Class doesn't equal classy

One of the things you can describe Britain as is as a nation of animal lovers. This makes me proud, especially coming from a minority background who generally do not care for the welfare of animals, to put it mildly. Walking friend's dogs even when they were puppies, I noticed the ethnic divisions between those who hated dogs and those who adored them (British). Generally speaking, those from a South Asian background and East African background react in the following ways, say things like 'I don't do dogs fam' or have a look of absolute terror in their eyes, or simply run away, there was even a time where a mother started throwing stones at the sight of a friend's pug (pictured below). Children are not naturally scared of animals, they generally love them, it is their parents' prejudices from back home which influences their prejudices, where there are stray and dangerous animals, then when these kids grow up they end up feeling the same as their parents. God love em but parents can also be stupid sometimes.

On a different note, in Islam we are meant to treat all animals well, the Prophet (saw) would even take ants out of harms way and in one Hadith (stories) a woman's sins are forgiven because she gave a thirsty dog water from a well. The animals we slaughter are free range, and are meant to be treated well. They also have a quick, relatively painless death through severing a jugular vein. Muslims are seen as 'hating' dogs but that is simply not the case, or it is not meant to be. Dogs have only been domesticated in recent years and so were previously unhygienic and unsuitable to keep as pets. The last time I checked all animal and human saliva and excretion were impure and unhygienic so how the perception of dogs came from simply being unclean to almost evil is beyond me. In any case, just because it is not advisable to keep certain animals for matters of convenience and hygiene this does not mean it is ok to hate an animal. This was the jist of my rant at my own dad a few weeks ago when my sister and I mentioned the cute German Shepherd puppy next door, to which my dad retorted that it looked like 'a black pig'. Speaking of pigs, they are not detested either, they are simply not permissible to eat because of their digestive nature i.e. eating their own faeces and anything they can get their trotters on. This is mentioned in the holy books of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

But even in 'indigenous' Britain there appears to be a division when it comes to fox hunting. When the bill to ban fox hunting was going through, it was the most debated bill of that entire year, consuming hundreds of hours of parliamentary time, and I thought the French parliament was bad... In the Metro last week, there were those defending fox hunting, the theme which I can pick out amongst the drivel is that in rural areas especially, fox are pests... Poor poor rich people... a Parliament filled with toffs should probably mean the amount of time spent debating the issue should come as no surprise. I wonder what fox hunting defenders think of Spanish and Portuguese bull fighting where the animal is repeatedly stabbed, as opposed to getting torn to shreds alive by a pack of dogs, both for the sport and amusement of the real beasts; elitist humans.

 

Notorious Tory boy asked me if I was for or against.
Me: 'to be honest I don't know much about the subject but as a general principle I'm against the lynching of and unnecessary cruelty towards animals'.

TB: 'did you know that when the government banned fox hunting there had to be so many beagles put down because they (rich land owners) then had no use for them.'

Dazed and confused I said 'nobody forced beagle owners to put them down.'

TB: 'they had to because those dogs were specifically bred and trained for hunting.'

So not only did these fox hunters indulge in this blood sport but they also did not want the hassle of keeping beagles alive if they were no longer useful for this game! Thus proving that 'class' doesn't equal class.

An excerpt from a piece about fox hunting
Due to frequent hunting, the fox population has significantly dropped. Hunting is nowadays confined to merely chasing the animals to holes in the ground. On the other hand, in early times the earth was blocked up overnight to prevent the foxes from escaping into the ground. They were chased for hours so that they die in extreme stress and fatigue. If at all they escape, they gradually die of heart-lung bleeding, brain injury or pneumonia. Once they are dug out from the ground, instead of shooting them, men throw them to the waiting-dogs to tear them alive. Sometimes they are killed simply by bopping their heads with spade. 


See also http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/