中国狗肉节：吃狗肉真的这么坏吗？ [美国媒体]

(CNN)It's that time of year again when the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in Yulin, China sets off a global debate on animal welfare and the limits of multicultural tolerance.

（cnn)又逢一年一度的玉林荔枝狗肉节，中国激起了全球关于动物福利和对多元文化容忍的问题。

In previous years some 10,000 dogs have been slaughteredand eaten over the 10-day festival.

去年，在十天的节日内，一万只狗被宰杀，吃掉。

In the West, reaction is divided between those who vigorously condemn the festival and those who claim that it is a kind of cultural imperialism to judge China by our own values.

在西方有两种反应，一种强烈批评这个节日，另一种说以我们自己的价值观去衡量中国是文化帝国主义行为。

Both are half-right and half-wrong.

两者皆有对有错。

Take the critics of the festival first. There is certainly plenty for them to truly indignant about.

先谈谈对狗肉节的批评。这里确实有很多让他们愤怒的原因。

There is a belief among some that the dog meat tastes better if the animal is slaughtered when distressed, and there are even accusations that the animals are sometimes skinned alive.

有的人认为，如果说狗被宰杀时十分痛苦，他们的肉将会更加美味，更有一种指责说这些动物有时被活剥而死。



Images of dogs of various breeds and sizes crammed in tiny cages and then killed have created an international backlash

很多品种和大小的狗被塞进小笼子里的图片激起了国际批评。

Lazy thinking?

武断？

However, often the critics find it unacceptable that dogs are being caged, killed and eaten at all.

但是，批评者们通常彻底无法接受这些狗被圈禁，宰杀和食用.

Such complaints are justified when they come from vegans who are equally upset about the conditions of pigs and cows in western industrial farms.

如果是严格素食主义者作出这类批评的话，那倒是合理的，因为他们同样对西方工业农场中的猪、牛遭遇感到痛心。

But they are simply hypocritical when they come from carnivores who happily eat intensively reared pigs, or even from vegetarians whose milk and cheese comes from cattle kept in such poor conditions that large swathes of the herds are lame.

但如果是肉食者作出这类批评，那就太虚伪了，因为他们自己都愉快得享用着被密集圈养的猪，甚至是那些并不严格的素质主义者作出这类批评时也是虚伪的，因为他们享用着的牛奶和奶酪来自圈养条件恶劣的牛，大部分都是跛足。

However, those who say any criticism at all is a kind of moral imperialism are also guilty of lazy thinking. Almost everyone believes that respect for difference has its limits.

但是，那些说任何批评都是道德帝国主义的人亦有武断之嫌。几乎每个人都相信对于多元的尊重也有限制。

I know of no one who in the name of cultural diversity defends the barbaric practices of ISIS, the chillingly efficient holocaust perpetuated by the Third Reich, or the execution of homosexuals and atheists in some Islamic countries.

我知道，没有人会以多元文化的名义去为isis的野蛮行径，纳粹所犯的令人胆寒的大屠杀，或在某些伊斯兰国家对于同性恋和无神论者的处决辩护。

What presents itself as open-minded tolerance can very easily become a kind of condescension, as though the Chinese cannot be expected to live up to our highest ideals.

西方人认为自己有一种胸襟开阔的容忍很容易变成一种居高临下，似乎无法期望中国人实现我们的最高理念。



A man chops up dog meat a restaurant in Yulin, Sunday June 21, 2015.

2015年6月21日，玉林，一个男人在饭店里切狗肉。

Racist sentiments?

种族情绪？

In fact, protest against the Yulin festival began in China, where retired school teacher Yang Xiaoyun paid thousands of dollars to save dogs and cats from the festival, and celebrities such as Chen Kun, Yang Mi and Fan Bingbing have spoken out against it.

事实上，对玉林狗肉节的抗议起源于中国，在玉林狗肉节，退休教师杨晓芸花费几千美元来救狗和猫；像陈坤，杨幂和范冰冰这样的名人直言反对。

Although dog eating is a tradition in parts of China, the Yulin festival was only started in 2009and is not endorsed by the local government.

虽然吃狗肉在部分中国是一种传统，玉林狗肉节只开始于2009年，并未受到当地政府的支持。

What I also find troubling about issues like this is how they insidiously bring out the xenophobe in otherwise liberal people on both sides of the argument.

我发现其中令人忧心的是，涉及这样的问题时，这些议题很容易让正反双方产生仇外情绪。

When I previously wrote about the festival, one person who ranted against me tweeted that all Koreans were evil because they ate dogs.

当我先前写到狗肉节时，一个咆哮反对我的人发推特说所有朝鲜人都是恶魔，因为他们吃狗肉。

Such blatantly racist sentiments are rarely expressed so openly but I fear many who condemn the Yulin festival are also confirming their own prejudices about "backward" 
Asian peoples who are inherently cruel and incapable of being sympathetic towards animals.

很少有如此明目张胆公开的种族主义情绪，我担心很多谴责玉林狗肉节的人也确信了他们的偏见，认为“落后”的亚洲人天生残忍，没有对于动物的同情。

The readiness to believe the worst about the Chinese also comes out in the way in which many people sharing their anger on social media accept the stories of cruelty without checking for themselves that they are rife.

他们有了关于中国人恶行的心理基础，在社交媒体上宣泄愤怒，不假思索的接受了这些残忍故事，而不去核查这是否具有普遍性。

Check your objections

核查你的反对理由

Seeing one video of one dog being beaten is not enough to condemn the whole festival, just as knowing that there have been abuses in some Western abattoirs does not condemn the whole meat industry.

看到一只狗被打死的视频不足以谴责整个狗肉节，就像看到西方屠宰场中的那些虐待不足以谴责整个肉食行业一样。

Westerners who feel appalled by the Yulin festival need to check that their objections are based on robust values and not just a sentimental preference for cute, friendly animals.

感到惊恐的西方人需要核查他们的反对是基于坚定的价值观，而不是对于可爱的，友好的动物的情感偏好。

Then, they should check that the stories they hear are true, which it seems they too often are.

然后，他们需要核查他们所听到的故事是真的，这些故事往往听起来很真。

Then, they should think hard about the right way to express their disapproval. Some claim that social media pressure from the West has led to a decline in the number of dogs killed to around 1,000, but it is hard to know what is really responsible for the drop.

然后，他们应该努力思考以正确的方法表达反对。一些人声称来自西方社交媒体的压力导致被杀掉的狗的数量降至1000左右，但导致下降的真正原因很难知道。

Usually any perception of outside "Western" pressure is counterproductive for a campaign.

通常，来自外部“西方”的压力对一场运动起到的往往是反作用。

Ultimately this is an issue for the Chinese to resolve themselves.

最终，这是一个需要中国人他们自己解决的问题

Backing groups like the Chinese Animal Protection Network shows both respect for the Chinese people and faith in the possibility that some values at least are truly universal.

像中国动保网这样的支持团体既展示了对中国人民的尊重，也展示了一种可能性的信心，一些最基本的价值观终会普世。