Letters to the Editor
-
Get me a doggie bag
My B.S. alarm went off immediately when I read this piece. It plays on all the urban myths about "foreign" cultures and the bizarre, destructive things they do. I was just waiting for the punch line, the "no, seriously, folks, I was just running this by you to see what your reaction would be." ("And then I noticed my two-year-old son was missing. . .")
I don't know how many times I've heard people tell stories about bringing Bowser into a Chinese restaurant and seeing him broiled on a platter 5 minutes later. The story about romping with a dog in the afternoon, then seeing him gutted for dinner in the evening, has the same slick, fabricated feel that most Salon pieces do. I think stories about the consumption of dogs and cats may be complete myth, or at least an exaggeration, to give Westerners a visceral thrill and yet another reason to hate and fear Asians.
So please, get some non-fiction writers on staff. Apparently, most Salon readers don't have the discernment to see that the gutted-dog story is only a device, a means to an end (manipulating the reader, who seems all too willing to be manipulated: "Oh my God, they do THAT?"). Ted Kerasote should quit journalism and write novels, or, better yet, horror stories.