@the_bob_delusion wrote:
or is it? Isn't it really just a cultural convention? How is it any different than eating pigs or cows?
Discuss.
It's a cultural convention, it's not a moral matter as such.
The better question would be, is it wrong to kill animals such as pigs, cows, sheep, dogs etc to eat.
There are a lot of people these days who would say yes. My daughter is one of them, she won't eat meat of any description.
For those who do eat meat though, I think a lot comes down to how animals are killed and even a meat eater may have standards where they expect animals to be slain in the most humane manner possible. Meateaters can also be very much against animal cruelty, even if they may not care for particular types of animals.
Someone put up a video a while back. Not sure exactly where, but on one of the messageboards I go to. I didn't watch it but I could see the frozen image at the start. Someone in some asian country, with a live dog being put in a massive wok type thing. Now to me, that turned my stomach. I find that revoltingly cruel.. and sad.
It is no crueller than someone doing that to a sheep or a goat, but I wouldn't support that either.
