by now, you’ve probably heard of guillermo vargas, the costa rican “artist” who captured a stray dog, tied him up inside an art gallery and watched him starve to death as an “art” installation. if not, prepare to be disturbed.
obviously i am against animal cruelty, so there’s no need for me to ramble on about what most of you have already said yourselves. yes, the so-called artist is subhuman. yes, the treatment of the dog was disgusting and inhumane. yes, the fact that he was chosen to display his art at the central american biennial in honduras is complete crap. but i’m not going to repeat any more of what’s plastered all over the web already.
instead, i’m going to draw what some may find an uncomfortable connection between this incident and eating meat. while thousands of americans are up in arms about the mistreatment of a stray dog, only 1% of the entire population follows a vegan diet. what’s that, captain obvious? that means 99% of americans indirectly, if not directly, support cruelty to animals.
the comparison begs this question: why is there so much compassion for a stray dog when cows, pigs, chicken and other animals are slaughtered every day without so much as a blink of an eye? the obvious answer is because we don’t eat dogs. we keep dogs as pets. we treat them like members of the family and grieve when they pass away.
so let me ask you, how is this:
so different from this?:
how is letting a dog starve to death so different from eating a hamburger? maybe because we as a society aren’t forced to watch as a cow’s throat is slit open and blood pours of its hanging body until it slowly slips from consciousness. but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
one of my favorite vegan quotes comes to mind:
“if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian”
~ paul mccartney
i guess the point of this post is to help expose the connection between factory farming and the food most of us eat every day. the hypocrisy of the whole vargas scandal continues to astound me. in an era during which we have triumphed over segregation, sexism and anit-semitism in this country, it boggles my mind that we cannot fathom the possibility that another species may deserve the same basic rights that we so proudly uphold for ourselves.
[...] vegan like me created an interesting post today on Connecting Vargas to VeganismHere’s a short outline [...]
Hey!
I read in the Guardian that the whole dog thing was a stunt – that was the only reliable news source I could find on it.
That said, I agree with you – we treat dogs and cats and other companion animals much differently than we treat dogs, and it’s not right…but it also took me a LONG time (27 years almost!) to realize that. I think compassionate people just need to be educated, and hopefully their compassion will eventually overtake their taste buds and convenience!
Thanks for the comment! I read that it might be a hoax as well, but I couldn’t find any definitive information either way, other than the photos. But we all know those can be faked – remember Bonsai Kittens?
Even though its existence is unconfirmed, I think the reaction to Vargas’ “art” speaks volumes. I decided to write about it because even if it turns out to be a stunt, the overwhelming outrage it’s caused remains real.
Oh I totally agree. I mean, even as a stunt it is pretty stupid and OF COURSE it’s not going to be received well by the public….maybe I’m just not artistic enough to get it, but, well, I DON’T GET IT!!
Great post, and something that I complain about frequently! One of the aspects of veganism that I love so much as that we see all life as equal – no species is any more superior than the other. It’s a beautiful thing.
s.
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