In dog-eat-dog world, is the chicken so low..

[Guest guest]

A follow up article by Wang Yong, who wrote:

 

Critics who live in glass houses should be wary

Shanghai Daily

Wang Yong

2006-08-05

 

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/08/05/288200/Critics_who_live_in_glass_hou\

ses_should_be_wary.htm

...................................................

In dog-eat-dog world, is the chicken so low in pecking

order?

Shanghai Daily

Wang Yong

2006-08-08

 

When emotion overwhelms intelligence, as the great

American philosopher John Dewey said, you won't have

an enlightened mind or debate.

 

In response to my article about the Yunnan dog

slaughter published on Saturday, many foreign readers

distorted what I was saying and engaged in mud

slinging.

 

Thanks to the Internet, the mud came in quick and

thick.

 

I decided to publish those letters for everyone to

judge.

 

As Oliver Wendell Holmes said, the best test of truth

is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in

the competition of the market.

 

Because of space limit, I can't publish all the

letters or every letter in full. But I guarantee the

central ideas of those letters won't be butchered.

 

Stop labeling

 

Let me repeat the central ideas of my Saturday article

first. One, like many of my Chinese fellow countrymen,

I was shocked and filled with regret over the tragic

death of so many dogs in Mouding County, Yunnan

Province.

 

Two, I hoped we could learn a hard lesson and prevent

similar tragedies in the future.

 

Three, no one should label all the Chinese people as

" subhuman " because dogs were killed in a state of

emergency.

 

Labeling is easy, but it is more emotion than

intelligence, more bias than fairness, and more

stupidity than science. Please allow me to reprint, in

part, some letters that agreed with me somehow.

 

One Darlene Klingenberg from Ohio, US, said: " I

believe he's right. His main point is that only

ignorant people slam an entire culture while vaunting

their own when horrified by an error of great cruelty,

such as the recent slaughter of 50,000 dogs, many very

cruelly. I would never call the Chinese as a nation

'subhuman' or any other demeaning term. I'm sorry that

some people do. "

 

One David Vantasil from Texas said: " I believed that

Wang's view was enlightening and stated very well. "

 

One Helen Schiele from Canada said: " Mr Yong is

correct that a majority of people in the West,

particularly North America, are blissfully unaware of

the inhumane treatment endured by 'food animals' in

factory farms. The industries that exploit animals are

careful to hide the true cost of cheap food and fur:

It is paid for by the horrific suffering of animals.

These industries do not, however, escape criticism

from animal welfare organizations and animal

activists, neither should China. "

 

One Bruce Krider (no place in his letter) said: "

Yang, you were right about one thing. Many people will

consider what some different provincial or city

governments do as indicative of all the people in

China. That's wrong and it is too bad... "

 

Thanks to those who took time to read my article

thoroughly. They understood what John Dewey said:

" Society is one word, but many things. "

 

In my last article, I argued against labeling and

asked for a bit of fairness.

 

I repeated my belief that the US is a great country

although it has bad apples.

 

Never for a moment did I try to gloss over the killing

of those dogs in Yunnan.

 

And yet I have got more mud from America in return.

 

In those yelling letters, you will see how those

authors distorted facts to suit their stereotypical

mindsets about China and how averse they were to a bit

of criticism.

 

Jami LoVullo from the American Humane Association

said: " I always find it amusing when people justify

cruelty (Did I justify it? - Wang Yong) by pointing

out all the other atrocious things going on in the

world today ... Sorry, I'll call a spade a spade and

repeat, yours is a brutal and unenlightened country

and yes, subhuman ... "

 

A person leaving only his email address as

kent said: " Oh, but I forget you are China.

You do not care about animals ... I am sure the

government solution to the impending Typhoon is just

to kill everybody first ... Too bad this protest will

never be printed in your newspaper... "

 

Poor chicken

 

The most interesting letter I have got is from that

same Bruce Krider. He knew what I was talking about

but he chose to focus on something else: " Yang, you

surely have to recognize that dogs occupy and deserve

a much higher level of recognition and care than do

chickens ... Dogs work with the police performing

various important functions. I have yet to seek a

chicken with a badge. Dogs work with the military

performing many tasks. Have you ever seen a chicken

searching for land mines? "

 

In my mind, all lives are equal, that's why I abhor

the killing of dogs in Yunnan and the killing of

chickens in the US and elsewhere.

 

Krider's logic, if applied to men, would mean mentally

retarded people are of less value than normal ones.

 

Krider judges one's value by how useful he is to

others, not by his intrinsic value as a human being.

 

Also according to Krider's logic, chickens can be

killed because they are less worthy than dogs. Does

this mean that men can kill dogs when they find

animals more useful and loyal than dogs?

 

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/08/08/288403/In_dog_eat_dog_world__is_the_\

chicken_so_low_in_pecking_order_.htm

 

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