I think it's gross, but Americans are doing the same things by eating turkeys, and the rest of the world are doing the same thing because we eat animals all the time! But I thing that makes dog eating something controversial is the emotional bond that millions of people have with dogs, but in the other hand, if people create emotional bonds with turkeys as they do with dogs it will be the exact same thing!
I have tried to overcome my emotional response to the dog-eating festival. In the trying, I read everything available on the festival and arguments pro and con. I live in cattle country, though I seldom eat red meat. I eat chicken, though I have never had a pet chicken. It is unique, I believe, to elements of Asian culture to relish the suffering of innocent creatures, including humans. As China courts political approbation from the US, the UK and other developed nations, I believe that protests to this barbaric dog festival will be heard. China's leaders are forward thinking and will, as the appetites of the peasants become too embarrassing, put an end to it. To attribute this to cultural differences or to compare it to eating turkeys is as backward as the festival itself, in my view. The underlying issue is cruelty and neither culture or history makes effective excuse or apology for wanton cruelty, be it chicken, horse, cow, dog or human being. A people, a whole town or village that gathers to have a festival and watch dogs boiled alive should and must be condemned by reason, ethics and universal humanity.
It's pretty bad, in my view. But that's just my view. The festival itself is only a small region and not a nationwide thing, albeit people do travel from around the country for it. It's difficult sometimes to apply your own cultural values to a different culture. But I personally don't like this one at all - but that's just me.
