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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   33252 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 20, 2023

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I don't need to mention that where humans cannot expect compassion, the fate of man's best friend is not at all uncertain.

West Germany only outlawed eating dogs in 1985.

The Swiss steal eat dogs at times.

There's the infamous cat-eating scandal where an oldster chef who saw the lean years in post-war Italy reminisced about the dishes of his youth, and was fired from a TV show..

Americans really have no idea how bad things were in densely populated civilized regions re: hunger. Allegedly, there were no rodent problems in 19th century China, just like there weren't any in Japanese POW camps, but I'm not completely sure about that.

What does it mean, for an entire nation of them to become the dominant power on the planet?

They're not particularly combative or expansionist. Historical record suggests they'll leave you alone if you'll show then some respect and maybe tribute.

Being racist and aware their system depends on their own racial characteristics, they don't seem keen to foist it on other people, unlike liberal imperalists. Whether their communist legacy will override this insular, non-missionary tendency once they're the unquestionably the most powerful country and recognized as such - I don't know.

Personally, I'd like to fuck off from this planet into deep space as soon as it becomes possible, purely on risk reduction grounds. Hacking your brain to see airless frigid voids as comfy as misty forests is much easier than surviving whatever artificial life monstrosities will arise on this planet.

Americans really have no idea how bad things were in densely populated civilized regions re: hunger. Allegedly, there were no rodent problems in 19th century China, just like there weren't any in Japanese POW camps, but I'm not completely sure about that.

One still notices this in China, where people eat meats that Western cultures have long since put into dog food, sausages, or burgers. As someone who enjoys things like tripe, heart, and gizzards, this is something I like in their food, but it's symptomatic of the difference in protein supply between Europe/North America and China in living memory.

A lot of this is just fashion. In my Texas suburb grocery store tongue costs as much as steak and boudin(spicy liver paste, sold in a sausage) is reasonably popular, while farther away from mexicans or cajuns such things would have to be special ordered at non-ethnic grocery stores. Allegedly blacks still eat gizzards and tripe because they want to, not because they have to, but I've never confirmed this. And of course snails and frogs are high status in france while urban americans see them as gross. And of course I've run into several canadians who find the southern custom of eating catfish off putting, despite this being well entrenched and normal among even wealthy southerners.

And that's without getting into the rural-urban divide on squirrel consumption.

I've honestly never understood squirrel. They're so fiddly and the meat's not even worth a round of 22. At least rabbits have most of a meal on them. Is it mostly just bragging rights?

And of course I've run into several canadians who find the southern custom of eating catfish off putting

Really? Did they say why?

Gritty or poor tasting trash fish was the usual explanation.

I feel compelled to add that here in Italy eating liver and tripe, and to a lesser degree heart, brain, and lungs, is still quite popular, even to the point of being considered a delicacy. I can tell by personal experience that Tuscan liver paté is excellent.

Liver seems to be an exception in most places, at least because of paté.

They're not particularly combative or expansionist. Historical record suggests they'll leave you alone if you'll show then some respect and maybe tribute.

Being racist and aware their system depends on their own racial characteristics, they don't seem keen to foist it on other people, unlike liberal imperalists. Whether their communist legacy will override this insular, non-missionary tendency once they're the unquestionably the most powerful country and recognized as such - I don't know.

The Vietnamese, Koreans, Tibetans (I actually think China is the good guy here), and Cambodians would beg to disagree. Everyone else has been historically protected by even greater natural barriers. We have absolutely no reason to believe that a powerful China will be non-intrusive.

The Vietnamese, Koreans, Tibetans (I actually think China is the good guy here), and Cambodians would beg to disagree.

Yeah. All closely neighboring regions.

And contrast that with armed action by various European powers abroad. A vastly more extensive list.

Also not sure how much of it is based on a false stereotype or not, but the old song "Johnny Verbeck" is about a Dutchman who invents a sausage making machine and grinds up all of the neighborhood's cats and dogs in it.

The Dutch have made an impact on the English language due to past enmity.

I've only see 'Dutch courage' (old books only) and 'going dutch' in use, but I feel we ought to revive the use of 'Dutch wife' just to yank the Dutch chain.

Going full Double-Dutch?

Huh.

I guess today I learned a new idiom! Double-Dutch means nonsense.

I actually didn't intend that--I thought "double-Dutch" was just a jump-rope thing.

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