I can't stand these kinds of animal rights activists.
I'm back with a rant! Haven't posted one of these in a while, but I researched the Ainu of Japan for a Cultural Anthropology project this semester, and during my research came across something that bothered me quite a bit. Now, I know y'all have missed my rants and my snark (or you've forgotten about them. Either way), so I decided to post this. Both for you and for me! For humanity! :D :D :D
Dear Honorable Officials:
The international community is appalled by the Hokkaido Prefectural Government's
decision to withdraw a 1955 ban on the Ainu ceremony "Iyomante."
And I'm appalled by this letter!
As you know, this crude ritual
Already you’re displaying your ethnocentrism. Why don’t you go play with your crude toys and make your crude prayer sticks and sing your crude folk songs, you silly Ainu people? LOLOLOL
involves the slaughter of a hibernating mother
bear in her cave.
Um…except that the mother wasn’t always hibernating at the time. These are motherfucking bears. They could bite your hand off if they wanted to. Don’t try to make them sound helpless.
Her cubs are raised in captivity for two years and then
fatally choked or speared in a sacramental act meant to show religious devotion.
I have a problem with this wording. “Meant to show religious devotion” implies something-that maybe showing religious devotion is what it’s supposed to do, but isn’t what it succeeds in doing. I also don’t like the way they don’t actually delve into the ritual itself; the focus in on what happens to the bear at the very end of a two-day ritual. This ceremony is highly conceptualized and involves intricate prayers, songs, dances, feasts, and other rituals leading up to the “slaughter” of the bear, making the ceremony far from crude. Oh, what am I saying? The Ainu are just a primitive cave people with silly rituals that involve the terrible slaughter of innocent bears!
The Ainu people believe bears are gods walking among humans.
Iyomante signifies the return of bear/god souls to heaven and the promise of a
blessing for the human world.
Well, at least they got that part right. Mostly.
Iyomante is a colorful tale. But it belongs behind glass with museum artifacts.
Easter, Christmas, Ramadan, and Hanukah are colorful tales, but they belong behind glass with museum artifacts.
In the 21st Century we do not enslave humans, lynch, cannibalize or bind feet.
Similarly, we do now resurrect barbaric acts of violence against animals.
Wow…you really don’t know about any cultures but your own, do you? Cannibalism does exist today, just not in developed, Western countries-the likes of which you’ve undoubtedly never left. It exists predominantly in New Guinea, a land with all kinds of fascinating cultures. You’d probably just find them barbaric, though.
In the modern world, the Ainu people do not hunt bears for sustenance or profit.
The torture of wild animals serves no educational purpose
You’re absolutely right. The torture of wild animals holds no educational purpose whatsoever. Witnessing a highly sacred ritual that’s not even considered killing by the people who perform it (they’re freeing the god from the bear’s body, not killing the bear), can be educational.
and cannot be
"performed properly within proper reason," as Japan's Ministry of Environment
has stated.
Why not?
I strongly encourage the Hokkaido Government to reestablish a ban on hunting
bears "for cultural inheritance." Please outlaw "cave hunting" as well.
In another revived festival, "Marat Opnika," an adult bear was slaughtered
before an audience in Asahikawa Hokkaido. Some hunters have used axes to slice
off a bear's feet if the terrified animal is reluctant to leave her cave.
Funny how I can find literally no information on this ritual except for on animal rights websites.
Last year, Japanese hunters killed some 5,000 black bears alone. I remain
committed to a boycott of Japanese tourism until this assault on wildlife
ceases.
Oh, wow, that’ll be effective.
I urge government officials to legally shield wild animals from all
forms of abuse, including inhumane blood ceremonies.
Hmm, I was going to comment, but I don’t think I have to…and in all honesty, I’m not sure I can. I don’t think there’s anything that can even be said about that statement, apart from that it again highlights the writers’ xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
Original article found here...and unfortunately, on several other websites, as well.
Dear Honorable Officials:
The international community is appalled by the Hokkaido Prefectural Government's
decision to withdraw a 1955 ban on the Ainu ceremony "Iyomante."
And I'm appalled by this letter!
As you know, this crude ritual
Already you’re displaying your ethnocentrism. Why don’t you go play with your crude toys and make your crude prayer sticks and sing your crude folk songs, you silly Ainu people? LOLOLOL
involves the slaughter of a hibernating mother
bear in her cave.
Um…except that the mother wasn’t always hibernating at the time. These are motherfucking bears. They could bite your hand off if they wanted to. Don’t try to make them sound helpless.
Her cubs are raised in captivity for two years and then
fatally choked or speared in a sacramental act meant to show religious devotion.
I have a problem with this wording. “Meant to show religious devotion” implies something-that maybe showing religious devotion is what it’s supposed to do, but isn’t what it succeeds in doing. I also don’t like the way they don’t actually delve into the ritual itself; the focus in on what happens to the bear at the very end of a two-day ritual. This ceremony is highly conceptualized and involves intricate prayers, songs, dances, feasts, and other rituals leading up to the “slaughter” of the bear, making the ceremony far from crude. Oh, what am I saying? The Ainu are just a primitive cave people with silly rituals that involve the terrible slaughter of innocent bears!
The Ainu people believe bears are gods walking among humans.
Iyomante signifies the return of bear/god souls to heaven and the promise of a
blessing for the human world.
Well, at least they got that part right. Mostly.
Iyomante is a colorful tale. But it belongs behind glass with museum artifacts.
Easter, Christmas, Ramadan, and Hanukah are colorful tales, but they belong behind glass with museum artifacts.
In the 21st Century we do not enslave humans, lynch, cannibalize or bind feet.
Similarly, we do now resurrect barbaric acts of violence against animals.
Wow…you really don’t know about any cultures but your own, do you? Cannibalism does exist today, just not in developed, Western countries-the likes of which you’ve undoubtedly never left. It exists predominantly in New Guinea, a land with all kinds of fascinating cultures. You’d probably just find them barbaric, though.
In the modern world, the Ainu people do not hunt bears for sustenance or profit.
The torture of wild animals serves no educational purpose
You’re absolutely right. The torture of wild animals holds no educational purpose whatsoever. Witnessing a highly sacred ritual that’s not even considered killing by the people who perform it (they’re freeing the god from the bear’s body, not killing the bear), can be educational.
and cannot be
"performed properly within proper reason," as Japan's Ministry of Environment
has stated.
Why not?
I strongly encourage the Hokkaido Government to reestablish a ban on hunting
bears "for cultural inheritance." Please outlaw "cave hunting" as well.
In another revived festival, "Marat Opnika," an adult bear was slaughtered
before an audience in Asahikawa Hokkaido. Some hunters have used axes to slice
off a bear's feet if the terrified animal is reluctant to leave her cave.
Funny how I can find literally no information on this ritual except for on animal rights websites.
Last year, Japanese hunters killed some 5,000 black bears alone. I remain
committed to a boycott of Japanese tourism until this assault on wildlife
ceases.
Oh, wow, that’ll be effective.
I urge government officials to legally shield wild animals from all
forms of abuse, including inhumane blood ceremonies.
Hmm, I was going to comment, but I don’t think I have to…and in all honesty, I’m not sure I can. I don’t think there’s anything that can even be said about that statement, apart from that it again highlights the writers’ xenophobia and ethnocentrism.
Original article found here...and unfortunately, on several other websites, as well.