Scoop wrote a ways back:
As if mistreating animals is somehow OK so long as you can try to claim that it’s part of someone’s “culture.”
Before I went to sleep last night I read an article on opium production in Afghanistan and the U.S. role in trying to stop it. It got me to thinking about “culture” and what we deem as acceptable and unacceptable. I mean, growing poppies is part of the Afghan culture. (Modern day Afghanistan was part of the Persian Empire, and opium and Persia go way back. Way back ….) Poppies are harvested for opium, the raw material for heroin. Illegal (and even legal) drugs are a big problem in America. Does this give us the right to quash poppy cultivation in Afghanistan?
Slide show, In the Opium Den
(I always wonder what poppy and coca farmers think when American government officials swoop down into their countries and try to get them to grow alternative crops. What? Green beans and rutabagas? Those will give them a better life than growing opium poppies or coca for cocaine? I wonder how you say You cannot be serious! in Pashto.)
But I digress. As I always do.
I made a list of cultural practices that I think most Americans would find unacceptable. Not all are on the same level of dogfighting, but it would be hard for the average American to accept any of these in the interest of respecting another culture or subculture.
- Arranged marriages
- Bullfighting — I saw bullfighting on tv when I was a kid. (In that day and age the FCC wasn’t worried about exposing viewers to gore and violence.) I was appalled. Since then I always root for the bull. I suppose this loses me points in the “Love Thy Neighbor” category of religious tenets, but it should earn me points in the Compassion for all Sentient Beings category. If I go to hell or accumulate bad karma and doom myself to a future rebirth for wanting the matador to die, then that’s the way it is and I accept my fate. Six or seven men versus one animal just isn’t fair. If it was one-on-one I’d feel differently.
- Cockfighting
- Displaying the confederate flag
- Drug use for religious purposes (e.g., ganja, peyote)
- Footbinding — If you have a weak stomach I recommend against reading the linked article.
- Genital mutilation — If you have a weak stomach don’t read this one, either.
- Honor killing
- Polygamy
- Slavery
- Suttee
Thus I find it pretty screwy when people use the word “culture” to defend one practice or another. Just because something is “part of my culture” or “traditional” doesn’t make it good.
Macho Bollywood Actor Khan Jailed In Wildlife Case
August 25, 2007
By Reuters
Filed at 9:33 a.m. ET
JODHPUR, India (Reuters) - Bollywood star Salman Khan was arrested by Indian police on Saturday and sent to jail after a court rejected his appeal against a five-year sentence for shooting endangered gazelles.
Television pictures showed the muscular actor surrounded by policemen as he left Jodhpur airport after arriving from Mumbai. TV crews and fans jostled to get a glimpse of him and police struggled to keep order.
“He has been arrested at the airport lounge and the arrest warrant was presented to him there,” a police official said.
Dozens of fans on motorcycles followed the police vehicle on its way to court where Khan was ordered to be jailed, police officials said. He was immediately taken to the local prison.
The actor said earlier on Saturday he would surrender in Jodhpur after the rejection of the appeal against his 2006 conviction for killing several endangered species of antelope during hunting trips to the western state of Rajasthan in 1998.
The animals are protected under Indian wildlife law.
Khan was alleged to have slit the throat of the chinkara gazelle that he shot before giving it to chefs at his deluxe hotel to cook.
On Friday, a Jodhpur court rejected his appeal against the conviction, leaving him with the option of surrendering or being arrested. The court also issued an arrest warrant against him.
The actor’s father, Salim Khan, felt his son received a tough sentence because he was a celebrity.
“Even if you are a public figure it does not mean you should get extra punishment … treat him like any other man,” the actor’s father, Salim Khan, told Times Now news channel.
(This guy’s father has obviously been following the Michael Vick case.)
OTHER CASES
Khan had said in Mumbai he planned to surrender in Jodhpur “as a responsible citizen and somebody who abides by the law and respects the judiciary.”
He was accompanied by his lawyer and family members, including his actor-brother Sohail Khan.
Renowned for his bad-boy image and romantic liaisons with several Bollywood leading ladies, Khan has several other cases hanging over him.
He was convicted in 2006 for killing protected blackbuck antelopes during Rajasthan hunting trips and given a one-year jail sentence.
He was granted bail and has appealed against that conviction. He has also been charged with other counts of killing wildlife and of breaking gun laws.
In addition, Khan is facing trial over the death of a man sleeping on a pavement in Mumbai in 2002. Khan is suspected of drunk-driving. The actor has denied being at the wheel.
Khan, who plays comedy roles and often acts with his shirt off, is filming three movies costing about 1 billion rupees ($24 million), according to film analyst Taran Adarsh.
(Stephon Marbury issued a statement saying that “Salman Khan is a good human being who fell into a bad situation.”)
