Eating dog meat is sick

Thanks again for the response, Krookednook. I think I get what you're saying, about how dogs are only special because they've been human companions for tens of thousands of years, but I disagree as to why that should make things irrelevant. Maybe you are right, and if humans had chosen cows for their companions so many ages ago, I would be defending cow meat consumption. But we're living and arguing in the reality where dogs are human companions. We're living and arguing in a reality where humans do have that mentality. Just because it's possible that human mentality could be different, given different circumstances, is not a good reason to disregard what it is.If I had married the girl that I dated in high school, I might never have met my wife in college or been married to her ... is that a good reason to act as if I don't have any feelings for my wife? It doesn't really make sense. Nor does it make sense to argue based on "IF something had been different N,000 years ago". What happened those years ago, is humans began a long and growing relationship with dogs as companions. Now we are here; they are companions, and eating them is eating companions. That should be enough right there.As for your mention about chickens and cows, chickens are, in fact, literally bird-brained. They are avians, and being so heavily domesticated as farm chattel, they tend to be on the dumber side, even for birds. If we had chosen chickens as our companions tens-of-thousands-of-years ago, maybe they would have been selected for higher mental faculty, higher human empathy and communication skills. But they weren't. Likewise for cows--they have been bred for meat for generations upon generations.Dogs, and especially pet-breed dogs, have been bred as pets and companions to humans. They may be specialized in some area or another -- as shepherds, hunters, or companions -- but they all have "being part of dog-kind" in common. In that sense, even the dogs bred for meat, are still dogs. Eating them is still eating something of a kind that humans recognize as companions, and as such is discomforting.And because we may be talking about someone's pets, I think the treatment of the animals does make a bigger difference. Meat animals are something that we've already accepted as a society that it's reasonable to kill and eat. So it lives a little rough for a while before then. We do not want to subject any creature to unnecessary stress or terror, but if we've already accepted that we can kill it, peel its skin off and cook its muscles to go on our dinner plate, it doesn't seem quite as bad to have it experience a less-than-fulfilling life in anticipation of that death.On the other hand, if someone was raising their own pet in a cage of its on feces, or stacking them so tightly they had to stand on one another in a crowded cage, we would see that as a worse offense than if they were doing the same to meat animals, wouldn't they? Because pets are human companions, and companions, who we as humans value for their personalities and sympathetic expressions, among other things, deserve better treatment to that.And I'm not sure, but I don't think you responded to my previous mention of actual pet dogs (not just pet breeds) being eaten in areas where dog meat is eaten. Does it not concern you at all, that by eating dog you could be contributing to the early demise of someone's pet, either abandoned or dog-napped to be turned into a meal? Even if in the very broad generic sense one might have some concession to the eating of dog in principle, the very thought that you could be eating an actual companion, not just something that shared a class with a companion, should be enough to completely close the book on ever considering dog-meat as an ordinary thing that might be picked up in the market.And if we were to accept that our present-day companions, these dogs, are edible, then what next? Where would such degraded views of that which we typically seek to protect, ultimately end? With cute little puppies and kittens? With humans? It is a perilous road to start down. Part of our choice to turn down dog meat is because of our present morals, but understanding the nature of moral decay in a society, some of our choice should also be seen as a protective element for the morals of future generations. Taking such a stand against puppy burgers is not just a sound moral choice for today, but for the very future of humanity.