinned, cut up and bbq'ed the neighbor's dog?

 

[pearl]

I don't think anyone actually took this seriously just fun to play along with. I would suggest that in the future
you don't turn you back on your neighbor, especially if his grill is hot and ready to go.

 

[metis]

I know. I'm responding to the hypothetical.
I thought that was the point... that we pretend this actually happened and make a moral evaluation of it. Right?

Did you think I really believed that you skinned, cut up and bbq'ed the neighbor's dog?

Since you don't know me personally, I think it's possible.

I realized that some that I responded to may have been aware of the OP as a hypothetical if they didn't read my post #3, but I wanted to make sure of it.

Thanks for your response, but maybe I should have said I grilled a cat?

 

[Sheldon]

Some say "humans are animals"

You disagree?

Animal
noun

1. a living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli.

We are animals, that is axiomatic.

Then there is nothing wrong

Well you're entitled to an opinion, if it is bare subjective claim that offers naught by way of explanation.

Animals eat animals

Indeed they do, they have evolved that way, but humans have also evolved a brain capable of greater examination of our actions, we are not bound entirely by our natures, there are choices we can make that can cases less or more suffering. That is of course is one's morals care at all about suffering, and empathise with the suffering of other humans, and to a lesser extent other conscious animals.

By comparison "animals eat animals" seems rather facile.

 

[metis]

I don't think anyone actually took this seriously just fun to play along with. I would suggest that in the future
you don't turn you back on your neighbor, especially if his grill is hot and ready to go.

There actually was a true incident that led to my OP, so I'll give it here in brief:

About 20 or so years ago, I was watching the birds at our bird feeder, and my wife was inside preparing us a chicken dinner. So, a flash of thought entered my mind, namely isn't it ironical that I Iove watching the birds play and yet I'm going to eat a bird for dinner? It led to me going vegetarian [+ dairy] for three straight months.

However, my wife enjoys meat far more then I do, so I eventually somewhat relented by eating a hamburger for dinner one day, and I thought I had just swallowed a hand grenade as it set so heavy. So, we compromised and I still keep my meat-eating at a minimum.

 

[Sheldon]

Hence,

I never declare "humans are animals"

I rather stick to vegan lifestyle

Humans are not the only animals that are not carnivores, we happen to have evolved to be omnivorous though. Morality is subjective, hence some people would find killing and eating a dog immoral, and others not. Most people would think theft to be immoral, and many would find it immoral to cause other human beings emotional pain and suffering.

Humans are animals, that is simply a fact. I don't even know why that fact bothers some people, but is seems to.

 

[Wildswanderer]

I don't know that there is any difference in reality, but we have come to view certain animals emotionally. Dogs, cats, horses, and other companion/pet animals.

I had a friend in college that had a picture of a pig next to his bed. I asked him about it. He said that was his pig Greasy Clyde. Whenever he would come back from home after a weekend he would mention Greasy Clyde. This went on for a while until one day I noticed the picture missing and he hadn't mentioned Greasy Clyde for a while. I asked how Greasy Clyde was. He said, "Delicious". Had some of him for breakfast last weekend. I was flabbergasted. I thought he was a pet. He was for food. My comment was that you don't name it if you're going to eat it. I suppose it doesn't really matter. I love pork in all its various forms. Even pigs feet. I just thought it was a pet and was surprised at how I found out it wasn't.

We often named stuff even if we planned to eventually eat it. I can remember one rooster that the the kids named and he ended up spurring a kid so I immediately butchered him. Some of the kids were upset, some just found it interesting to identify the various parts of a dead chicken.

 

[Koldo]

I didn't say "strictly" or "exclusively". I said primarily.

Fair enough.

Yes. This doesn't negate what I stated.
The majority of human beings will instinctively find it easier to empathize with a human rather then with a dog.
When both suffer, the suffering of the human commonly will have bigger psychological impact.

That's to be expected. But that's not exactly what's going on here. What is going on here is that most people don't even care about the dog itself and only refer to the human suffering.

 

[stvdv]

There actually was a true incident that led to my OP, so I'll give it here in brief:

About 20 or so years ago, I was watching the birds at our bird feeder, and my wife was inside preparing us a chicken dinner. So, a flash of thought entered my mind, namely isn't it ironical that I Iove watching the birds play and yet I'm going to eat a bird for dinner? It led to me going vegetarian [+ dairy] for three straight months.

However, my wife enjoys meat far more then I do, so I eventually somewhat relented by eating a hamburger for dinner one day, and I thought I had just swallowed a hand grenade as it set so heavy. So, we compromised and I still keep my meat-eating at a minimum.

Thank you for sharing. I totally understand

When very young, we got chicken one day, and my sisters and I just felt, as young as we were, that something was off.

We run outside...alas, our beloved chicken was gone, as was our appetite

 

[metis]

Thank you for sharing. I totally understand

When very young, we got chicken one day, and my sisters and I just felt, as young as we were, that something was off.

We run outside...alas, our beloved chicken was gone, as was our appetite

Something similar happened with my wife & I when staying with her relatives in Sicily, whereas her cousin slaughtered a goat for dinner, and my wife wouldn't eat it because it was her nephew's pet.

I didn't eat it either, btw.