On Tuesday last week, animal lovers gathered outside the Ministry of Defense to protest against a group of marines who abused and killed a dog, called “Whitey.” However, some other people posted comments on the Internet asking why there should be such a fuss just because of a dog.
Just as the Whiteys and “Blackies” of this world did not choose to be born as dogs, it was only by luck that those soldiers were born as humans. Does that give them the right to torment a less fortunate creature? To humans who see themselves as the crown of creation, abusing a dog is of no consequence. This mentality is not just about a dog — it is a matter of the big and the strong bullying the small and the weak. It is about the higher values of humanity and compassion.
If people want to know whether a society is civilized, they need only look at the way it treats animals.
Philosopher Immanuel Kant put it well when he said: “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
Author and Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer said that “as long as human beings will go on shedding the blood of animals, there will never be any peace.”
Theologian Albert Schweitzer agreed when he said that “until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.”
Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote: “Love all God’s creation ... love the animals ... don’t harass them.”
Irish author George Bernard Shaw wrote: “Cruelty begets its offspring — war.”
Were all these great minds merely “making a fuss?”
A soldier’s true goal is not to wage war, but to safeguard the nation, so “love for people and all creatures” is their highest military ethic. If soldiers behave in a brutal manner, it is a national disgrace.
As if the dog’s death was not bad enough, some people sought to use the incident to wage political struggle.
A pan-blue supporter, surnamed Ing (應), said that a mass protest would be held on Ketagalan Boulevard yesterday to bid farewell to Whitey. However, he admitted that the purpose was to mock the mass protest that took place three years ago to bid farewell to army conscript Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) after he died of heat exhaustion.
Writing on Facebook, Ing told pan-blue supporters that this would be “a great opportunity” to strike back against their pan-green opponents and put pressure on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government.
Tsai, a well-known cat lover, did not cause the dog abuse, which has nothing to do with the Democratic Progressive Party’s policies, so what is the talk of striking back?
What people really need to reflect upon is Chinese culture’s inherent view of animals. In ethnic Chinese societies, people gorge themselves on crispy duck, ginger duck, Peking duck and Nanjing salted duck, while in the US, Donald Duck entertains people of all ages.
In Chinese minds, tigers, leopards, jackals and wolves are hateful things and when a mouse crosses the street everyone shouts “kill it,” but Western culture produces cute and approachable characters like the Pink Panther and Mickey Mouse.
If people only relate to birds and beasts by eating their flesh and wearing their fur and feathers, what sense would they see in making a fuss over a mere dog?
It is not enough to become an independent nation or even one where democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law prevail. Taiwan must go further by becoming a humanitarian, compassionate and civilized nation.
Lee Hsiao-feng is a professor at the National Taipei University of Education's Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry