Professor Ann Yong-geun on Western Prejudice Against Dog Meat
Ann Yong-geun
Public Face of Dog Meat Advocates
(Image from Korea Herald)
Professor Ann Yong-geun, faculty member in the Department of Food and Nutrition at Chung Cheong College and president of The Korean Society of Food and Nutrition, has an article in Tuesday's Korea Herald responding to a column written by Stephen Bant, a Western expat living in Korea who argues against the consumption of dog meat.
Professor Ann, who has previously "written six theses, two books and one comic book related to dog meat," counters that "It is a part of Korea's culture." He characterizes "criticism of Korea's long tradition of eating dog meat" as "absurd" and concludes his fascinating list of ten ridiculous Western beliefs about dogs by offering an unnumbered eleventh point, his revelation of the real, fundamental cultural reason that Westerners are prejudiced against eating dog meat:
The reason Westerners do not [eat] dog meat is not because they love dogs, but because eating dog meat is forbidden in the Bible.Professor Ann Yong-geun demonstrates unusual hermeneutic skill in revealing the underlying reason why Westerners don't eat dog meat. He really ought to write up an entire article providing complete scriptural quotes with his expert exegesis and publish it in a scholarly journal on scriptural interpretation.
The Middle East, where the events of the Bible take place, is largely desert. Corpses buried in the sand in the region were easily uncovered by the wind, exposing them for dogs to eat. Hence, eating dog is forbidden, as dogs are considered filthy and wicked animals.
According to Hosea chapter 13, First Kings chapter 14, 16, Second Kings chapter 9, and Jeremiah chapter 15, dogs eat humans. According to First Kings chapter 21, 22, the St. Luke chapter 16 dogs lick human blood. According to the Book of Exodus chapter 22, dead animals are to be fed to dogs. According to the Epistle of St. Paul chapter 3, the Book of Psalms chapter 22, and the Book of the Apocalypse of St. John chapter 22, dogs are as wicked as wicked men.
According to Leviticus chapter 11, eating dog is forbidden, as a dog is a wicked being.
According to the sayings of the Lord, man becomes as filthy and wicked as a dog if man treats it as a human-being.
I'd do so myself, but he has precedence on this issue. I might, however, employ a similar hermeneutic to explain why Westerners don't eat pig meat, and I feel confident that Professor Ann won't mind if I borrow his wording above to offer a parallel cultural argument on this other Western culinary prejudice:
The reason Westerners do not eat pig meat is not because they love pigs, but because eating pig meat is forbidden in the Bible.I can hardly wait to work this interpretation into a longer article and submit it for publication in a reputable journal! I feel confident that I can show definitively why Westerners don't eat pig meat. It's against the Bible!
The Middle East, where the events of the Bible take place, is largely desert. Corpses buried in the sand in the region were easily uncovered by the wind, exposing them for pigs to eat. Hence, eating pig is forbidden, as pigs are considered filthy and wicked animals.
According to Leviticus 11:7 and Deuteronomy 14:8, pig meat is unclean. According to Isaiah 65:4 and 66:17, eating pig meat is an abomination.
Proverbs 11:22 compares a pig to a loose woman.
Isaiah 66:3 warns against offering pig blood as a sacrifice to the Lord.
Matthew 7:6 warns of the ingratitude of pigs.
Matthew 8, Mark 5, and Luke 8 all tell a story of pigs possessed by demons.
Luke 15 tells the story of a man who descended even below the level of pigs.
According to the sayings of the Lord, man becomes as filthy and wicked as a pig if man treats it as a human-being.
Concerning such a culinary prejudice, I'll have to deal with Mark 7:19 and Acts 10:9-16, but based on what I've already learned from Professor Ann Yong-geun, I feel certain that I have acquired sufficient hermeneutic skills to do so.
At any rate, I believe that I've adequately demonstrated that Westerners don't eat pig meat for the same reason that they don't eat dog meat, i.e., scripture forbids it!
These two related prejudices no doubt also explain the origin of that typical German term of abuse: "Schweinhund!"
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 4:07 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Does that mean that Koreans who do partake in dog meat are not Christians? If they are Christians, are they only so in name but not heart?
There are more than enough eyewitness accounts (in Korea) of executed prisoners being devoured by dogs. During the great cholera and smallpox epidemic in 1886, Horace Allen wrote about the hills (mountains, if you will) turning red because of the number of freshing dug graves. These graves were only a few inches deep and packs of dogs and flocks of vultures could be seen eating the bodies. I guess dogs don't have to be in the desert to eat human bodies.
I do, however, believe that eating dog is, to a degree, part of Korean culture (small and selective) and that there are more than a few cultures/situations in which dogs are eaten. Even our own pioneering history, the Alaska goldrushes and the native Americans have accounts of dog being on the menu.
Lets get that beer soon.
Robert Neff
I don't have any passionate objection to Koreans eating dog meat, and I don't argue with them over the issue.
Personally, I wouldn't want to eat any dog meat (though my Cherokee ancestors clearly ate dogs), for I wouldn't like to eat pets or intelligent animals.
When do you have time for a beer?
Jeffery Hodges
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I'm curious about his list of ten ridiculous western beliefs about dogs. This all seems a bit of an overreaction. Did this article he's respondind to hit such a sensitive spot?
Fun Fact: One of the reasons Amundsen was able to reach the South Pole and get safely back, while Scott's party died in the attempt, was that Amundsen's plan included slaughtering and eating the sled dogs at a prearranged point, something Scott was too civilized to do.
The Koreans will outlive us all!
Jeffery Hodges
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I guess this can be classified as a tasty sample of K-Logic.
Thanks, Anonymous. I'd never realized the significance of Schrödinger's views on quantum theory for this sort of reasoning, but I now understand its application.
The case is similar to what a Korean professor told me several years ago, namely, that Koreans had been aware of the significance of the Möbius Strip and the Klein Bottle long before either Klein or Möbius. His example? The traditional Korean trousers, which were made from a single cloth that was "twisted once" before being sewn to itself.
I asked the professor if any Korean written sources dating before Möbius and Klein had discussed the mathematical, cosmological, or metaphysical implications that he found in traditional Korean trousers. He acknowledged that there were no written sources of that sort, but added that he had written on the issue.
At the time, I objected to his methodology, but that was before I knew about the implications of quantum mechanics for K-Logic.
Of course, by quantum logic of that sort, I would still be right in my views, too, which is very useful . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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Thank you for sharing this anecdote :). Personally, I still get my pants twisted over not being able to answer a (mathematical) question regarding the Möbius Strip on a computer graphics exam several years ago...
Anyway, I guess professor Ann Yong-geun can also take credit for opening the field of K-Hermeneutics...
The professor that I spoke with might have precedence . . . though K-Logic can prove that each one has precedence over the other.
Hmmm . . . perhaps in parallel universes linked at the quantum level might this be possible?
It is all beyond my ken . . .
Jeffery Hodges
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To add to the confusion, I am afraid precedence may even go back to the Korean civilization that existed before the Big Bang...
Well, that certainly would follow from the fact that Koreans are descended from 'God' through Dangun's father. Indeed 30 billion are too few years. We're talking eternity!
Jeffery Hodges
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