AGENDA
- Presentation
- Reminder: no class Monday
- After Thanksgiving--a week on animal law
- existing laws & moderate reforms (Monday)
- major reforms (Wednesday & Friday, Shelby Bobosky, Esq.)
- Culture and Cruelty
Culture or Cruelty?
75% -- should criticize cruelty, not defer to culture
25% -- should defer to culture, not criticize cruelty
Compromise: criticize, but carefully
- Understand the practice first
- What do the animals experience?
- Understand how the practice fits into the culture
- Example: Bernard Rollin explains how rodeo fits into Western culture and ranching
- Assess whether it's real culture or performative
- Rick Steves: there are a lot of tourists at bullfights in Madrid
- Don't overlook similar practices in your own culture
- If you're going to judge bullfights you should also look at rodeos
- Beware of xenophobia, ethnic prejudice, or racism
- They can make you judge some cultures more harshly
- Recognize common ground (so perpetrators aren't monsters)
- Bullfighting ethic says the killing should be fast
- If trying to persuade, use what people already believe
- Example: Rollin gives ethics lectures to cowboys, ranchers, etc. He uses the fact that they are caring toward their animals to try to convince them to change some rodeo events.
- Realize culture is fluid
- horse tripping prohibited in 12 states including Texas (part of Mexican rodeo)
- Bullfighting prohibited in part of Spain (Catalonia)
- Circus came to an end
- Leave advocacy to locals as much as possible (?)
- Example of US celebrities getting involved: Pamela Anderson protesting against bullfighting